Duramed FUTURES Tour Weekly Release
April 14, 2008
- Louisiana Homecoming: Alvarez Returns To Pelican State
- Jeana Finlinson Wows Fans At Augusta
- Moving Toward Career Earnings Record
- Statistically Speaking
- Latest “Big Break” Premieres Tuesday
- Ochoa Wins Again, Gains Points For HOF
- Quote of the Week
1. Louisiana Homecoming: Alvarez Returns To Pelican State
LILI ALVAREZ remembers having a conversation with her mother on the telephone in 2005, as Hurricane Katrina headed toward New Orleans. Alvarez was a college student in the Crescent City at Tulane University, where she was on the women’s golf team. On that day, the college student suddenly found herself heading for higher ground.
“I called my mom and said, ‘They’re telling me this is a really bad storm, so I found a plane ticket for $150,” said Alvarez. “I’m going to Chicago.”
The player from Durango, Mexico, didn’t know how prophetic that statement was at the time. She grabbed her golf clubs, her passport, her laptop and a few clothes. In her quick exit, she found the last parking spot on the second floor of a Tulane parking garage.
Two weeks after the storm, Alvarez was still in Chicago while school officials at Tulane tried to put its campus back together in the aftermath of the devastating hurricane. And two months later, wearing a mask and gloves, she returned home to New Orleans to gather what was salvageable.
“There was nothing to go back to,” said Alvarez, 24, a rookie on the Duramed FUTURES Tour this season. “The city was shut down and there were no in and outs. When I got to my house, a FEMA guy was there and I had to prove that the things inside were mine.”
Alvarez shared a house with Tulane teammate Alison Walshe, now a senior at the University of Arizona. Floodwaters rose to six feet in their basement and left behind a curtain of mold throughout the bottom floor. When they were allowed to return, the players grabbed what they could and left their home for the last time. And because of her fortuitous parking spot on the second level of the parking deck, Alvarez found her car intact.
But with the 2005 fall golf season came more change. With no place to compete, Tulane’s athletic teams split up and left town. The football team and tennis team went to Texas A&M. The golf teams went to Southern Methodist University in Dallas, where students enrolled in classes and practiced. The Tulane women played in three college tournaments that fall. They clung together like family.
But then the day came when the Tulane women’s golf team was summoned to attend a meeting.
“Our coach said, ‘Girls, the athletic director wants to meet with us and he says there is not going to be a golf team any more,’” said Alvarez, who was the senior captain of the squad. “We were in shock. The school did the best it could do, but we all were facing some pretty big changes.”
Tulane’s team split up and scattered at programs around the country. Because the NCAA allowed players at the school to regain their “lost season,” Alvarez still had one year of college eligibility remaining. She completed her undergraduate degree at Tulane in the summer of 2006, and enrolled in graduate school at Northwestern University in Chicago that fall for her final collegiate golf season while she studied public policy and administration.
Alone in Chicago and now living in a tiny “shoebox” apartment in Evanston, Ill., Alvarez remembers something her mother told her as she struggled with yet another new environment.
“My mom said, ‘Lili, stop punching the air because you’re not hitting anything,’” said Alvarez. “That’s when I finally realized things are going to go wrong, but you can still control the way you feel. I looked around and saw that a lot of people had helped me. It gave me faith in people.”
Even when it snowed in Chicago and Alvarez didn’t have the proper clothes for cold weather, her new Northwestern teammates would sneak her gifts of wool socks and gloves. And even when it snowed in April and she found herself hitting practice balls into a snow bank with the team in front of heaters, the Mexican had learned to find the blessing in the moment.
“I consider myself very, very blessed,” she said. “If I could do my life over, I’d still go to Tulane and I’d still go to Northwestern.”
Alvarez and fellow Durango native Tanya Dergal are both rookies on the Duramed FUTURES Tour this season. The two have known each other since grade school and junior golf. Both played on the boys’ soccer team in high school, where the spirited Alvarez received a “red card” [ejection from the game] in her first game for smashing into a boy on the other team while running at full throttle.
Dergal smiles when asked about her friend. She calls Alvarez a “very aggressive golfer.” When Alvarez let out a loud whoop on the 18th green at a recent Tour event after she rolled in a birdie putt, Dergal said only, “Yep, definitely, that’s Lili.”
And when her friend was displaced after the hurricane from the university and city that she loved, Dergal recalls that Alvarez was “anxious, disappointed, sad and angry,” yet always resilient.
“Even though we knew she was going through a rough time, she always had a smile on her face,” added Dergal.
Only two tournaments into her professional career, Alvarez has that special spark that stands out. A spunky Mexican version of the LPGA’s Christina Kim, she is competitive, yet fun-loving, compassionate and caring, yet lively and animated. In the summer of 2006, she helped build a Habitat For Humanity home in New Orleans -- which she calls “a precious experience.”
And when she returns to Louisiana this week for the Louisiana Pelican Classic in Lafayette, Alvarez has already earmarked some time for New Orleans. She plans to rent a bike and ride down to the French Quarter for a cup of coffee and a beignet (or two). She plans to get her fill of red beans and rice. And she hopes to see first-hand, the city’s renewal that – like her own personal growth – has taken a necessary amount of time.
“I’m just getting started in my career and of course, I want to make it to the LPGA,” said the rookie, who lives in San Antonio. “This game has already pushed me in every way. It kept me in school after [Hurricane] Katrina. It took me to Chicago in the winter and it has given me some great friends.”
And this season, it will add another dimension to her game as a rookie professional. Alvarez might still be reaching for higher ground, but she’s determined as ever to get there.
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2. Finlinson Wows Fans At Augusta
When Duramed FUTURES Tour player Jeana Finlinson’s sponsor told her she would be hitting a shot with fellow Indianan Fuzzy Zoeller during the Wednesday practice round at The Masters, she could barely believe her ears. But when she perfectly stroked her shot and the grandstands erupted with cheers, the rookie was reminded of why she is pursuing a career as a touring pro.
“As soon as it hit the clubface, it just felt perfect,” said Finlinson, 27, of Bloomington, Ind., whose photo was captured at the top of her swing in the New York Times sports section on April 10. “The ball hit the green, stopped four feet right of the pin and the crowd went crazy. I guess that’s why you work with a sports psychologist and hit lots of golf shots – to not be surprised when things like that happen.”
Of course, the minute that Finlinson learned that her sponsor bought the opportunity for her to hit a tee shot with Zoeller during a charity auction for “Jill’s House,” [www.jills-house.org], the rookie began preparing for the big day at Augusta National. She knew she would hit a tee shot with Zoeller on the famed 12th hole – a picturesque 155-yard, par-3 hole named Golden Bell in the middle of “Amen Corner” and surrounded by Rae’s Creek. She also knew she would be swinging a club in front of more people than she had ever encountered on a golf course.
A former national champion and World Top-10 rodeo rider in barrel racing, Finlinson once rode her horse in the Houston Astrodome in front of 80,000 fans. She was used to the fast pace of rodeo competition on a 1,300-pound creature speeding around barrels – sort of a horse on a slalom course. But this time, she walked to the tee alongside the 1979 Masters champion and aimed a stationary ball toward one of the most treacherous greens on all of Augusta National.
“When you’re on a horse, if things go wrong, you can blame it on the horse, but when it’s just you with this little ball that’s not moving, it’s definitely a terrifying object,” said Finlinson, who played collegiately at Indiana University and rode horses with one of Zoeller’s daughters and played golf with another daughter.
She did, however, spend several days just hitting 155-yard shots with her 7-iron. Zoeller called Finlinson last Wednesday at 7:30 a.m., and told her to meet him at the 12th tee at 10 a.m. Finlinson hit 10-20 practice balls at nearby Jones Creek Golf Club in Augusta, then drove to Augusta National. She was only allowed to bring in her golf glove. At the 12th tee, Zoeller signed and dated a ball, then handed it, along with his 7-iron, to the rookie. Then he announced to the gallery, “This is Jeana Finlinson and she’s going to hit a shot with me today.”
“My heart was beating out of my shirt,” said the Indianan. “Michael Campbell, who was playing with him, came over and shook my hand and Fuzzy’s caddie told me to hit it like it was a 150-yard shot. Then I knew it was time for me to get focused.”
Of course Zoeller -- ever the clown -- let Finlinson address the ball and go through her pre-shot routine before he suddenly shouted, “Wait! Wait! Wait! You need to realize this is really important! And don’t hit it into the water!”
But Finlinson wasn’t rattled. She laughed along with Zoeller’s antics and laced her shot. Afterwards, fans and photographers swarmed the Duramed FUTURES Tour player and asked for her autograph and snapped photos. They inquired where she played golf and she told them she is trying to move up the Tour’s alternate lists to get into events. Zoeller’s caddie retrieved her tee shot and gave her the ball with a kiss on the cheek.
“If I could pick one hole to play at The Masters, it would be the 12th hole,” Finlinson said. “It’s the coolest place on the golf course.”
And after one tee shot last Wednesday morning, it was also the loudest.
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3. Moving Toward The Record
Tour veteran LORI ATSEDES of Ithaca, N.Y., is moving closer to the Duramed FUTURES Tour’s career earnings record. Trailing career money leader MARILYN LOVANDER of Gainesville, Fla., who retired last season, Atsedes needs only $17,137 to tie Lovander, who earned $211,106 in 134 events with 10 wins. At $193,969 in 192 events, and with seven career wins, Atsedes likely will set a new mark as the Tour’s career money leader this season.
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4. Statistically Speaking
The season is young, but already, CHELLA CHOI of Seoul, South Korea, has charged to the top of the rookie race after only two events. Rounding out the top three spots are VICKY HURST of Melbourne, Fla., in second, and third-place Y.J. JIN of Seoul ... LEAH WIGGER, winner of the recent AMERICAN SYSTEMS Invitational, leads the current money list. But Wigger, also a non-exempt LPGA Tour member, has only signed up for the Tour’s mid-June event in Decatur, Ill., opening the door for another player to replace her at the top of the list as early as this week. Wigger, of Louisville, Ky., also leads the Duramed FUTURES Tour’s current scoring average at 71.33 strokes per round, followed by SONG YI CHOI of Seoul, at 71.500 ... If it were for national bragging rights, Sweden would lead the race in birdies. In six rounds, SOFIE ANDERSSON of Angelholm, Sweden, leads the Tour with 25 birdies, followed by compatriot CAROLINE LARSSON of Danderyd, Sweden, with 22 birdies.
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5. Latest “Big Break” Premieres Tuesday
Several current and past members of the Duramed FUTURES Tour will kick off the Golf Channel’s ninth reality golf show this Tuesday, April 15, when “Big Break Ka’ anapali” premieres at 10 p.m. E.T. The new show was filmed last fall in Ka’ anapali, Hawaii, and will include current Duramed FUTURES Tour members COURTNEY ERDMAN of Altadena, Calif., LIZ STUART of Tampa, Fla., KIM WELCH of Sacramento, LORI ATSEDES of Ithaca, N.Y., SAMANTHA HEAD of Bedford, England, and SUSAN CHOI of Natick, Mass. Former Duramed FUTURES Tour members ADRIENNE GAUTREAUX of Mabank, Texas, and TINA MILLER of Miami also are in the 12-woman cast.
“I was really nervous at the start, but then I told myself that they picked me for a reason and to just be myself,” said Stuart, who visited Hawaii for the first time during the filming. “I have no idea how I will be portrayed in the show, but I hope I’m seen as just the laid-back, raw talent, poor kid trying to grind her way through it to get somewhere.”
How characters are portrayed is always interesting in the Big Break show, but Atsedes says viewers have to remember one thing: “It’s television and then it’s golf.”
“I’ve been labeled a lot of things … ‘drama queen’ and ‘trouble maker,’ but it’s entertainment,” Atsedes added. “ And we just happen to be golfers.”
Normally shy, Welch admits that she is “nervous, excited and anxious to see how the show’s producers put it all together.” She also says she tries “not to care,” but can’t help but worry.
“I don’t really know what to expect, but it’s going to be weird watching myself on TV,” she said.
Erdman is more concerned about what she will be saying on the show. During filming one day, she and Miller were sitting in a golf cart having a candid conversation when they realized everything they had said was on tape.
“We were just gossiping like girls do and we forgot our mikes were on,” said Erdman, who was in Hawaii filming and away from husband Kevin Erdman during their third wedding anniversary.
Head, who will be back in Europe this week when the show premieres, won’t get to watch it on live TV as she prepares for the 2008 season on the Ladies European Tour.
“I hope it’s going to be shown on the Internet,” said Head, who played the first two Duramed FUTURES Tour events before returning to Europe. “I’m really jealous because all the girls will be able to watch it together in Lafayette (La.). The show will probably go to England at the end of the year.”
But Head did laugh at the thought of how the current show could create a new twist for her twin sister Johanna Head, an LPGA Tour member.
“Now, instead of people saying to me, ‘Oh, you’re Jo’s sister,’ now they will probably say to my sister on the LPGA Tour, ‘Oh, you must be Sam’s sister,” she laughed. “I really like that thought.”
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6. Ochoa Wins Again, Gains Points For HOF
Duramed FUTURES Tour alumna LORENA OCHOA of Mexico sealed her entry into the LPGA Tour and World Golf Halls of Fame with her victory at last week’s Corona Championship at Tres Marias Golf Club in Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico. Ochoa nearly lapped the field with her 11-shot victory at 267 (-25).
“Things happen for a reason [and this is] something I’ll be able to say for the rest of my life,” said Ochoa, a native of Guadalajara, Mexico. “Everybody saw me do it [in Mexico]. I think that’s for sure, the best memory.”
Ochoa’s fourth win in five events gave her the required 27 points to enter the Hall, but she will not be eligible for admission until 2012, when she completes 10 years on the LPGA Tour. Ochoa, 26, now has 21 career LPGA wins, including two major championships, two Rolex Player of the Year awards and two Vare Trophy awards. Each LPGA Tour victory is worth one point, while a major championship is worth two points, and Rolex Player of the Year and Vare Trophy honors are worth one point each.
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7. Quote Of The Week
“All I can tell you is I’m wearing a coconut bra in the first interview and they had a problem finding a place to put the microphone.”
- Tour member Liz Stuart of Tampa, on her television debut on the Golf Channel’s “Big Break Ka’ anapali.”
Contact: Lisa D. Mickey, Duramed FUTURES Tour, 386-274-6216, or lisa@duramedfuturestour.com.
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