Lee Ann Walker didn’t expect to win when she showed up for the first round of the Senior LPGA Championship in French Lick, Indiana. After all, she last played a full season on tour 11 years ago, and the 8,102-yard, par-72 Pete Dye course presented a challenge even regulars in the circuit were slated to be hard-pressed to meet. Still, she figured to be competitive, as she has been in any undertaking. And, above all else, she was determined to have fun; at the very least, the event gave her an opportunity to catch up with old friends and make new ones.
As things turned out, Walker managed to check one of two boxes. She had a blast, she said, even though she didn’t survive the cut for the final round. In fact, she was nowhere near it, not with a whopping 58 — yes, 58 — penalty strokes added to her score. Her problem was ignorance, which wouldn’t have mattered this time last year. Unfortunately, the start of 2019 saw changes in regulations that included the prohibition of caddies helping players line up their putts. And as she wasn’t part of the tour rota, she didn’t know she was in violation of Rule 10.2b until the fifth hole of her second round.
To be sure, Walker still wouldn’t have been able to negotiate the final 18 of the Senior LPGA in any case. Without the added strokes, her 85 and 74 would have been one shot higher than the mark. Instead, she wound up over by 59, a magic number in golf under any other circumstance. For all her travails, however, she stayed upbeat. She could have mailed in her performance after being told of her predicament; instead, she shot a one-over-par sub-total the rest of the way. In a setup that wound up producing only one score in the red, her effort is nothing short of remarkable.
Tellingly, Walker was even-keeled in her appreciation of the experience she went through. “I’m glad I went,” the Associated Press quoted her as saying. “Everything was great except for my penalties.” And even those she took in stride, noting that “I may have made the Guinness Book of World Records.” What the real property broker by day truly made? Fans who appreciate a good story, and an even better person behind it.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and Human Resources management, corporate communications, and business development.
