Canada’s Newest Tour Player Wanted It NOW

Conditional status in a nice designation to have in theory, but it’s not something that Canada’s newest player on the LPGA Tour wanted to think about in the final weeks of the Duramed Futures Tour season.

Fewer events on the LPGA Tour season this year meant more full-time players in the fields in 2009, leaving little room for conditional players to get in, making the Futures Tour a more viable option.

It remains to be seen if the number of LPGA events increases in the near future with an economy that seems to be improving, but Samantha Richdale of Kelowna, B.C., didn’t want to take that chance.

Richdale finished fourth on the 2009 Futures Tour money list to earn her full-time card for 2010, but finishing sixth through 10th would have meant conditional status and a trip to qualifying school to try and upgrade to a full-time card.

“I didn’t really take the six through 10 into consideration,” said Richdale. “(Jessica Shepley of Oakville, Ont.) had that status from last year and she hasn’t really gotten into anything. Read more

Buzz Is Big On Stack And Tilt

Angela Buzminski of Oshawa, Ont., still has a date at LPGA Tour qualifying school, but it’s not as intimidating as it once was for Buzminski, who credits a swing change to stack-and-tilt for an improved showing this year.

After finishing 64th on the Duramed Futures Tour money list in 2008, Buzminski rocketed up the standings to seventh this year, a season in which she won once and had five top-10 finishes to earn conditional LPGA Tour status. She hopes to improve on that at Q-school.

Buzminski first began working on the stack-and-tilt with coach Jeff Gschwind in February, 2008, “I sucked for so long. I’m being honest,” she said.

“I just wasn’t getting it done,” said Buzminski, who played full-time on the LPGA Tour in 2002. “It was inconsistent, I’d shoot 60-something one day and then, I could just as easily turn around and shoot 83.

“You swing one way for however many years and then decide the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, so I had to make the jump to try and do something different,”

The first order of business, she said, was getting ready for Q-school last year, when she tied for 25th, just short of a full-time card. This year, she felt more comfortable with the stack-and-tilt on the Futures Tour.

“I wasn’t constantly thinking about golf swing on the golf course,” said Buzminski, who goes directly to the final stage of this year’s Q-school.

Canadians Move Up To LPGA Tour

The news may not have been good for Canadian women’s golf on Friday when all 12 Canadians missed the cut at the CN Canadian Women’s Open, but in Albany, N.Y., yesterday, Kelowna’s Samantha Richdale brightened the picture.

Richdale shot a final round 68 to tie for third at the season-ending ILoveNY Championship, which left her fourth on the Duramed Futures Tour money list with $59,292.

That position earns Richdale a full-time LPGA Tour card for 2010 and she will join fellow Canadians Alena Sharp of Hamilton and Lorie Kane of Charlottetown. Richdale finished the season with two wins.

Angela Buzminski of Oshawa, Ont., tied for 13th in Albany to earn conditional status on tour next year after finishing seventh on the money list following a season that included one win.

Three-time Canadian Amateur champion Lisa Meldrum, who also had a Futures Tour win this year, finished 15th on the money list to earn a direct ticket to the final stage of LPGA qualifying school.

Meldrum tied for 39th in Albany.

Play It Again Sam

For the second time this season, Canadians have won on back-to-back weekends on the Duramed Futures Tour and Samantha Richdale of Kelowna, B.C., has been a part of both doubleheaders.

Back in April, Richdale won the Louisiana Pelican Classic and that victory was followed directly by Angela Buzminski of Oshawa, Ont., capturing the Historic Brownsville Open in Texas the next weekend.

Just over a week ago, three-time Canadian amateur champion Lisa Meldrum of Montreal won the Impact Classic in Richmond, Va., and Richdale followed that up immediately with a win Monday at the $110,000 Turkey Hill Classic in Harrisburg, Pa.

Richdale’s win marked the first Monday finish on the Futures Tour since 1997 and her third tour victory came after a weekend of weather delays and darkness suspensions

Richdale (68) and Amanda Mathis of Opelousas, La., (69) ended regulation tied at 10-under-par (206), forcing a one-hole playoff on No. 18. Both players’ second shot ended in the rough, just short of the green. Richdale managed to get it up and down for par and the win, with Mathis settling for a bogey.

“I didn’t have a very good second shot,” said Richdale. “I usually hit it a little short when I’m nervous, so I was trying to make sure I didn’t do that. I’m glad I had to just tap it in for par.”

Richdale started the morning’s three strokes behind the leaders after Sunday’s final-round play was suspended due to darkness.

“I was just hoping to have a good finish,” said Richdale, who recorded 10 wins at Illinois State.

“I finished a lot better than I thought. I didn’t start off too smooth. I had a bogey on the second hole. After that I just started concentrating on making good shots and good putts.”

The second round was also suspended due to darkness following Friday’s first round weather delay, something Richdale is very familiar with after her win in Lousiana earlier this year.
”
It’s been a long week,” said Richdale. “The grounds crew did an amazing job trying to clean up the course. It reminded me of when I won in Louisiana. It was exciting to come back to Pennsylvania. I’ve got some really great fans here. That helped me a lot.”

Richdale is now fourth on the money list with one tournament, the ILoveNY Championship in Albany, N.Y. remaining.

The top 10 on the money list get LPGA Tour cards, with the top five earning full-time status.

“It takes a little stress out of it,” said Richdale, who was ranked fifth going into Harrisburg. “I’m pretty excited to have a bit of a lead going into Albany.”

Meldrum Adds to Canadian Wins on Futures Tour

Montreal’s Lisa Meldrum became the third Canadian to win on the 2009 Duramed Futures Tour on Sunday when she captured her first tour title at the $100,000 Impact Classic in Richmond, Va..

Meldrum broke free from a crowded leaderboard and posted a final-round score of five-under 67 to finish at eight under for the tournament at Richmond Country Club, one shot ahead of three other players. The $14,000 she collected for the win vaulted Meldrum from 45th to 15th on the money list.

“”I expected to be in a playoff and I was preparing for that. My heart was pounding a little fast on the last hole, so when I finished, I just went up to the practice green and waited,” said Meldrum, 27.

The final round saw eight lead changes by early afternoon with as many as five players crowded at the top of the leaderboard and that many more right behind, one shot back.

A lot of things went through Meldrum’s head on the practice green as she putted and waited and wondered if, at last, this would be her week.

“Out here, you work hard and you see the low numbers every week,” she said. “You play with the winners all the time and you think you should be there.”

Meldrum proved she belonged yesterday and by moving into 15th on the money list, she is in contention for a bye into the final stage of LPGA Tour qualifying school later this year.

Samantha Richdale of Kelowna, B.C., is fifth on the money list, a position that would earn her a LPGA Tour playing card if she stays there, while Angela Buzminski of Oshawa, Ont., is sixth on the money list. Both won tour events earlier this year.

Rising Star Offers Some Good News to Smoke-Weary Kelowna

As this blog was being written, the temperature in Kelowna was expected to reach 29 C and stay above average until early next week when a cool-down was expected before shooting well above the 30 C mark for the foreseeable future.

An extended period of hot weather had already put the entire province of British Columbia on high alert for fires, which were already burning in several areas including Kelowna, home to rising star Samantha Richdale, who is in the final stages of her quest for a 2010 full-time LPGA Tour card.

Thankfully, she hasn’t had to worry too much about back home, where evacuations have occurred, but haven’t included her parents.

“My mom says it keeps getting smokier. You can’t really see too much. I believe the fires are on the other side of the Okanagan lake,” said Richdale, 25. “My mom hasn’t said anything about evacuating or anything.” Read more

Canadians Will Be MIA at Women’s Open

Canadians now occupy two of the top four spots on the Duramed Futures Tour money list after Angela Buzminski of Oshawa, Ont., won the Historic Brownsville Open yesterday in Texas.

That marked the second consecutive win by a Canadian on the Futures Tour after Samantha Richdale of Kelowna, B.C., won the Louisiana Pelican Classic a week ago.

If the current money list stayed the same until the end of the year, both players would have full-time status on the LPGA Tour next year, but as a result of being so competitive this year, neither Buzminski nor Richdale will be at this year’s CN Canadian Women’s Open. Read more

Buzz Keeps Her Promise

Angela Buzminski of Oshawa, Ont., made a promise six years ago that she wanted to keep and, since 2003, wanting to win again was about more than just hoisting a crystal trophy and depositing a nice cheque into her bank account.

It was about keeping a promise to a friend.

The Canadian kept her promise today when she won the inaugural $110,000 Historic Brownsville Open in a non-stop windstorm that allowed just two sub-par rounds and two even-par rounds on a tough El Diablo Course at Rancho Viejo Resort and Country Club.

It marked the second consecutive win by a Canadian on the Duramed Futures Tour after Samantha Richdale of Kelowna, B.C., won the Louisiana Pelican Classic a week ago.

Sustained winds at 29 mph howled all day, with gusts of up to 38 mph. According to Buzminski, who carded a six-over-par 77 yesterday to win at 216 (+3), it was downright ugly at times.

“A win is a win and it’s been so long since my last one,” said Buzminski, a 15-year professional who now has five victories on the Futures Tour.

Like everybody else in the field, Buzminski had her share of trouble today. On her front nine, she recorded three bogeys and a double-bogey for a score of four-over-par 40.

On one hole, her ball rolled to the base of a tree, forcing the left-handed player to play the shot right-handed with the toe of her putter.

“I knew it was tough for everybody and I really wasn’t worried,” she said. “I don’t get sassy anymore. I’m too old for that.”

Sure enough, she rolled in a birdie from 10 feet on the 12th hole, gave it back on the 13th with a bogey, and then birdied from five feet on the 15th.

On the par-3 16th, a 160-yard hole that was playing 180, Buzminski smoked her knockdown hybrid over the green. The shot was out of bounds and Buzminski ended up taking a double bogey on the hole.

That led to frustration and fellow player Meghan Little, who missed the cut on Saturday and caddied for Buzminski today, reached out and stopped the madness.

“After that double on 16, she took off toward the 17th tee and I grabbed her by the shoulder,” said Little. “I said, ‘You can slow down right now because there’s no hurry to get there. There are two holes left and you still have a one-shot lead.’”

It was good advice, because try as they might, nobody else could catch Buzminski on the tight tree-lined course with small, firm greens and winds that wore down the patience of all.

Buzminski hit her “stinger” three wood off the tee on 17 and 18 to par in, capping her win from the back fringe of the 18th from 25 feet.

Buzminski won her first tournament as a professional on the Futures Tour in 2000, and then tore it up in 2001 with three wins and nine top-10 finishes to earn full LPGA status for the following season.

Since returning to the Futures Tour, she has suffered at times from lack of confidence that finally ended on the weekend.

Or perhaps more accurately, a year ago when she went to teaching professional Jeff Gschwind and admitted that she was ready for a swing overhaul.

Her teacher reinforced her positive thoughts and launched her on a new stack and tilt swing method to shorten her previously long-and-loose backswing. The swing change passed a tough test in Texas.

After she had signed her last autograph, Buzminski spoke quietly about a promise she had made to fellow Canadian Heather Wilbur back in 2003 when the 27-year-old was battling leukemia.

Each day was becoming a challenge for Wilbur, who had played on the Futures Tour for three years when she suddenly fell ill.

“A couple of months before Heather died, I told her that the next time I win, that I would dedicate it to her,” said Buzminski. “I guess it took me a while.”

The important thing is she kept that promise.

By Lisa Mickey, Duramed Futures Tour

Despite Initial Doubts, Sam Made A Good Career Choice After All

It was only about three years ago that Samantha Richdale was unsure about her decision to try her luck as a touring professional, despite some impressive credentials.

Richdale had won 10 times at Illinois State, was a three-time winner of the Missouri Valley Conference Championship and a 2004 Academic All-American. In 2005, she was Illinois State’s female athlete of the year.

Back home in British Columbia, she won that province’s Amateur title in 2004 and was runner-up the next year, when she went on to win the Royale Cup national women’s championship, but there was still that lingering doubt.

“My first year out of college, I was like, `I hope this is for me (so) let’s give it a try and see what happens,’” recalled the Kelowna golfer, who turns 25 next week. “The last two years, everything has fallen into place.”

That includes her first win on the Duramed Futures Tour, which came at the 2008 Gettysburg Championship, and she followed that up last weekend with a victory at the Louisiana Pelican Classic in Lafayette, La. Read more

Canadian Wins on Futures Tour

LAFAYETTE, La. – There were starts and stops and far too many drops, but the rain-shortened Louisiana Pelican Classic ended on a sunny note for Samantha Richdale of Kelowna, B.C., who fired a personal-best 66 to emerge as the best mudder.

Richdale carded a two-under-par 70 at the Duramed Futures Tour event on Friday at The Wetlands and was on the second green when the second round was suspended on Saturday.

When play resumed on Sunday, she finished the hole almost 24 hours later with a 12-footer for birdie that jump-started her day. Richdale attacked the course and won by three shots by finishing eight-under for the tournament at 136.

“I was pretty nervous about today with so much waiting around. I just tried to go for the greens and pins that I could go for,” said Richdale.

After Saturday’s rain delay, more rain fell that evening and the tour’s attempt to restart Saturday’s second round at 7:30 a.m., was pushed back to 1 p.m. today and it became a 36-hole event.

By Sunday noon, the sun came back out, the wind picked up and 72 players returned to finish Saturday’s round with a clean-and-place ruling in effect.

With two birdies on her first four holes, and a bogey at the seventh, Richdale took charge of the tournament with an eagle on the par five ninth hole.

Playing from a fairway bunker 213 yards out, she pulled her 17-degree hybrid club and holed out to tie for the lead.

Richdale took the lead with a birdie from three feet on No. 11 and added insurance with birdies on 13 and 15.

On the last hole, she hit past the flagstick to the back fringe and got up and down for par from 25 feet above the hole for her three-shot victory and second career win on the Duramed Futures Tour.

With files & images from Lisa Mickey, Duramed Futures Tour

Bourassa To Receive Futures Tour Award

Former du Maurier Classic executive director Jocelyne Bourassa will receive the Trainor Award, awarded by the Duramed Futures Tour, this Sunday at the Florida Natural Growers Charity Classic in Winter Haven, Fla.

The Trainor Award is named after Futures Tour founder and former president Eloise Trainor, who retired in 1999 after operating the tour for 20 years. She will present Bourassa with the award, which is given annually to an individual person or group that has made a significant contribution to women’s golf.

“I am shocked, but honoured,” said Bourassa, a native of Shawinigan, Que., who had an outstanding amateur career on the provincial, national and international levels before joining the LPGA Tour in 1972, when she was named the tour’s rookie of the year.

Bourassa has the distinction of being the only Canadian ever to win an LPGA Tour event on home soil, that benchmark coming in 1973, when she won La Canadienne in Montreal.

Injuries forced Bourassa’s career to end prematurely in 1979, but her association with golf was far from over as she went on to become the women’s golf coach at Arizona State in 1980. Later that year, she became executive director of the du Maurier Classic, a tournament that became a tour major.

In that capacity, Bourassa’s focus was not solely on the tour event as she worked with various associations and the Canadian PGA to develop players for young female professionals through programs such as the du Maurier Series.

“I created the du Maurier Series in 1990 and, when it was started, we had less than 20 Canadian women professionals,” said Bourassa. “By 2000, we had more than 150 Canadian women professionals and Lorie Kane and Liz Earley were graduates of that program.”

Bourassa’s work with the du Maurier Classic and Series was in jeopardy in 2000 when federal anti-smoking legislation ended Imperial Tobacco’s long association with the event, but Bourassa worked tirelessly to save the events, even though the Classic lost its major status.

When the Bank of Montreal came on board as title sponsor, the tour event carried on and the Series became the Bank of Montreal Canadian Women’s Tour. CN has since taken sponsorship of both the LPGA event and development tour, which offers exemptions into the CN Canadian Women’s Open.

Bourassa continues her development work, serving as senior consultant for Golf Quebec, a new program that brings golf into elementary schools in that province. She also creates women’s and corporate clinics throughout the country.

“For me to continue the work of developing women’s golf, I am going back to the grassroots,” said Bourassa.

“I wanted to mentor a little bit and work with the pros we have developed. Now, I am working with the teaching professionals and physical educators to reach the children in this new program in the schools.”

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A Multitude of Monday Morning Thoughts

The mind is weak and the thoughts are fractured with another work week upon us, but most who know me would say that’s the case most days. Keep the GPS on as the thoughts wander from one subject to another this Monday morning.

DON’T BE SHY: A week ago, we introduced the GNN Forum, which was designed to create a sense of community within the Canadian golf industry.

There’s been some good traffic through the Forum, but most seem to be tippytoe-ing around in there anonymously, which isn’t unusual with the proceedings just getting underway.

There have been some postings and we would obviously like to see the chatter expanding beyond the subjects that have already been touched on. Read more