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Best in show Against a tough field, the author plays her toughest golf
Leta Lindley, 28, is in her sixth season on the LPGA Tour. She had her best year in 1999 with a tie for second, as well as four other top 10 finishes. In 1997, she finished second at the LPGA Championship, losing to Chris Johnson on the second hold of a sudden-death playoff. She was a four-time All-American at the University of Arizona and set an NCAA record for lowest 54-hole score (nine under par). November 21, 2000
I feel like I've been holding my breath for a whole season and now I can let out this big sigh of relief. I did it! I had a fantastic tournament last weekend. I finished tied for third at the Arch Championship in Daytona Beach. I had worked so hard in Japan to be No. 30 on the money list just to make it into this event. As it turned out, two players pulled out and the field opened up to include No. 31 and 32 on the list. So, all of a sudden, I had a chance to not finish in the top 30. I felt as if there was just no end to the pressure, which maybe was a good thing in the long run, but it was a little hard to take at first. I tried to put it out of my mind. I knew I just had to play my best and hopefully that would be good enough. It was an exciting week. It was really so strange to be there. I'd never been in such a small field. All of the tournaments I'd been in have had 144 players teeing it up. I'm looking around and there were all these great players: Meg Mallon, Annika Sorenstam, Dottie Pepper and me. To have my name uttered in the same breath as theirs was really exciting. When I first saw the course, I was excited. None of us had seen this Legends course. We used to play the Champions course. The Champions course is wide open, with huge greens. It's basically a long-hitters dream. The Legends is tight, and the greens are small and tricky. You really have to play good golf to do well there. When I first saw it, I thought, "I can play here. I can compete with the other girls." And then I shot a great first round. I came out and shot a 68. I was one off the pace. I was feeling really good. Then I woke up on Friday and I couldn't move my neck! I thought, "This is not fair. It has happened before, but why now?!" I got out of bed and told Matt that I had to see Keith in the health trailer right away. Keith worked on me for an hour, trying to get the kink out, but it didn't get better. I had this knot in my neck/back area for three days. I just played with it. I didn't have full-range of motion in my neck on Friday. But I managed to shoot 1 under. I was tied for the lead! My neck got a little better by the end of the tournament, but it was never great. I guess I decided to look at it as a test. It was a matter of survival and I passed. By the third day, I was bruised from all of Keith's massages. But I thought, "I've done this before, I can do it again. I'm not going to let this ruin my week." On top of that, the weather was different every day, which can be a real test of your patience. I've been good at being patient this year and all that practice paid off. I shot 72 on each of the last two days, which was good enough to tie Annika for third. Here I've been doing this column all year and I've felt as if I needed to answer my fans. What better way than to have my best tournament as the last one?! I couldn't have asked for a better ending. I'm not at all disappointed with not winning. Not only was this my second-biggest payday ever (I earned $71,500), but I just crossed the $1 million mark for my career. And, on top of that, I passed six people on the money list and finished 24th for the season! I almost think this tournament was harder on Matt than it was for me. He was outside the ropes and he was so nervous because he knew how bad I wanted it. He knew I had to perform. We both wanted it so badly. On the last day when I really needed to make par on 17, his hands were all sweaty. After it was over, I asked him, "How many gray hairs did you get this week?" He said, "Aren't they all gray?" I'm looking forward to a little time off, but I'm also looking forward to next year. I really want to build on this. I'm just so excited. I hope I've opened up some eyes. I feel that after this tournament and this season, I'm someone to be looked at. I only missed three cuts this year. I've opened up my own eyes as well and that's really the most important thing. I'm a good player. About the future? I haven't decided what I'm going to do about going out to California to see Lud in the offseason. I'm kind of tired of traveling. I want a little time to reflect and to think about what direction I want to go in. Even though I had my best season, I wasn't really happy with my ball striking. But I need some distance right now. I want to talk to Lud about what I'm thinking. I don't think the direction he wants me to go is the direction I want to go. But Lud is a really versatile teacher. He's not just a one-way-or-the-highway type of guy. If one way isn't working for me, he can teach me another. We just need to sit down and talk and see where I'm going. It's important for me to communicate what I'm doing on the road and the results that I'm seeing so he can help teach me. I still don't know for sure who my caddie will be next year. I asked Jon about his plans and he said he's 90 percent sure he's coming back. I thought we worked very well together and if he comes back, he said he'd work for me. There's just that 10 percent that's not sure. I know he still wants to try going out on tour for himself. You know how it is: you come out to caddy for two weeks as a favor to a friend, and all of a sudden it's four years later. He is a great player, which is what makes him such a good caddie. I hope it will work out. Lastly, I want to say thank you to all of you for all your support, for following my column, and for following my career. I've enjoyed doing this column and I look forward to seeing your friendly faces out there next year. -Leta
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