Donna Caponi - Part 2 (The 1970 Women's U.S. Open and 1979 LPGA Championship)

Bruce Devlin 0:15

You didn't wait too long for validation, did you, Bruce? No, jumped right back again at the Lincoln Mercury Open at Round Hill in California. And the Nemesis KW come up again. You beat her in the playoff, right?

Donna Caponi 0:29

It was her, yeah. That's that was the event. Yeah. I did the playoff. And it was funny, people always ask me what was your most gratifying. And I said, you know, I'm not going to say it's the Winds US Open. I'm going to say it's the second win. Because you want to validate that the first one was a legitimate thing, you know, a legitimate win. And then um again fast forward, I win the next US Open. So I win it back to back. And I was playing the best golf of my life when that tournament came around. You know how golf is, it has ep ebbs and flows. And I just happened to be on a the high side. I was playing really well for the US Open, and so I get my title. And then the third USO, I was leading the first and I think the second round. And I'm gone, I don't know if I can take all this pressure because nobody at the time won three in a row. They may have been somebody on the men's team, but on our team. And I finished third, I believe, third or fourth. Joanne Carner shot this um uh unbelievable round that beat me on Sunday, which was you know, I was pretty nervous. I am going into that final round. It was it was something.

Mike Gonzalez 1:59

Well, we just visited with Joanne and I'm sure we talked about that win on her side, but uh you mentioned playing well coming into the 1970 US Open. You had won uh uh which is the the one victory we skipped over, you'd won at the Bluegrass Invitational two weeks before over Mary Mills. So you were playing well.

Donna Caponi 2:16

Yeah, I was, yeah. And you know, a lot of people take a week off before you go into a change. I didn't like that theory. I thought if you were playing well, you you just keep playing well. And I always treated a major. I mean, maybe that's why I was pretty successful, is that it's just another event, you know, because now you start putting so much pressure on you, you change your practice routines, you you change so much because now you're playing a major championship. And I tried not to do that. I just tried to stay level. And um maybe that's why I did well in in major events.

Bruce Devlin 2:52

And the opposite happened too for your second victory. Uh you were five behind after 54 when you won the first time. Uh this time you were four in front and ended up winning by one. So that might have been a little bit nervous coming down the end there, was it?

Donna Caponi 3:09

Absolutely. And um, if I recall the 18th hole, I think I may have double bogeyed the 18th hole, but my ball was in a divot on my t-shot, and so I had to kind of gouge it out and get it up in front of the green, and I had a very poor lie, and from there I hit it over the green, and then from there I chip back onto the green, and now I've got to make this putt at least for double bogey, because I certainly didn't want to go into a playoff.

Mike Gonzalez 3:44

And that's about you know, I don't know, I don't remember very much about the second US over, but the first one Well, as re as we read that double bogey putt hung on the lip for a while.

Donna Caponi 3:57

It did, I never saw it go in because when I hit the putt, I looked up and I saw that I was gonna miss it. And I looked up and I went, I can't believe this. And the crowd started to roar, and I turned around and the ball fell. That happened.

Bruce Devlin 4:14

So it was a shock, I'll bet.

Donna Caponi 4:17

Remember that putt, and I said, No, I never saw it.

Mike Gonzalez 4:21

Well, as Bruce mentioned, two different ways to uh to win uh uh a US Open back to back, and and as as he also mentioned, second person to ever defend after Mickey Wright had done it uh years before.

Donna Caponi 4:35

I might want to correct that record. Susie Burning, I think, also may have won that. That might be something to check on.

Mike Gonzalez 4:44

Ah, really? Well, we can check it right now. Okay, yeah, because uh uh if we go back to uh the US Open, we would see that Susie Burning won it in 1968, Donica Pony 6970, Karner 71, and so forth. Susie won uh also in 1973, and that's right, 1972 and 73. So it was really up until that point. You were the only person to have done it, but certainly, certainly Susie uh, which we talked to about won at uh Country Club of Rochester in 70, uh would have been 70. Oh, sorry, no, she won at Wingfoot, her first one, uh or her second one, which would have been in 1972, and then back to back at the Country Club of Rochester. So you are correct.

Donna Caponi 5:37

Yeah, I I was but I like you said, I think I was the first one. So what a great opportunity.

Mike Gonzalez 5:43

Yep, yep. So uh uh before we get to the 73 victory, you lost your father in 72. How did that impact you?

Donna Caponi 5:53

Well, I didn't want to play golf. I I he was my eyes, my ears, he was everything. And you know, I when Tiger's dad died I I saw him and I and I knew exactly what he was going through because when you spend so much time um especially my dad because he was my teacher um it was really hard. It was in fact I played terrible that year. I I didn't even want to go to the golf course. And uh finally a lot of friends of mine said, you know, your dad would be very upset with you if you really stopped playing. And I said, Okay, I'll I'll try. So the the next year when I did finally go back, uh I played pretty well and then started winning tournaments again.

Mike Gonzalez 6:48

Uh winning tournaments you did. Uh you you come back in 73 and and pick up your second win at the bluegrass that was over Sandra Spousich uh at Hunting Creek and then uh and then you really kind of get on a roll, don't you? I mean things just start to they start to r rock and roll.

Donna Caponi 7:05

Yeah, I started playing pretty well, uh pretty consistent. And um it was uh it's a part of your life that you think you know, I played on the tour for twenty-five years and it had its ups and downs, but I I just tried to stay level, not get too excited about a win, not get too depressed about a loss. There was a tournament that we played in Wheeling, West Virginia, and I lost on a playoff to Sandra Post. I was so devastated for the fans because she had either holed it out on the eighteenth hole or the seventeenth hole for Eagle or something to catch me, to tie me. And at this time I was the fan favorite and everybody was cheering my name, go Donna, go Donnie. Now I'm in the playoff, go Donna, go Donna, you know. That's more pressure than anything. Oh my goodness. Having, you know, if you're by yourself and you're just playing, just playing. That's when you've got 15,000 people all you hearing your name, um that that was devastating. That was hard.

Mike Gonzalez 8:18

Yeah. Well, you go to 70, uh, we pick up with with the where the role starts, kind of 1975 with four wins, Bruce, uh starting at the Berdines invitational.

Bruce Devlin 8:28

Yeah, we thought that was great. And then in 1976, she had five wins, but but going back to 75, first one in 75 was Berdine's invitational at uh Kendall Lakes, where you won by three over Kathy Cornelius.

Donna Caponi 8:45

Yeah, um, I don't remember a whole lot about that tournament other than I think my sister Janet may have been leading the tournament the first round. Um I didn't get paired with her in the final round, which was great because I'd have been a nervous wreck for her because this would have been her first win.

Bruce Devlin 9:08

Yeah.

Donna Caponi 9:09

She played well on Sunday. She was in in the second to last group. And um I played well. But she she was fine. She she played well, she just didn't win.

Mike Gonzalez 9:23

Yeah. Yeah. You you then won the Lady Terra Classic, uh, Indian Hills uh in Georgia by one over Glory Earrett and uh and Sandra Post, you had mentioned. That was uh uh your second win in 1975. You remember much about that one? No, no, no.

Donna Caponi 9:39

Well, I'll tell you one fun factoid, which It was a hilly golf course, the only thing I can remember.

Mike Gonzalez 9:45

Uh one sort of interesting factoid from that event, and this this uh fast forward seven years to 197 or 1982. Joan Joyce has got a tour record there with 17 putts in her final round.

Donna Caponi 9:59

No kidding. Joan Joyce was a softball pitcher, he played uh fast pitch. She was she was a great golfer, really a good softball pitcher.

Mike Gonzalez 10:11

Yeah. Bruce, I I'd I'd guess that she would remember this next one.

Bruce Devlin 10:16

Yeah, and I was gonna ask the question about was your first trip overseas to play at Sunningdale where you won the Colgate European Open? Was that your first trip outside the U.S.?

Donna Caponi 10:29

Yes, sir, it certainly was. On a fabulous golf course.

Bruce Devlin 10:34

Yeah, it's a great place, Sunningdale, isn't it?

Donna Caponi 10:36

Oh, yeah. In fact, I think the OPJ played there a few years ago. It was great to see it on TV. It was just a terrific golf course. Never seen anything like it. You know, it's kind of scruffy looking fairway. Um it's just an odd-looking golf course, but I'd never seen anything like it. So yeah, it was uh it was a great victory. It was it was fun.

Mike Gonzalez 11:01

You you probably would have played the old course, of course, at Sunningdale. They've got the old and the new, both are rated in the top uh ten golf courses I know in England, and uh uh a wonderful venue. The the interesting part about the the the list of winners from that tournament, every one of them are in the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Donna Caponi 11:20

Really? Well, you had to have every shot to play that golf course. You have to learn how to bump and run it. And the other thing that was unusual, again, Bruce will attest to this. We I decided, like everybody else, to play the small ball. And oh my goodness, that was what a difference. Yeah.

Bruce Devlin 11:42

So you gotta tell me about your next victory because you made a long trip to win your next golf tournament, the first one in 1976. Do you remember where you went? No. How about Victoria Golf Club in Melbourne, Australia, to win the Wills Quantus Australian Ladies Open?

Donna Caponi 12:02

Teed off on the first hole. It was a par five. Everybody was knocking on in two. I didn't. I parred that hole. And I'm going along, and all of a sudden the galleries, there's more people and more people and more people. I'm what are all these people doing following us? And then before I know it, I've made like seven birdies in a row or eight birdies in a row. And and I'm just I'm not is that right? I said 63, and uh uh on a par 73 or 74 golf course.

Bruce Devlin 12:34

And 73, yeah.

Donna Caponi 12:35

Last whole were par fives, and I didn't birdie either one of them.

Bruce Devlin 12:39

Wow. You didn't really need to win uh make a birdie on the last two, though, did you? I mean, you I think you only won by nine.

Donna Caponi 12:47

Oh yeah.

Bruce Devlin 12:55

So one factoid, one quick factoid. This year, two weeks ago, they played both the men's Australian Open and the Women's Australian Open together. And where did they play it? Victoria Golf Club.

Donna Caponi 13:11

No kidding. Did they put the men on one course and the women on the other?

Bruce Devlin 13:15

No, they both played the same course. Well, uh well, well, they played the two courses and then they played the the one course uh at the end. So yeah, it I thought it was very interesting that they played them both together.

Donna Caponi 13:28

Wow, that's that's fabulous. I didn't I was not aware of that. I mean, I always thought that the the tournament at Pinehurst, uh, where the men played, we played the next week, the LPGA, uh the US Open. So they were back to back on the same property. And I I wasn't crazy about that idea because I felt like the golf course was going to get all beat up with the guys playing on it. But when you adjust the T-boxes, they were past all the bad divots. You know, that uh I mean, we're hitting the same shots into the greens as the guys were, it's just that obviously they're a little stronger than us.

Mike Gonzalez 14:06

Yeah. I've got uh I've got three questions about the Australian Ladies Open. The first of which is was this one played in our winter their summer, kind of early in our year, then probably?

Donna Caponi 14:19

Correct.

Mike Gonzalez 14:20

Yeah. Do you remember who you were playing with in that final group on the last day?

Donna Caponi 14:24

Uh well, you guys are testing my memory. I'm old.

Mike Gonzalez 14:29

Uh don't remember. Two Hall of Famers. Uh Chaco Higuchi.

Donna Caponi 14:37

Gucci, yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 14:38

And Joanne Carner.

Donna Caponi 14:41

Oh, was it? Oh, okay.

Mike Gonzalez 14:42

And that would have been the year Joanne won the U.S. Open at Rolling Green.

Donna Caponi 14:46

Oh, no kidding. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 14:48

Later that year.

Donna Caponi 14:48

Speaking of Chaco, who is also in the Hall of Fame, um, my husband and I are going on a cruise in um March. We're gonna be gone for 28 days. We fly into Tokyo, so I'm gonna try and hook up with Chaco. I haven't seen her since she was inducted at the Hall of Fame.

Bruce Devlin 15:06

That's great. That's great.

Mike Gonzalez 15:07

So, one the my final question, and and Bruce and I had an opportunity to watch a video of this particular tournament, you winning this tournament. And the question is, what was with that red hat you were wearing?

Donna Caponi 15:20

So Penny Zavikas, who played on the LPG tour, her mother would make these hats. And so she sent a couple out to her to Penny, who was playing on the tour, who's now uh one of the great teachers of all time, Penny. And um it was hot there. And Penny said, uh she had one of these hats on, and I said, That hat is so cute. And she says, Well, my mother made it for me. I said, Do you have another one? She says, Yeah. So I said, Can I wear it? She says, Absolutely. My mother would be thrilled if you saw that hat.

Mike Gonzalez 16:03

I think you even offered to the crowd to make them available if uh anybody was interested. But uh, so we we talk about this being the first of what was five victories in 1976. But before we jump over, I want to go back to 1975 because I believe you sustained a rib injury that year, and I don't know how that might have affected you later on.

Donna Caponi 16:23

Yeah, I was uh the LPJ championship where I think Betty Burfein may have won that. I was on the driving range warming up, and I pulled the sheath lining on my left rib cage. And in fact, I still can feel a little indentation to where it never healed up correctly. And but it's a major championship, only a couple shots out of the lead, and I was going to play Cum Howler Hot Water. And um I had to be off for six weeks after that event. I finished pretty well, but I didn't win. But it just destroyed my rib cage. So yeah, that was kind of stupid on my part. But hey, you know, you only have four majors a year and you gotta take advantage of it.

Mike Gonzalez 17:08

Yeah, but when you're ripping obliques, there's no quick coming back from that, is there? No, it's not.

Donna Caponi 17:13

Gosh, it hurts so badly.

Mike Gonzalez 17:16

Uh yeah, I I I've got a short story which I'll skip on that one, but trying to play at Disney World on a family vacation. Uh I had had done that on a slip and slide accident with the kids. Oh. So I go to the I go to the first tee, I'd rented clubs, got some shoes, bought a golf glove, bought golf balls, paid my green fees, got a cart, went the first tee, hit my drive, turned around, went back to to the hotel. Yeah.

Donna Caponi 17:45

That was it.

Mike Gonzalez 17:46

Yeah, yeah. Four more wins that year, Bruce.

Bruce Devlin 17:49

Yeah. Next one was uh Peter Jackson Classic, which uh at one point in time became a major uh after you won it.

Donna Caponi 17:57

Yeah, that I'm disappointed. I really, in my anybody that won that event and the Dinosaur tournament, which was Dinosaur then, should still be majors. Um in my mind, I say I won six major events. Yeah. But they uh they don't see it the same way we do, unfortunately.

Mike Gonzalez 18:18

Yeah, that was 76. It didn't become a major until 1979. Of course, you won that in the playoff with uh Judy Rankin, who won the tournament the next year. So both of you uh probably just looking at that experience alone saying we ought to have one more major just from our 76 and 77 victories. Yeah.

Donna Caponi 18:35

Exactly. But they you know, I thought making retroactive, it's like the Masters. Am I right, Bruce? That the tournament first started, it wasn't a it was just uh the Right.

Bruce Devlin 18:47

Exactly in the early days, yeah.

Donna Caponi 18:49

Early days, but they count those wins now, right?

Bruce Devlin 18:52

I think they do. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They sure do.

Mike Gonzalez 18:55

It seems sort of arbitrary, doesn't it? Uh the women's British the the the Canadian Open, of course, the Breet Peter Jackson. Uh I don't know. Do you do you know the background of when they decided to say, okay, well, this is the year we're gonna start counting them as majors?

Donna Caponi 19:09

I don't know. I have no idea.

Bruce Devlin 19:13

Yeah. So your next victory, Portland Classic. You beat uh Cliffordam Creed there with a birdie on the uh second extra hole.

Donna Caponi 19:25

I did, and I can tell you a story I remember about that hole is we both had birdie putts of some length on the first hole. And I rolled mine up about three feet. Did did I make birdie to win?

Mike Gonzalez 19:42

You did, yes.

Donna Caponi 19:44

On the second hole?

Mike Gonzalez 19:45

Yes, that's right.

Donna Caponi 19:47

On the first hole I remember having a long cut in my but I left it maybe three or four feet short, and I elected to putt out which is I guess basically not not the norm. Normally people mark it and they wait. And I wanted to put pressure on her. And I made it, thank goodness. And she too putted her her par putt, and then if I made Bertie on the next hole, I I couldn't tell you. I just remember putting that on the first extra hole. That's all I remember about that.

Mike Gonzalez 20:25

You won the the following uh uh event was the Carleton at Calabasas Country Club in uh California. You won by five very comfortably over Jane Blaylock and Judy Rankin, and that was uh uh actually the week later. So you went kind of back to back in those two weeks, you were on a roll there.

Donna Caponi 20:42

I was, and I can tell you something about that golf course because I was a member at that golf course for the longest time. My husband and I were members there, and the 18th hole, I had this big lead, and it was a par five with a creek in front of the green. And uh I drove it well off the T and I laid up with a pitching wood. People said, Why is she laying up? Because she could knock it on. Well, all golfers have those nightmare dreams that the ball is sitting perfectly and you hit it in the water and then you drop another one, then you hit it in the water, and then you drop another one. You hit it. So I was not gonna be that. I don't care, they could talk about me forever. I got the win because I laid up with the pitching wedge and then hit an eight-irn on the green and two putted to win. So yeah, remember that hole specifically. And actually it happened in Japan too. I won the Japan Open, and the 18th hole where you would drive it, there were just divots everywhere. And I dreamt the night before. I I actually had a eight or a 10 feet in that event, and I remember having all these divots everywhere, and in my dream, my ball would go in the divot, and then I a huge. Barranca in front of me and I dreamt hit in the barranka, dropped it, dropped the ball. The ball went in another divot, hit it again. And falling into these divots. And I woke up this like in this cold sweat. And I thought, if I win this golf tournament, I'm going way left. There was a uh some fairway, probably 50 yards to the left of the baranka, 75 yards from the green. And that's the place I was going to go if my ball was in a divot.

Bruce Devlin 22:29

I wasn't over. It's funny, isn't it? How those things sneak into your brain. Yes.

Mike Gonzalez 22:37

Well, you did win that uh LPGA Japan Mizuno Classic. Uh that was by four over Chaco. And uh that was your final of five victories in 1976. Pretty good year. You had to be feeling pretty good about your game at that point.

Donna Caponi 22:52

I did. I I was just riding a high, and everybody says, Aren't you tired? I said, Of course I'm tired. But you know, when you're playing well, you keep going until all of a sudden you it's not physical, it's mental. The ment my mental brain was breaking down. So we had a week off after that Japan tournament. And uh which was I was so thankful that I didn't have to play another round of golf.

Mike Gonzalez 23:17

Now we've heard stories of some of these Japanese trips. I don't know how many trips you made over. Uh did you play a lot there? Yeah. A lot, a lot. I think it was Amy Alcott that told us some of the stories of her being sort of a tour bus junk, disc jockey on the do you remember? I mean, was she around a little bit and on the trade saying that?

Donna Caponi 23:36

We'd have these rides. Bruce could attest to this too. All the golf courses in Japan are way out of the city. They're all what two hours.

Bruce Devlin 23:44

Two hours. Two hours, yeah.

Donna Caponi 23:46

So everybody you either had to leave at the six o'clock bus or the seven o'clock bus. Even if you played at one o'clock in the afternoon, everybody had to go on one of those two buses. So on the way back, you had to entertain yourself. So Amy would be putting uh music into the CDs that they had. We used to laugh at her because we we we kept saying it's a good thing you can play golf because you can dance. And she rolls her shoulders like this and she could not keep it in beat. And it was so funny. And she just I I just saw her recently. I was gonna bring that up to her about the music, shaking her shoulders and stuff. But yeah, those were that was actually some of the best times you had when everybody was on the bus together. It's so different when you're playing a tour event.

Bruce Devlin 24:39

Yeah.

Donna Caponi 24:39

Everybody's going different directions after a round. But this was fun. It was fun.

Mike Gonzalez 24:44

Yeah. And I would imagine her not be keeping a beat, she didn't care.

Donna Caponi 24:49

She didn't care.

Mike Gonzalez 24:50

No, no, no.

Donna Caponi 24:52

And then there's a lot of beer on the bus, and like I said, I wasn't a drinker, so I watched all of it get tipsy.

Mike Gonzalez 24:58

Yeah, she said the the coolers were full, and she uh she recounts uh one um oh um lip sync contest, I guess she had, where Kathy Whitworth was uh odd man out, didn't have a partner, so Amy paired up with her, and they together sang uh um um Ike, or I mean uh Tina Turner's What's Love Got to Do with It and won the competition.

Donna Caponi 25:25

Let's put the other buzz because I don't I would have remembered that.

Mike Gonzalez 25:28

I would have uh yeah, and of course we talked about Kathy's hair, and you know, it you you could tell if it was a four-club win because you might see a piece of hair move.

Donna Caponi 25:38

She would go through a hairspray a week. A week when it was moving.

Mike Gonzalez 25:45

Oh well, anyway, I've just we've heard some great stories about life on the road. So you um uh we're gonna skip a year because 1977, no wins. Was there anything kind of going on with life outside that uh or were it just uh didn't didn't uh didn't get it done?

Donna Caponi 26:01

Just didn't get it done. You know, I think I was in a low of my career, you know, it has uh ups and downs and ups and ups. And I really wasn't too worried about it. Um it was going like that. But then I think I did pretty well after that.

Bruce Devlin 26:18

Yeah, you bounced back in 78. You won uh three times in 78. The first one Sarah Coventry at Round Hill, and uh your current husband was the tournament director at that golf tournament.

Mike Gonzalez 26:31

Probably your first husband was the tournament director.

Donna Caponi 26:34

My first husband used to run golf tournaments.

Bruce Devlin 26:37

That's that's right, yeah.

Donna Caponi 26:38

Yeah, he was uh he would uh go into the events a couple three weeks ahead of time, you know, put the leaderboards up and the roping and the staking. That was his occupation. But then we divorced in 81, 80 or 81, I forget which year.

Bruce Devlin 26:55

Yeah.

Donna Caponi 26:55

And uh that was the year I met my honey right here, Ted. Uh, we've been together 40, it'll be 41 years.

Mike Gonzalez 27:04

Yeah, talk uh speaking of life going on outside the ropes. Uh, but you won that by five over the defending champ again, Jane Blaylock. Uh uh you had an eventful final round. I don't even remember many of these details, but I'll kind of take you through some. You doubled the third, you eagled the 12th, three more birdies to finish, and uh, as I said, one by five. Uh, but it was your first win in a couple of years, had to feel good.

Donna Caponi 27:29

It it did, but I I don't remember the double bogeys of the birdies, I just know the win, which was it.

Bruce Devlin 27:37

That's all you didn't have. Yeah, how about it? So uh Houston Exchange Clubs Classic, the next victory in 78.

Donna Caponi 27:48

One of the best trophies I got at that event. It was uh were you living in Houston then, Bruce?

Bruce Devlin 27:55

Uh I had uh just left Houston then and moved to uh no, I'm sorry. Yeah, I had just arrived at Houston in 75, correct.

Donna Caponi 28:07

Yeah.

Bruce Devlin 28:07

So I would I'd been in Houston for three years.

Donna Caponi 28:10

Yeah, what what was the name of the town that LPGA's headquarters was there, wasn't it?

Bruce Devlin 28:16

Frisco. Oh, or the LPGA. No, no. Uh I'm trying to think what it was.

Donna Caponi 28:21

Um I can't come up with right this second. Sugar Lane.

Bruce Devlin 28:24

There you go. Sugar Land. There you go. Yeah, Sugar Lane, right.

Donna Caponi 28:27

Anyway, the trophy for that event was two antique clubs, which I still have with Hickory Shaft that are worth a lot of money. And they put it in this beautiful case. Um yeah, it was uh that was a special trophy. Um a lot of girls wanted to win that one, and then the Du Maurier up in Canada in fact is in the house here. It's a beautiful glass carved. I think it's worth like four or five thousand dollars. I mean, it's just magnificent.

Mike Gonzalez 28:59

Yeah, we've sure heard a lot about that one with our other guests, that particular trophy. So I thought you guys played for money.

Donna Caponi 29:07

We didn't very much. Like I said, my my first year on tour, I made five thousand. I mean, I made sixty five hundred and my expenses sixty five hundred dollars. I mean, I just uh it was amazing, amazing.

Mike Gonzalez 29:22

Yeah. You know, you mentioned Dave Stockton being a mentor and putting coach and so forth. And uh I can remember Dave uh Bruce's first two years talking about these outstanding years he had, and it was, you know, uh 6,300 here, 8700 here, and after expenses, of course, you're underwater, aren't you?

Bruce Devlin 29:40

Yeah.

Donna Caponi 29:40

When I won the U.S. Open, I won 5,000.

Mike Gonzalez 29:43

Yeah, yeah.

Donna Caponi 29:44

Now the second U.S. Open, you would think they'd up the purse. I won another 5,000.

Mike Gonzalez 29:48

Oh my. Oh dear, isn't that something? Oh my. Well, uh uh finishing off 1978, you had mentioned this earlier because you teamed up uh actually three times to win with uh Miss Whitworth in the Ping Classic Team Championship at Columbia Edgewater Country Club.

Donna Caponi 30:05

Three times. I didn't remember three. Then I think I won it on my own when it before it was a team event I won there. Uh we rotated golf courses up there, which was was great. Um Riverside, we played Portland Golf Club, uh, and then the one that you just mentioned.

Mike Gonzalez 30:25

So let's move on to 1979, Bruce, another big year.

Bruce Devlin 30:29

Boy, what a what a way to get 79 started with the LPGA championship at uh the Jack Nicholas Golf Center by three over Gerald and Blitz.

Donna Caponi 30:40

Yeah, that was um that was pretty exciting again on a golf course. Have you ever played there, Bruce? It's a nice I have. Yeah, yeah. I thought Jack did a nice job on that. That was one of his early golf courses. So they weren't all dog legs to the left with his I mean dog legs right because of his cut shot. So um and I made a putt on the 18th hole. Uh so that what year is that? 1980, correct?

Mike Gonzalez 31:09

1979. 79. 79, yeah.

Donna Caponi 31:12

Okay. And then uh did I I won that did I win that battle back? No, I won it two years later, correct?

Mike Gonzalez 31:20

Yeah, you won it in 1981. So correct.

Donna Caponi 31:23

Gerlin blitz Gerald is the one that I beat. Okay. So 18th hole I had a putt of about six or eight feet. And uh I made it which then won the golf turn. And Jay Randall. You worked with Jay, didn't you, Bruce? Sure.

Bruce Devlin 31:45

The Mound of Sounds.

Donna Caponi 31:48

He had to do the after the after the interview and um oh, what was it what was the producer's name? Um our old friend that just Don Oma and Don says in his ear, ask her about her divorce because on Monday I had to be in court in LA uh because my ex-husband was suing me for seven thousand dollars a month spousal support. Well, seven thousand. I mean, oh my God, you know, I didn't make that kind of money. So anyway, uh, but I had to be in court I think at noon. So I was gonna catch the late flight out of Cincinnati. And the first question Jay asked, first she says, Congratulations, and how does it feel something about something about my divorce? And the gallery started booing him.

Bruce Devlin 32:40

Booing him, yeah, I'll bet.

Donna Caponi 32:42

They went crazy and uh and I started laughing. I said, You don't want to hear about my divorce. You know, I'm trying to make because he was embarrassed, but Don is saying in his ear, ask her about her divorce. I saw Don afterwards. I said, That was pretty cheap. You know, that was I said, I love ridiculous. Poor Jay just got the brunt of it, and I just said, Oh, let's talk about that great putt that I made on the last hole.

Mike Gonzalez 33:08

Exactly. Well, uh, what a tournament. Uh uh six rounds of 6970, 70, 70, 279, 900 to win by three. Um I understand, and by the way, Gerlin Britz uh won the U.S. Open that year. So uh, and this was probably still in a stretch where uh uh well for quite a while. I mean, I I should mention this and I have before, for quite a while during your career, for example, up until this year anyway, you guys were only playing for two majors a year.

Donna Caponi 33:43

That's it. That's correct. Yeah, very much money, that's for sure.

Mike Gonzalez 33:48

No, and not too many majors. I mean, when you start talking about racking up a major count in your career and you realize that hey, if I play 15 years, I've got 30 tries at it maximum. Sure.

Donna Caponi 33:58

And yeah, we had the title holders, and then then we started getting more majors, you know, yeah, in the uh in fact, if I'm not mistaken, when I was doing television out of the LPGA, I think there at one point there may have been five majors.

Bruce Devlin 34:15

Correct. You are correct.

Mike Gonzalez 34:17

Well, and there are today now with the uh the ANA, the the LPGA uh championship, the US Open, the British Open is now a major, and uh the Avions are now a major, right?

Bruce Devlin 34:28

Yeah, yes.

Mike Gonzalez 34:29

So DeMaurier, which you would have played in, uh, went by the wayside, but uh uh in 2000, but this was the first year in 1979 that DeMaurier actually counted as a major. And then of course you mentioned the title holders, which was at Augusta Country Club down in Augusta, Georgia, played until 19 uh uh 66, and then I think they had a a comeback one year at Pine Needles in 1972, which you might have participated in.

Donna Caponi 34:53

I did. I did. What was fun about playing Augusta Country Club is that I mean, yeah, Augusta Country Club is you could look over at Augusta. Uh it paralleled a couple of the fairways, like that back T on what's that, 10? 13 13. Yeah, you could see the golf course. That's as close as I had ever gotten to seeing Augusta. In fact, we didn't even go over and drive around and look at the golf course. I don't think we were allowed in the gates. So Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 35:23

Well, let's come back to this LPGA win in 79. Uh my understanding from our research is uh you might have won that with a putter borrowed from Dave Stockton.

Donna Caponi 35:33

I did. We were um during the off season of the PGA tour and the LPGA tour, Dave and I would practice because we we just get so bored. So he and I would hit balls together. We represented the same golf course here in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles. So we'd go out there, we'd talk to the members, and we play a little golf with the members and so we were putting and um he putted with a two button Ray Cook. And so um I said, uh, let me try that putter. Well, I just made everything. And out of my twenty-nine wins, I think I won maybe twenty of them with that putter.

Bruce Devlin 36:15

Oh boy.

Donna Caponi 36:16

Putter that I used. Yeah.

Bruce Devlin 36:17

So did you ever give it back to him?

Donna Caponi 36:19

No, and he said, I understand. Well, then after I got so successful with it, I said, You're not getting this back, you know. And he goes, Yeah. No, he gave him that he used and won uh a couple on the the champions tour, and it had a pink and blue grip. Oh was hysterical, and the guys are making fun of him. And he says, Well, it just has this great feel because you know, he's such a handsy player, and uh he won a lot with that butter. So I said, Well, okay, we're even right.

Mike Gonzalez 36:59

I I think we probably read uh as you commented uh on this championship that uh you'd really struck the ball well the first three rounds, and then the last round uh uh was a bit of a struggle, but you were making everything.

Donna Caponi 37:14

I made everything.

Mike Gonzalez 37:17

The other thing I understand is is you went through a stretch during this tournament. You went 50 holes without a bogey.

Donna Caponi 37:26

Yeah. Um I had that record for a long time, I think. And uh you know, I that wasn't a stat that I ever really thought about. You know, the stat that I always prided myself on is finishing in the top ten. I just felt like that was a stat that boy you always would put yourself because you could be two shots out and be tied for 10.

Bruce Devlin 37:50

Yeah.

Donna Caponi 37:50

So trying to stay in the top ten at every event was always my major concern. 50 holes out of bogey, I you know, it was great at the time, but I haven't thought about that in years.

Mike Gonzalez 38:03

Yeah, well, especially, especially in a major, right, Bruce?

Bruce Devlin 38:06

Yeah, and after after winning that uh PGA championship in 79, Donna, you had one great year again in 1980. You win five times in 1980, starting with the LPJ National Pro Am at Desertine Country Club.

Donna Caponi 38:21

I did, and uh what I remember about those five wins, if I'm not mistaken, I won four, then we had a week off, and then I came back on the next event. So that was the so that week off, it really was five in a row, but there was a week off in there and uh that amazing, amazing year. Yeah, I it was just uh I tell you what, golf has been so good to me, and but like like everybody else that is successful, it took a lot of work. But it was work that I enjoyed. The day that I quit the tour is when I said, I'm gonna have fun, I don't want to do this anymore. I'm not saying hello to people on the first T or the the seventh T when that Marshall has been standing there all day holding up his paddle. I would always say hello to them and thank them for participating or being there. Yeah, didn't want to do it anymore, and um that's the 24th or the 25th year on tour. I was done.

Mike Gonzalez 39:25

Thank you for listening to another episode of For the Good of the Game. And please, wherever you listen to your podcast on Apple and Spotify, if you like what you hear, please subscribe, spread the word, and tell your friends until we tee it up again for the good of the game, it's along everybody.