The 2012 LPGA Kingsmill Championship will be remembered for the nine-hole playoff between Jiyai Shin and Paula Creamer. Tied for the lead after 72 holes, they played eight playoff holes on Sunday evening before running out of daylight and were forced to come back on Monday morning to play the deciding hole. Paula Creamer ran her first putt six feet past the hole and failed to make her second giving the crown to Jiyai Shin after her two putt par.
On Friday afternoon at Kingsmill LPGA Tour veteran Leta Lindley was walking up the 18th hole holding her caddy’s hand trying to hold back a few tears.
She didn’t have a huge gallery following her and her 73-71 two-over par aggregate for the first 36 holes would not make the cut.
The Kingsmill Championship would be the last event for Leta Lindley. Earlier in the year she had decided to hang up her spikes and retire from the grind of the PGA Tour.
Leta joined the LPGA Tour in 1995, has one win, and has earned $3.0 million in prize money. She turned 40 years old on June 1, has made seven of 12 cuts in 2012 but has only earned $35,000.
“I'm most proud of the career that I've had out here,” Lindley said. “I'm the girl that was never going to do it. I would never get a college scholarship, I would never win a college tournament, I would never get my card, let alone keep it. And then to win a tournament after having two children, sometimes I feel like the little engine that could.”
Leta and her caddy/husband, Matt Plagmann, have traveled the LPGA Tour circuit for over 18 years.
We read about and see Paula Creamer, Michelle Wie, Stacy Lewis, Yani Tseng, and the other stars of the LPGA Tour on leader boards every week.
But just like Leta Lindley there are hundreds of other lady professionals that toil on the tour and never reach greatness but provide for their families.
For the professional golf is a job. They have lives and families outside of the ropes that demand their time and attention. Mike Plagmann and Leta Lindley have made tour golf their family business for over 18 years.
Good Luck to them in their future endeavors.