Lauri Merten - Part 2 (Tour Wins)

Lee Trevino 0:07

Straight down the middle. It went straight down the middle. Then it started to do it.

Mike Gonzalez 0:15

Let's get you on tour. We're now at 1982, your age 22. I will say though, that before you turned pro, I think you had an opportunity to play in one or more pro events as an amateur, didn't you?

Lauri Merten 0:28

Yes, I was um 17, I think. Uh or well, I don't exactly know, but my dad caddied for me at the LPGA tournament in Sun City. And I my I played the first round with Sue Ertle and Penny or um uh Patty Hayes, I played with, and Lynn Adams. And I the only thing I know about Lynn Adams is she made a double eagle in Corning when I watched her play. She had a four and on a par five in the hole. I'm like, okay, double eagle. I almost got one there too. I knocked a three-wood about, you know, this close or something for a double eagle one time. Um, but never had a double eagle, had a few hole-in-one's. But but anyway, that um uh that uh golf tournament, my dad caddied for me, and I was getting taught by Ed Oldfield at that point. And it was it was fun. I was leading the first round. So I shot 67 and I shot 77. So that was fun, but and then I played well at the even on the weekend. So um that made me that inspired me. And then I played before I was on the LPJ tour, I played at the US Open at uh Del Paso Country Club in Sacramento, California. And that was my first, I was a pro then. I had turned pro, and that was when I won my first paycheck was$1,124.50. And the reason I know that is upstairs in my little office, there's a the check, a picture of the check, and my dad who was he framed it for me. I got a lot of pictures up there from my career that he framed. So I even have a uh thing from uh when I won the open from Kathy Cornelius because Kay, her daughter, the little red-headed kid, she I played with her in junior golf. And Kathy, who won the US Open, she ended up sending me this picture. It was from Golf World and it said Wonder Woman on it, you know, and I was holding up my trophy and stuff. So it was nice.

Mike Gonzalez 2:38

And of course, Kathy won the US uh the U.S. Women's Open probably in 1954, 1956, somewhere in that vintage. I think Kay went on to win a USGA championship as well. They became the first mother-daughter duo to win USGA championships. Pretty interesting.

Lauri Merten 2:55

Yeah, Kay and I still keep in touch. Um, you know, when I go out to Arizona, I saw her once, and I mean, she's doing great in golf. She's teaching it, and and her dad, Bill, Bill Cornelius, passed, but he was he was instrumental in a lot of our careers. I mean, he he was following us around and he was a gruff guy, but he he was he was he was a really nice man too. I I mean I that family, you know, they had a great, you know, golf career in their family.

Mike Gonzalez 3:26

So share with us the pathway to the LPGA tour. I mean, the typical path is you go to qualifying school. If you don't succeed there, there's other options like a futures tour or go playing in Japan or something. What was your path?

Lauri Merten 3:41

Well, I remember, I think it was Sugarland, Texas, that we played somewhere there. And my Pia Nielsen, who's um has that uh she's a good golf career and sports psychology.

unknown 3:55

Yeah.

Lauri Merten 3:55

Pia was in my college uh um, we played school together. She was from Sweden, and we we played in college at Arizona State. And Pia and I played together in the first round of that tournament, and she got food poisoning the night before and shot 80 something and and didn't, and I played well the first round. And my mom says, Oh, Lori, I feel so bad for Pia, but I'm so glad you didn't do that. I said, Oh, mom, I'm hitting it way too good to do that. And pride comes before the fall. I ended up shooting 80, I think, and ended up not qualifying for the LPGA tour. And uh Mizuno was doing a pro-am thing that we would play out in in uh Japan for um three weeks, and they paid us. I think it was 20 grand that we got to go, which was a lot of money, and sure, for three weeks. And so I went out there and uh and the jet lag coming back was tough, but the experience of playing on the the pro am tour out there was fun. And then I tried again. Julie Inkster had qualified already, and I I don't know if she was Simpson back then, even Julie Simpson, but she played for San Jose State. We were the same age, and Patty Sheehan was there too, but she was a little, she was another year older. But we we played down in um I it did, I think it was I I say Deer Creek, but that might have been where we played our first tournament. I forget where I qualified. I don't think we had the LPGA uh uh up there. Um it was somewhere in in on the west side of the state of of Florida that I qualified. And I I mean the problem was it was really difficult. There was like you got 10 people out of 140 girls that are gonna try to qualify. Yeah, so it was not easy. That's probably the most stress you ever have in in the career. Yeah, it's not like it was easy to get on the tour. And even when I lost my tour card, I think in '95, I tried to go qualify at Sugarland, or not, oh, maybe that was where it was. Sugar, no, I don't know, doesn't matter. Um, I tried to qualify up at the LPGA Daytona, and I didn't qualify. I had enough accolades and wins that I was able to be, you know, the if the field wasn't full, I was able to get in because I had won tournaments. I was higher on that list of non-exempt players. You always wanted to get the 125, and I did it a lot of years after I got because I didn't want to lose my card because it was too hard to get it, but that's how I got on, and I was in the top 10 that year of '83. So that was cool.

Mike Gonzalez 6:56

Any uh any financial backers?

Lauri Merten 6:59

Uh yeah. At Oldfield, um at Glenview, he had Mickey Lewis, he was a member there, and Mickey Lewis was a um he he worked, he was the he owned Johnson and Johnson, like Johnson Wax, I think, or something. But he Mickey ended up um uh supporting me, gave me$50,000, and I didn't want to lose that, but he was giving and what we did, we did an 80-20 thing. If every time I won money, I would pay him back 80% and I got to keep 20, which was really the way I work for incentive, not get a gift. Like when I won with Callaway, Callaway, I played their clubs after the US Open and they gave me money outright, and I just I never played well doing that. I had to earn it. And the ping back then, when I worked with ping, they were my sponsor, it was based on how well you played that year, which was that was the way my mind ticked versus getting the money. So I'm glad I don't play on the tour now or they they get the money up front.

Mike Gonzalez 8:12

Yeah.

Lauri Merten 8:12

But um Mickey Lewis, he helped, so I didn't because I didn't couldn't afford, you know, I'd stayed in private housing all the time. I still have private housing people that I'm friends with to this day. And I I actually liked that more um than staying in hotels being by myself. But um they Mickey Mickey helped me, and you know, and it was like if I didn't do well, I wouldn't have to pay him back, but I did because that's the way I am. I have to pay somebody back if I owe them the money. So um anyway, Mickey helped me to let my natural ability take over by supporting the income to begin with. So that was great. And after about two years, I think, is when I finally said to him, Is it okay that we don't do this anymore? Because I think I've paid you back. And he says, Absolutely. And it was something that he did for the good of the game.

Bruce Devlin 9:14

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you jumped right out there in 1983 and got your first win. That had to be a big thrill to go out there the first time and win that first year.

Lauri Merten 9:28

Yes, I I remember at the Rail Charity Classic the week before, um, you know, I talked to Pat Bradley because I had to go do something. I was playing pretty good that season, and but nothing, you know, no wins. And and I asked Pat, I said, is there a way? She's like my idol. I I I can't I wanted to play serious like her. I think it's the my father, you know, figure image in me, the serious. But I'm more like I be have to be like Lee Trevino that like laughs around and annoys the crap out of other players, probably. But um the rail, I asked her, I said, Do I need a practice round? And she said, There is no jail at the rail. I said, So does that mean I don't need a practice round? And she looks at me, there is no jail at the rail. I'm like, okay, so I showed up and I played the pro-am was my practice round. And then I I uh played and and I was playing pretty good, uh, you know, in the press room and all that, and and it was fun, you know, because I, you know, it was a short week for me. It was only a three-day tournament. And on the final round, I'm playing the night before the final round, I'm leading by one, I think. And I I can't sleep. And I call my dad and I said, I was watching the home shopping network on TV for some reason. Like I don't shop, well, I do shop, but I'm I used to be known as a retail therapist. I try not to do that anymore, being retired. Anyway, um, I called my dad and I said, I can't sleep, and he's like glory. Maintain your swing, trust your swing, trust your stroke, and maintain an even level of concentration at all times. That's what he told me. And I went back to sleep, and the next day I was, you know, trusting my swing and my stroke, and I get to the 13th hole, I think it was, as a par five, and I knocked it on in two, which I was pretty short, so I didn't do that too often. And I had a 30-footer and I knocked it in for Eagle. And you would have thought I was Tiger Woods. I'm like, woo, you know, and people are screaming and hollering. And the the next hole, I tripled. It was a short par three, and I dumped it in the water, and I hit it over the green in the bunker, pitched back on, and a triple. Now I'm losing. And I get to the 17th hole, and on the 17th hole, I knocked it close, and I'm like, Lord, I, you know, I'm sitting there praying as I'm looking over the putt to read it. And I said, Lord, if you want me to win this thing, but this is getting crazy, I can't do this anymore. And and then I went, Oh, I got it's my turn to putt. And I get up there and I like, oh, there's water left, it must break to the left. And I knocked it in. And I went, okay, God, let's see what happens. And then the the next whole, I mean, I pardoned, we went into the playoff, Judy Ellis and I.

Mike Gonzalez 12:24

Yeah.

Lauri Merten 12:24

And it was getting cloudy and the clouds are coming in. And she hits, she's on the left side, and she hits this. I don't know what she hit in, but she airmailed the green. She hit it so pure, just you know, total adrenaline, airmailed the green, and I knocked it on, and I made a four, and she couldn't get up and down, and I won. And as we're walking away, torrential downpours coming in. So it's a good thing because we would have had to wait and wait and wait. So it was good to get it off the sheet. And but I, at the beginning of the week, I was supposed to have this caddy, pro caddy, Bobby Inman. And I get there and he comes up to me and he says, Listen, I'm not gonna um be able to caddy for you. Ayako Okamoto is hiring me full time.

unknown 13:11

I'm like, really?

Lauri Merten 13:13

So I was like, what do I do? You know, and everybody's got their caddies already. And so I hired a local. And that guy, after I won, he wanted the 10% on my win. I gave him a lot more than I should have. I mean, back then I think we were paying$275,$250,$275 for the week. And locals were getting like$30 a, you know, a round or something. Or but that guy, he thought he was the winner, you know. And he went he went out to Seattle the next or in Portland. We were out in Portland the next week, and he went out and tried a caddy, and nobody, you know, nobody hired him. I didn't hire him. I already paid him, way overpaid him, I thought, you know, so you know, he was a local caddy. And I mean, he I don't think a lot of them back then weren't like pro-local caddies. This was a public golf course as well. Right. And flat, I might add, shorter left leg. So yeah, but uh anyway, um, I don't even remember the kid's name, but you know, I mean, I but that I won with a local caddy.

Mike Gonzalez 14:15

Yeah, yeah. Well, we've talked about the rail golf course uh a lot, as you can imagine, talking to probably 50 uh of your peers over the years. Uh Springfield, Illinois. I grew up near there, so I know how flat it is. It's just farmland and and you know, uh you can see you see a pattern here with my golf wig. Uh but but you you know you mentioned no jail at the rail. Of course, I if if one guest has said that, I would say 20 of our guests have said that. The thing about the rail that I always remember, of course, it was generally played around Labor Day. It used to be connected in with the Jerry Lewis telethon and that charity. Uh but girls went low at the rail.

Lauri Merten 14:59

Yes. I don't even remember what I shot.

Mike Gonzalez 15:02

I mean low. So so you shot six under, which would suggest to me that you guys probably had some tough conditions that week, weather wise.

Lauri Merten 15:10

That I I mean, obviously I remember the rain coming in, but it wasn't like my US Open when that rain. Um, it was but I remember I ended up staying. They somehow I was I was in the hotel, which was this big, tall Hilton or something.

Mike Gonzalez 15:30

It was a Hilton.

Lauri Merten 15:33

And they called it something, which I won't say. It's like the what of the prairie. And anyway, I'm on the top floor, and it was so windy that night, and it was I'm looking in the room, and the chandelier is going like this, going back and forth. I thought, is this gonna come down? You know, am I gonna die my first win on tour? But I didn't. But anyway, um, yeah, and what was really cool just about the tour, we got to go to all these these music things. Like that, I've Huey Lewis in the news was there at their their thing. I've seen Donna Summers, Smokey Robinson. I mean, fun, fun. We got all these kudos. Donna Summers was like amazing in Cincinnati. Um, we we got special treatment, which was fun. You know, playing on the tour, you got to go to all, you know, their famous places. King's Mill was, you know, you had the ribs there, Montgomery ribs. And so well, that's right.

Mike Gonzalez 16:34

But but I'll tell you what, Bruce and I have a mutual friend Evan Andrews, whose family owns Montgomery in ribs. That's right. So he's gonna love hearing this little plug in this episode of the Well, yay, because I really like Montgomery ribs.

Lauri Merten 16:48

If he wants to send me in me, I like my brats cum and my cheese curds, I'll be more than happy to get some ribs from Montgomery. My neighbor across the street, Sharon, she makes great ribs. Um, and she once in a while invites me over when her husband lets me come over.

Mike Gonzalez 17:03

Well, it's gonna cost Evan for this commercial, uh, this this free commercial he's getting. So he does e-fulfillment of ribs and barbecue sauce and all things Cincinnati, skyline chili, graters ice cream. So uh Skyline chili's good too.

Lauri Merten 17:18

I never knew about that. But the it doesn't, isn't that the one that has the spaghetti sauce the spaghetti noodles in it sometime?

Mike Gonzalez 17:23

They got all kinds of crazy stuff in there.

Lauri Merten 17:26

I know. I love I love I love chili too. My neighbor Sharon, she's a better cook than me. I'm not a cook, I'm a mud monkey in the yard.

Mike Gonzalez 17:33

Well, I'm gonna put in for a plug uh with Montgomery in them. Who knows? Maybe you'll get something for Christmas here. There you go.

Lauri Merten 17:40

Well, wait till after because I'm going to my sister's and Bruce isn't it.

Mike Gonzalez 17:43

All right. You have to have a neighbor uh pick it up off your porch.

Lauri Merten 17:47

Oh, I can have Sharon pick it up and then they would probably eat it. That would not be good.

Mike Gonzalez 17:51

There you go. All right, Bruce. Bruce, uh it didn't take long to validate win number one, did it, right?

Bruce Devlin 17:56

No, and it's the hardest thing to do. You you always wonder, can I, you know, maybe I did I just fluke that first win? Well, not so with Lori. She wins the next the very next year at the Jamie Fire Toledo Classic. Huh? Yes. Guess who she beats? One of the greats, the all-time greats, Nancy Lopez.

Lauri Merten 18:16

Yes. And do you realize, you know, you have all these A and B pairings and stuff. And I I played with Kathy Whitworth all the time. I played with Joanne Carner. Only once in my career, one round, was when I played with Nancy Lopez. Even though I have a picture back here, she always said, Who's texting me? And I'm like, Well, you gave me your phone number, it's Lori Merton. But anyway, anyway, Nancy, I play with her the final round. And um Greg Sheridan, who was my caddy that time, um, he also caddied for Beth Daniel after me, after I fired him. We all always fire our caddies. We think that's the problem, right? Um, but anyway, um, Nancy on the first hole, she's wearing yellow, a little pale yellow outfit. Marlene Haggy's playing, and she's wearing yellow. And I get up there and I'm like, I didn't get the memo on the outfit. And they laughed. And I'm a little nervous. I think I was leading by one going into the final round. And Nancy knocks it a foreign, I think, two inches. And I look at Greg, I go, I guess she's here to play. And and I, it's my first time playing. It's like my first time playing with Jack Nicholas, you know, once and only. And uh, so I'm nervous, and the crowd is pulling for Nancy because that's just what they do. Yeah. And and I thought it was pretty hot spit and monkey vomit, you know. So it didn't uh, that's a Midwestern term from my father. That means cool. Um, anyway, I uh I'm like, okay, she makes Bertie, we're even, and I go to the next hole, and it's par five, and I pitch in for Eagle, which totally helped. And Marlene Hagee looks at us both and says, Do you mind if I join you?

Mike Gonzalez 20:09

Sure.

Lauri Merten 20:11

And it got down to like, I think about the 15th hole, I think, or the 16th was a par three, and I think I made Bertie there, which got me back up to one. And I was going, I was one up going into 18. And I went back there a few years ago um to Tony Paco's. Well, I went there for a funeral and went back to the golf course to relive it. And I was telling Todd, which was my third husband, I was telling him, see this big tree that overhangs here, that's where Nancy hit it left, and it you couldn't get it on the green. There was a bunker on the right side, and it was just tight, and the pin was behind the bunker. So she tries to roll it up there a little left, and it goes into the bunker, and she didn't get it up and down. Um, and I knocked it on and two-putted, so I won. Um, which was very cool because that was the only time they all cheered for me, I think, is when I finally won. You know, but Nancy, again, she's one of the rock stars of our tour because of the role model of being able to juggle a marriage. Well, sometimes, but at least children and your golf and being phenomenal at it. Her and Julie Yangster was in my, she was a little older, Nancy. So Julie was another role model for that.

Mike Gonzalez 21:29

Yeah. Well, that was the inaugural playing, was it not, of the Jamie Farr Classic?

Lauri Merten 21:33

Yes, and it was my birthday that week. Um and yeah, well, they've since changed golf courses. Um, but Jamie Farr was, you know, Klinger. You know, it was it was pretty impressive to meet Klinger. And um, and then the next I I don't know if it was that week, if I went to a Lebanese restaurant, uh, didn't even know what Lebanese was, but uh I do now. Um and and um he he took me with a few other MASH people to to this this restaurant, which was very cool. And we went to Tony Paco's, which is I'm a foodie, you can tell. Um, and uh they have these hot dog buns that they encase, you know, all over their restaurant, and they're always signed. So a few years ago, when I went back there, I was trying to find it and couldn't find it, couldn't find it. And finally I didn't realize I was because I was married and I was playing under the name of Peterson at that time. I was looking for Merton. I kept looking Lori Merton, Lori Merton. They're looking in their book, they can't find it. And finally I went, wait, I was Peterson. They go, Oh, we know where you are. I was back by the bathroom, but I was still next to somebody famous, I think. Maybe uh Don or um, what was his name? Dreesson. He was a comedian um and a singer. And he lived in Sherwood Forest over in California. I um he's a comedian and he performed and all that. Uh there is my hot dog button next to his, so in almost the laboratory.

Mike Gonzalez 23:12

Well, just to provide our listeners some context, who are listening to Lori Merton's story in 50 years, uh, MASH was uh a very, very popular uh television program for all of us that were growing up. I mean, it was the biggest deal back in the 70s or so. And of course, Jamie Farr was uh the the Klinger character who was sort of a cross dresser, really funny guy, and of course a comedian, right? I mean, that was part of uh part of his deal. Absolutely. Yeah, good actor, and uh and he uh sponsored this golf tournament uh for a number of years.

Lauri Merten 23:45

Yeah, and the next year they th sang happy birthday to me on the first tee, and which was very cool before I teed off. Um but then the pro-am that year, or one of the years, I don't know exactly, Charles Barclay, who I was from Phoenix, so the Phoenix Suns were my team. I'd even go to watch them with Ed Oldfield, he had front row seats, and I was more a Kyle Macy, you know. I he was my he was the hunk that I always thought. I I know him now, we're friends on Facebook. Um, but uh, but Charles um played in the pro am. Then they said, Lori, you're playing with Charles Barclay. I'm like, okay. And they said, but we need you to play really well because we need you to have them hit him for nine holes. And I'm thinking, oh my gosh. So I the first hole they put us on 10, and it's basically a fader's hole, which I don't fade the ball. My fade is a slight draw. And I, if I hit it out of bounds, right, we're done. So I skank it a little bit out to the right step cut. I don't know how I did, and and Charles is, you know, this much taller than me. Like he's how tall? I mean, I've almost come up to his belly button. And he's over this ball in the step cut, which is a little, you know, fluffy, so it's nice, you know, lie. And I think he's got a nine iron and he's bending over it and getting ready to hit, and he backs away. I go, what's wrong? I'm so nervous. I don't think you could put a pin in between my cheeks. And I go, I go, just hit the ball, and he skanks it up there, and we two-putt and we go to the next hole. We finally make it all the way around to nine. So I did my job. And there's a big long row of people, you know, off the tee. Have you ever, you know, Bruce, you gotta know that sometimes you're gonna hit it. And I kind of curved the ball, so those people are in the way.

Bruce Devlin 25:44

On the right hand side, they're in trouble.

Lauri Merten 25:47

Oh, they don't realize that they are in danger sometimes, even with professionals. But we're talking Charles Barclay now. Well, he's nervous, he has to tee off. He nails it off the heel of his three-wood or something and clips a little kid in the off the tee. So he didn't win the hole, but and he didn't kill the kid. I think it just kind of gave him a little shiner on his shin or something. But then he came out the next year at the tournament at Moon Valley, where Annika shot at 59. Um, and he he parked his, he had a Corvette. How he fit in a Corvette, I'll have no idea. But he left his car running at the valet up at the thing and just got out and walked to the golf course, and he came out to watch me play. And my sister Georgia, who had a Jeep, little teeny jeep that was orange and uh purple, she was loved the Phoenix Sun. So she was in awe to meet Charles Barclay. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 26:47

So well, let's uh let's continue on and talk about uh uh 1993, and I'm not sure what came first that year, the LPG Championship or the U.S. Open.

Lauri Merten 27:03

The LPGA Championship. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 27:05

So let's talk about that because you had a close call.

Lauri Merten 27:09

Yes. Um, I it was a kind of a weird golf course because it was um Bethesda Country Club, and I think the 10th hole was a par three. And it was it was a long hole that you didn't know whether you're gonna hit an iron. Back then we didn't have seven woods or heavenwoods. If I did, I would have maybe won a few more golf tournaments because of the shorter left leg. I mean, the long irons were much more difficult. But and anyway, so I that tournament I was playing really well, and and I somehow was tied for the lead or one back or something, going into 18. And Patty Sheehan had been leading the whole time. And Patty hit her drive. I was out practicing, you know, what you're always supposed to do, which I'd never thought about, but I at this point I'm gonna be maybe winning a major. And so I'm out there hitting golf balls on the driving range and waiting to hear what Patty does on 18. And she hits it far right um into the woods, kind of it was going towards the woods, and this guy, it's coming at this guy, and he jumps up, and when he jumps up, it hits his leg and bounces back into the rough. So otherwise it had gone down into the trees, and we probably would have been in a playoff. But she she got over the uh she hit it over the green and then pitched back on, and she had about a four-footer to win. And she said in the thing, I was so nervous, I didn't know even how to do it. And and that came back to me when I was replaying the US Open, um, the 18th hole. But anyway, she won and which was a bummer, but I played really well.

Mike Gonzalez 28:53

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. So long, everybody.

Lee Trevino 29:14

Whack down the fairway. It went smack down the fairway, and it started to slice, just smitch off line. It had it for two, but it passed off nine. My headaches, as long as you're still in the state, you're okay. It went straight down the middle, five away.