26 Nov Laurie Rinker Earns Top Legends Tour Honors
BOSTON, Nov. 26, 2014 – LPGA Legends Tour member Laurie Rinker recently completed her second consecutive season among the top performers on the official senior tour of the LPGA.
Since joining the Legends Tour in 2007, Rinker has recorded 13 top-10 finishes and three wins in 25 events, earning $240,000 in Part II of her professional career.
The Florida pro finished as the tour’s runner-up in season earnings last year with six top-10 finishes and one win in seven starts for a total of $84,650 in prize money. She finished first in 2014, adding $68,343 in three tournaments.
“I feel like I’ve combined 2013 and 2014 into two years of really good ball striking,” said Rinker, 52, of Stuart, Fla. “I’m a mom, a part-time competitor and I now I teach golf.
“But I’m grateful for the opportunity to still play tournaments and to see my long-time fellow competitors,” added Rinker. “Competition has been a big part of my life for many years and these players are very important to me.”
As the younger sister of former PGA TOUR pros Larry and Lee Rinker, as well as an older brother, Laine Rinker, Jr., who is still a single-digit-handicap amateur, the baby of the family felt she also had some things to prove. She joined the LPGA Tour in 1982 — fresh out of the University of Florida, where she was a two-time All-American.
She won twice on the LPGA Tour and teamed up with brother Larry to win the 1985 JCPenney Classic mixed-team event. In 2005, Rinker qualified for the HSBC Women’s World Match Play Championship and, as the 63rd seed, upset third-seeded Lorena Ochoa and finished tied for 17th.
But after marriage to Rob Graham in 1991, and the birth of two sons in 1995 and 1997, Rinker played her last LPGA tournament in 2009. She was ready to call it a career on the LPGA Tour.
“Competition used to be my central focus, but it’s not the only thing in my life now,” said Rinker, who teaches golf in Stuart, Fla., and encourages her sons in the game. “Playing on the Legends Tour lets me still be competitive, but things are just more balanced.”
Rinker came into the Legends Tour’s season-ending Walgreens Charity Championship with a heavy heart in early November. She had just lost her father, Laine Rinker, to cancer on October 29. She wasn’t thinking about season accolades.
“It was very challenging because I had a lot on my mind and I didn’t really want to play,” said Rinker, who tied for 17th that week. “It was the worst I had played in a few years.”
But at the event, Rinker honored her father, who had taught her to play at age 10. By week’s end, she had squeaked out top 2014 Legends Tour honors, holding off Rosie Jones and Sherri Steinhauer. Read full article at LPGA.com.