Maine news, sports, weather from Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram, Portland, Maine

June 22, 2012

LPGA Legends Tour: Those figures on television come to life

Volunteers for this weekend's tourney are awed by seeing some of the best in person.

By Tom Chard tchard@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer

FALMOUTH - Susan Coughlin of Falmouth jumped at the chance to be a volunteer for the Hannaford Community Challenge of the LPGA Legends Tour.

She and many other Falmouth Country Club members will be stationed all over the course this weekend.

Having seen these former LPGA standouts on television and now seeing them in person at her home course is pretty special.

"It was kind of neat to see Nancy Lopez waiting to get her picture taken," said Coughlin. "She's a name I've seen a lot. The other players we talked with were very nice. It's going to be fun watching the whole thing happen."

The tournament pro-am was held Thursday. The teams, composed of a pro with four amateur partners, played a modified scramble. Several women played in the pro-am, including Kate Boyle of Scarborough, who is president of The First Tee of Maine, one of the tournament charities.

Boyle and Mary Brandes of Falmouth, a multiple Southern Maine Women's Golf Association champion, played with Liselotte Neumann, who won 13 LPGA tournaments and the 1988 U.S. Women's Open.

Midway through her round, Boyle said she was pleased with her ball striking but not her putting.

"I've had two four-putts," she said. "I think my nerves got to me. I've never played with a professional golfer before."

Boyle, a former president of the Southern Maine Women's Golf Association, said she's been looking forward to the tournament since Hannaford and Harris Golf, owner of the Falmouth Country Club and other courses in Maine, joined forces.

"It's great for women's golf because it showcases some of the best women golfers around," said Boyle. "They may be the senior tour but you wouldn't know it to watch them play. It's nice for men, women, kids to come out and see that women can play this game."

Today's tournament schedule includes a swing demonstration by some players followed by a junior clinic at 10 a.m. The rest of the day is reserved for practice rounds for the players.

The first round of the tournament is Saturday with the opening group starting at 8 a.m. Each group will be comprised of two Legends golfers and a junior golfer from the First Tee Of Maine. Boys and girls will participate. The First Tee golfers will have a mini-tournament of their own.

Sunday is the final round for pros only.

"We have 100 kids coming to the junior clinic," said Boyle. "Anytime they get to see it's cool to play golf, it makes it mainstream. It's always kind of remote on TV but when they see it in person, they say 'I can do that.' "

When the club notified members about volunteering, Coughlin said: "I sent out my application and here I am."

As an indicator of the tournament's anticipation, the allotment of volunteer openings went quickly.

Each group on Saturday and Sunday will have a scorer and a standard bearer, who carries the score sign.

"I'm going to be a standard bearer," said Coughlin. "I'm in group nine on Saturday and group 14 on Sunday. Hopefully it will be fun."

Asked if watching the Legends will help her game, Coughlin said: "I'll have to wait until I get out there. I hope so. I want a good lob shot. I'm pretty good on distance but my short game needs work, which happens to be the most important part of the game."

Staff Writer Tom Chard can be contacted at 791-6419 or at:

tchard@pressherald.com

Twitter: TomChardPPH

 

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