Tour Alums Compete in This Week’s Handa Cup

By Lisa D. Mickey

Five alumnae from the Duramed FUTURES Tour will be among the players on two teams facing off this weekend in the second annual Handa Cup.

The team match-play event will bring together women professionals age 45 and over to compete Saturday and Sunday (Dec. 15-16) at the World Golf Hall of Fame’s Slammer & Squire Course. The Handa Cup is an official competition of The Legends Tour, the LPGA’s official tour for veteran players.

The event brings together 12 players for the U.S. Team and 12 players for the World Team in an event styled much like the Solheim Cup. Players on the U.S. Team who launched their LPGA Tour careers during the early Tampa Bay Mini-Tour and FUTURES Golf Tour days are Rosie Jones, Marilyn Lovander, Cindy (Flom) Rarick and Nancy Scranton. Another alum, Canadian Dawn Coe-Jones, will compete on the World Team.

Lovander was a member of the then-FUTURES Golf Tour from 1984 through 1999, and was a 10-time tournament winner. She remains as the Duramed FUTURES Tour’s career money leader with earnings of $211,106. Lovander continued to play on the FUTURES as an LPGA non-exempt member in 1992, 1993, 1998 and 1999, before earning her fully exempt LPGA Tour status in 2000 by finishing second the 1999 FUTURES Tour money list. The Minnesota native has also won on The Legends Tour, capturing the 2003 Hy-Vee Classic in Iowa. She is a retired member of the LPGA Tour and played her last competitive round in Tampa this year on the 2007 Duramed FUTURES Tour as a non-exempt LPGA Tour member, finishing tied for second.

Jones is in her second season on The Legends Tour and won the 2007 Women’s World Legends Tour Championship last month in Sydney, Australia. She is a 13-time LPGA Tour winner and was a member of the U.S. Solheim Cup Team in 1990, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2005.

Cindy Rarick, who played on the FUTURES Tour as Cindy Flom, owns five LPGA Tour wins. She was the co-champion of the 2005 BJ’s Charity Championship with LPGA Hall of Famer Pat Bradley.

Nancy Scranton, who played on the FUTURES Golf Tour as Nancy Scranton-Brown, kicked off her professional career as the winner of the 1984 Willow Creek Classic in Des Moines, Iowa. She owns three LPGA Tour victories, including one major championship – the 1991 du Maurier Ltd. Classic, which was a former LPGA major. Scranton is a two-time winner on The Legends Tour. She teamed up with Christa Johnson to win back-to-back BJ’s Charity Championships in 2006 and 2007.

Coe-Jones will play in her second Handa Cup for the World Team. The Canadian, who now lives in Tampa, Fla., owns three LPGA Tour victories and is a member of the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame.

The Handa Cup’s format will kick off with a one-day pro-am event on Friday, Dec. 14, followed by two days of team match play between the U.S. and World teams. Six morning nine-hole team matches will begin at 9 a.m., Saturday, Dec. 15, followed by six afternoon nine-hole team matches at 1:30 p.m. Sunday’s competition will feature 12 18-hole singles matches. Closing ceremonies will be held on the ninth green of the Slammer & Squire course immediately following competition.

Captain of the U.S. Team will be LPGA and World Golf Hall of Fame member Kathy Whitworth, who will lead a squad of former LPGA all-stars, including fellow Hall of Famers Amy Alcott, Pat Bradley, JoAnne Carner, Beth Daniel, Sandra Haynie and Patty Sheehan.

Captain of the World Team will be World Golf Hall of Fame member Hisako “Chako” Higuchi, the first Japanese woman to compete on the LPGA Tour. Winner of the 1977 LPGA Championship, Higuchi will lead her squad of international players, including former LPGA Tour stars Jan Stephenson of Australia, Sally Little of South Africa, Alicia Dibos of Peru, Anne-Marie Palli of France and Barb Bunkowsky Scherbak of Canada.

Single-day grounds passes ($10) will be available for purchase at the entrance to the tournament behind the World Golf Hall of Fame. A grounds pass is needed for access into the tournament on Saturday and Sunday. No refunds, no rain checks.

Members of the Duramed FUTURES Tour and LPGA Tour are admitted free by showing an ID or Tour money clip.

For more information, visit www.thelegendstour.com.