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Colleen
Walker, a nine-time winner on the LPGA Tour, including the
1997 du Maurier Classic major championship, has been named
captain of the PING Junior Solheim Cup U.S. Team.
"I’m
excited about this challenge,” Walker said. “It’s
an honor to be asked to fulfill this position and coach the
best young lady golfers in the country.
“Obviously,
I’m not going to be working with their golf swings,”
she explained. “As captain, my role will be to motivate
the players and strategize how to compete as a team. I’m
really looking forward to this opportunity.”
John A.
Solheim, chairman and CEO of PING, the leading global manufacturer
of custom-built golf equipment that sponsors the event, extended
the invitation to Walker to become captain.
“Colleen
brings a wealth of talent and experience to the captaincy,”
Solheim said. “She is an accomplished player, wife,
mother and dedicated professional whose career I’ve
followed closely over the past 20 years.”
The PING
Junior Solheim Cup, which features the 12 best female golfers
(ages 12-18) from the United States against the top 12 junior
girls from Europe, will be held Sept. 6-7, 2005, at The Bridgewater
Club outside Indianapolis. The event immediately precedes
The Solheim Cup at nearby Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel
Sept. 9-11.
The United
States and Europe are tied at one victory each in PING Junior
Solheim Cup competition.
Walker,
who underwent chemotherapy and radiation treatments last year
for breast cancer, is playing her 22nd year on the LPGA Tour.
In addition to her nine Tour victories, she won the 2002 Hy-Vee
Classic Women’s Senior Golf Tour event in her first
attempt on the senior circuit.
Walker
considers winning the 1988 Vare Trophy her single most important
accomplishment in golf. The Vare Trophy is awarded annually
to the LPGA professional with the lowest scoring average in
at least 70 rounds of tour golf. Walker earned the title with
a 71.26 scoring average. The year 1988 also saw Walker finish
second in the Kraft Nabisco Championship and third in the
U.S. Women’s Open Championship.
"You
have to be a consistent player to win the Vare Trophy, and
that year was my most consistent on Tour,” she said.
Last year, Walker was inducted into the Palm Beach County
Sports Hall of Fame.
“To
have a community where you have lived recognize you for what
you have accomplished in sports is a special experience,”
she said.
Walker
graduated from Florida State University in 1978 and has been
inducted into that university’s Hall of Fame as well.
She has been nominated to the Florida Sports Hall of Fame,
with induction pending this fall.
At 18,
Walker was named the 1974 Palm Beach Post Athlete and Player
of the Year for her amateur golfing performances. Two years
later, she won the All-State (Florida) Golf Award.
Walker
and her husband, Ron, have a 7-year-old son, Tyler, both of
whom are accompanying her on the LPGA Tour this year.
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