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In
This Issue
From
Green to Screen
A
hands-off look at AJGA Live Scoring
View
From Chateau:
Paula Creamer's appearance
on the LPGA Tour gave her a glimpse of her dream
The
Gallery:
There is always
fun to be had on and off the golf course at AJGA events.
The
Scoring Tent:
Here are the newly crowned
champions from Easter Weekend and the Thunderbird International Junior
News
From the Fringe:
Survey
Says...
With
the help of HP iPAQ Pocket PCs, the AJGA Equipment Survey makes its way into
the 21st century.
Easter
Weekend Roundup
Countless
playing opportunities were available over the Easter holiday as the AJGA conducted
events in three regions of the country. Here are the results from the whirlwind
weekend.
Harman,
Knoll Get Summer Started on High Note
The
Thunderbird International Junior annually marks the beginning of the AJGA Summer
Season
By
the Book
How well do you know the rules of golf? Not as well as Gus Montano, the AJGA
director of education. He'll test you here.
THE
AJGA LINK HOME
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All
Grown Up
Paula
Creamer's appearance on the LPGA Tour gave her a glimpse of
her dream
By
Steve Ethun
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Around
the AJGA National Headquarters, it seems most everyone has their
own, “I remember when…” Most of these stories
tend to revolve around players who they saw grace the AJGA fairways
before they reached the “big time.” Stories about
Tiger Woods, Sergio Garcia, Charles Howell, Beth Bauer, and
the like tend to crop up time and time again.
For me, as a relative AJGA newcomer (I interned in 2001), I
was left on the outside looking in – until recently. As
I walked the grounds of the LPGA Asahi Ryokuken International
Championship at Mount Vintage, I knew my time had come to enter
the “I remember when…” contingent. So here
we go.
I remember my first AJGA tournament, the 2001 Aspen Junior Classic.
After the event, as part of the Communications staff, I had
to interview the Girls Division Champion – Paula Creamer.
It just so happened that it was her first AJGA victory, the
first of many as we all have found out. She was 14 years old
and answered questions like you would expect a 14-year-old,
short and sweet, with an I’ve-never-really-done-this-before
look to her.
I remember, later that summer, the Compaq Junior Classic at
Trophy Lake, Paula’s second AJGA victory. (By the way,
Ryan Moore won the Boys Division at that event. This year I
saw him walking up the 18th fairway with Arnold Palmer at the
Masters – I bragged about that a few times as well.) After
I interviewed Paula, we made our way over to a few members of
the media for some more questions. “What am I supposed
to say?” she asked me. A perfectly good question for a
14-year-old, but one I didn’t expect. My response: “Take
your time and answer thoughtfully. Remember, they want to hear
something interesting, and they won’t let you go until
they do.”
These stories came back to me as I saw Paula emerge earlier
this month from the pressroom of her first LPGA event.
"It was a great experience and it was so much fun,”
she said. “That's what I want to do with my career and
I got a glimpse of it. When I first got here, no one knew who
I was. I showed myself I could play with them and I think they
saw that too.”
She made the cut by three strokes, surpassing the expectations
of some, but not her own.
“My confidence was high coming into the tournament,”
she said. “I always thought that I would make the cut.”
When all was said and done, after she posted her 7-over-par
tournament total (she was only 1-over heading into the final
round), she said with thoughtfulness, “I gave myself a
lot of opportunities.”
I remember when Paula might have been upset at her finish. Maybe
she was, but no one knew it, a sure sign she was learning. She
was no longer the timid 14-year-old I once knew. In fact, she
was the youngest player in the field, but had the composure
of someone well beyond her years. |
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