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Silver Anniversary Salute: FUTURES Tour Prepares For Next 25 Years By Lisa D. Mickey
The old adage, "necessity is the mother of invention," rings true for Eloise Trainor, founder of the FUTURES Golf Tour. She was an aspiring young professional who didn't quite have the tools to play on the LPGA Tour, but one who knew she could never improve her skills without competition. Fortunately for today's FUTURES Tour members, Trainor was undeterred back in the fall of 1980, when she organized a competitive schedule of 12 events and no one entered the first 11 tournaments. It was that 12th event, however -- the one right before the LPGA Qualifying Tournament -- that made the difference. At that event, 54 players registered to play as a warm-up for LPGA Q-School and the Tampa Bay Mini-Tour was born. "That showed me there was a need," said Trainor, who ran what eventually became the FUTURES Golf Tour until June 1999, when she retired and handed over the Tour to President and CEO Zayra F. Calderon. "I set up another schedule for 1981 right after LPGA Qualifying and we were off and running." Indeed, since that simple beginning, the FUTURES Golf Tour has taken numerous giant strides in its run to reach this year's silver anniversary. The Tour celebrated its 25th season in 2005, playing 18 tournaments in 13 states for $1.35 million. Today's Tour evolved from a collection of 20-some North American players in its formative years to currently more than 300 players from 27 different nations. By contrast, the players of the 1980s competed for average purses of $6,000. Next year, FUTURES Tour members will play for an average purse size of $75,000. "It was a great training ground and a great way to learn how to travel and make the transition from college and amateur golf to professional golf," said LPGA Tour veteran Rosie Jones, who played on the Tampa Bay Mini-Tour in 1982, a year before it officially became the FUTURES Golf Tour in 1983. But regardless of purse-size growth or the changing demographics of the Tour, the mission has remained the same, which is: to provide the opportunity for women professional golfers to develop their skills and move on to the LPGA Tour; to allow tournament host cities to meet and embrace future LPGA stars; and to allow the business community and corporate leaders at host sites to link with local charities, using a professional golf tournament setting to raise funds for local projects. "The FUTURES Tour is accomplishing the mission even more," said Trainor. "And it's obviously working." Working, even beyond the founder's wildest dreams. With Calderon's business savvy as a former senior executive with CIGNA Healthcare, the FUTURES Tour was able to enter into a licensing agreement with the LPGA Tour in 1999, making the FUTURES Tour the "official developmental tour of the LPGA." From 1999-2002, three automatic LPGA Tour cards were awarded to the top three FUTURES Tour money winners. That number was upgraded in 2003 to five automatic LPGA exemptions. In addition to the five cards, the next 10 Tour members not already members of the LPGA Tour, were given automatic entry into the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament -- allowing players to skip the sectional qualifying rounds. And since 1999, that direct avenue toward the goal of qualifying for the LPGA has enabled 27 players to automatically "graduate" from the FUTURES Tour to the LPGA with full exempt status. That list includes current LPGA Tour members Grace Park (1999), Michelle Ellis (2000), Beth Bauer (2001), Lorena Ochoa and Christina Kim (2002), Stacy Prammanasudh and Birdie (Ju) Kim (2003), Jimin Kang and Nicole Perrot (2004), as well as five more players in 2005, including former NCAA Champion and U.S. Women's Amateur Champion Virada Nirapathpongporn. As further evidence that the Tour is "working" is the fact that 31 FUTURES Tour players from the 2005 season earned LPGA playing status in 2006 through the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament. That number is in addition to the five who automatically advanced. "The FUTURES Tour is very important for young professionals because you learn how to be a professional golfer, as well as a person, without the huge hub-bub of the LPGA," said 2005 U.S. Solheim Cup team member Christina Kim, who played eight FUTURES Tour events as an amateur in 2001, and one full season in 2002 as a professional. "The FUTURES Tour allowed me to make my mistakes and learn from them without any fear and with tons of support. The FUTURES Tour is just like the LPGA, just on a smaller scale." Numerous other young players took their first swings as professionals on the FUTURES Tour, like Hall of Fame member Karrie Webb, who won her first tournament as a professional in 1995, while playing on the FUTURES Tour. Webb went on to become the European Tour's 1995 rookie of the year, winning the Weetabix Women's British Open that year, before launching her rookie season in 1996 on the LPGA Tour, where she won four times and earned top rookie honors. In November 2005, Webb became the first FUTURES Tour alumna to be inducted into both the LPGA and World Golf Halls of Fame. "The FUTURES Tour helped me learn to play professional golf," said Webb, of Queensland, Australia. "It gave me an opportunity to learn how to compete at that level. It also made me realize how much I wanted to come to the United States to play." In 25 years, more than 250 alumnae of the FUTURES Tour have moved on to the LPGA Tour, winning a total of 295 LPGA titles, including 31 major championships. Birdie (Ju) Kim of Korea earned one of the Tour's five exempt LPGA Tour cards in 2003, then earned her first title as an LPGA Tour member at the 2005 U.S. Women's Open Championship. Ironically, her win at this year's Open came on the same weekend the FUTURES Tour was playing an event in Ann Arbor, Mich., where Kim had won two years before. "What this Tour is about is bigger than just being a golf tour," said Trainor. "It's about young women coming into their own." And it's about learning lessons along the way, added Christina Kim, who turned professional right out of high school, skipping college golf. So did Floridian Michelle McGann, who played the FUTURES Tour in 1988 before moving on to the LPGA Tour. "It's a wonderful Tour for those wanting to have a life as a professional golfer and it's a great stepping stone to prepare for the LPGA," said McGann, who owns seven LPGA Tour titles. "On the FUTURES Tour, I started to learn things like money management, responsibility, how to live out of a suitcase, and also how to act, play and win as a professional," said Christina Kim, who won her first professional title in New Jersey on the FUTURES Tour. "When I tapped in for birdie to win a six-hole playoff against fellow rookie Lorena Ochoa and heard all the cheering from spectators and fellow competitors, it made me feel like, 'Hey, I can do this, I am a professional and this is where I belong.'" When asked what she considered as the highlight of the FUTURES Tour's 25th season, president Calderon pointed to the Tour's longevity, rather than any specific celebratory salute. "Many organizations come and go and don't make it, but the FUTURES Tour has not only survived, but has continued to grow," said Calderon. "The fact that we have had a tour for 25 years is a wonderful achievement, and the players who have come out of the FUTURES Tour and experienced great success on the LPGA Tour shows that we truly are providing the road to the LPGA." Just where does the road lead now? And what does Calderon hope the FUTURES Tour can achieve in its next quarter century? Certainly, there will be countless more young professionals, such as Webb, Birdie Kim, Ochoa, Grace Park and Christina Kim, who win their first tournaments as pros on the FUTURES Golf Tour. Certainly, purses will continue to rise, following the lead of the Michelob ULTRA FUTURES Players Championship, which will offer a $100,000 purse in 2006 and will be played as the Tour's first major championship. Certainly too, other "majors" will follow and the nearly $4 million contributed to local tournament charities will multiply in the years ahead. But as Calderon looks at the bigger picture for the Tour's future, she wants the FUTURES Golf Tour to be "absolutely recognized as the road to the LPGA Tour," providing the necessary route for young professionals to launch their careers and achieve success. "I want the FUTURES Tour to be recognized by the public and known from outside the golf industry as the prep school for the LPGA," she said. "The greatest achievement for women's professional golf is to be considered on par with men's golf when it comes to competition and entertainment value." And, according to Trainor, as the FUTURES Tour continues its path of producing highly skilled and successful players, the trickle-down effect will benefit more than just the developmental tour. "In the end, it makes the LPGA even stronger," Trainor said. "And it develops even more talented young players who will become the best in the game." For more key highlights about the FUTURES Golf Tour's 25-year history, see the Timeline. Contact: Lisa D. Mickey, FUTURES Golf Tour, 863-709-9100, Ext. 2 or lisa@futurestour.com.
TIMELINE
1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 1st—Grace Park 2nd—Marilyn Lovander 3rd—Audra Burks 2000 1st—Heather Zakhar 2nd—Michelle Ellis 3rd—Dodie Mazzuca 2001 1st—Beth Bauer 2nd—Angela Buzminski 3rd—Jung Yeon Lee 2002 1st—Lorena Ochoa 2nd—Christina Kim 3rd—Miriam Nagl 2003 1st—Stacy Prammanasudh 2nd—Soo Young Moon 3rd—Candy Hannemann 4th—Ju Kim 5th—Reilley Rankin 2004 1st—Jimin Kang 2nd—Lindsey Wright 3rd—Nicole Perrot 4th—Aram Cho 5th—Malinda Johnson 2005 1st—Seon-Hwa Lee 2nd—Virada Nirapathpongporn 3rd—Kyeong Bae 4th—Nicole Castrale 5th—Sun Young Yoo Top Alumnae Playing on the LPGA *Year indicates year in which they played with FUTURES Tour 1981—Patti Rizzo, Colleen Walker 1982—Jane Geddes, Rosie Jones 1983—Cindy Figg 1984—Penny Hammel 1985—Meg Mallon, Dottie Pepper 1986—Laura Davies, Tammie Green 1987—Laurel Kean 1988—Michelle McGann 1989—Vickie (Moran) Odegard 1990—Kim Saiki, Denise (Baldwin) Killeen 1991—Michele Redman 1992—Wendy Doolan 1993—Becky Iverson 1994—Marilyn Lovander 1995—Karrie Webb 1996—Cristie Kerr 1997—Heather Daly-Donofrio, Kelli Kuehne 1998— Laura (Philo) Diaz 1999—Grace Park 2000—Michelle Ellis 2001—Beth Bauer 2002—Lorena Ochoa, Christina Kim 2003—Candy Hannemann, Stacy Prammanasudh, Reilley Rankin, Birdie (Ju) Kim 2004—Jimin Kang, Nicole Perrot
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