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Tournament of Champions season 6 winner Antonia Lofaso has openly addressed her love for golf. In a video posted on the Food Network's official Instagram account on April 17, 2025, Antonia revealed that she played golf to prepare for a competition like the Tournament of Champions. She explained that she used the sport to calm herself and take some pressure off her mind.
Antonia also recently appeared in an episode of the Ingredient Insiders podcast, posted on their YouTube channel on May 5, 2025, where she talked at length about golf, explaining why the sport is important to her and how it helps her prepare for competitive cooking shows.
Disclaimer: This Tournament of Champions article is based on the writer's opinion. Readers' discretion is advised.
Apart from serving as a leisurely sport that helped her take her mind off the competition, it also trained her to understand that winning was not always the end goal of every race. Golf taught Antonia to prioritize herself and her performance instead of focusing on what her opponents were doing.
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The Tournament of Champions star stated that golf made her understand the importance of surrendering, a key practice that helped her tackle the unpredictability of the Randomizer by internalizing that she could not be in control of every situation in life. Moreover, it taught Antonia to allow herself the room to make mistakes and to understand that no one was perfect.
After hearing Antonia's take on golf and learning about the ways it helped her improve in the kitchen, not only as a competitor but as a person, it convinced me that golf was not just a leisurely sport that a certain section of society engaged in and treated as a social gathering; it was more.
Golf brought peace to the Tournament of Champions season 6 winner, Antonia
The Tournament of Champions star stated in the podcast that golf helped her realize the journey was always better than the destination. Antonia, who was not prepared to participate for a sixth time after losing season 5 of the Food Network show by one point, said that it was only after she started watching golf that she realized she needed to change her mindset, which had been focused on winning.
In the podcast episode, Antonia stated that many participated in golf tournaments, but only one emerged victorious. However, that did not mean that those who lost were bad players.
"It's about watching some of the greatest players play, you know, and like being in it with them and like watching the incredible shot or whatever it is," she added.
I believe it resonates with Antonia's journey on Tournament of Champions. Despite losing in the first five seasons, her fans still wanted her to compete because they enjoyed watching her perform on stage, battling some of the most seasoned chefs in the industry. Thus, it becomes more about the journey and less about the end product.
It also made Antonia understand that, like golfers, chefs could have "bad days"; however, one underwhelming cook could never make them bad chefs or define their entire careers.
"So, it gave me actually a lot of peace, which was interesting, where it's like I can't control this outcome," Antonia remarked.
It illustrates how golf prepared the ToC star to change her perspective on competitive cooking, making her a more formidable and difficult competitor to defeat since she had learned the art of prioritizing mind over matter.
Antonia further mentioned that in golf, players compete with others but for themselves, a philosophy she applied in Tournament of Champions, saying:
"I don't even look at the person across from me. When I'm given a task, I take the task, I create my own thing. And then I worry about what the judges say. But I could [not] care less who's across from me, who's next to me, what they're cooking, what they're style of cooking is."
It further illustrates how golf turned Antonia into a competitor who focused solely on improving herself rather than nitpicking what her competitors did. Moreover, it encouraged her to establish her identity on every plate of food instead of chasing trends and trying to appease the majority.
These factors have convinced me that golf is more than just a sport when viewed from a different perspective. Furthermore, it taught Antonia to "surrender," a trait she said was difficult to inculcate in her daily routine because she was a "control freak."
It made her tactful while handling unpredictable situations like the Randomizer. Above all else, golf helped Antonia understand that one should not and must not give up after having a bad game in one round.
"Like, no, it's like start all over," she said.
I believe it proves how it enhanced her ability to tackle her past losses in the Tournament of Champions without letting them define her skills. Thus, I can safely conclude that Antonia's take on golf demonstrates that the sport is not just for entertainment and relaxation; it is also a means of self-improvement and a better understanding of the world.
Tournament of Champions is available to stream on Max.
