Patty Sheehan - Part 2 (Winning the 1983 and 1984 LPGA)

Intro Music 0:07

Straight down the middle. It went straight down the middle.

Mike Gonzalez 0:13

Then it started to let's just recap the professional career very quickly. Uh turning pro at age 23 in that summer of 1980. 41 wins, as Bruce had said at the top, uh including 35 LPGA tour victories, which puts Patty 13th on the all-time list. Uh you're credited with one win on the LET tour, and then three also in Japan. Uh so you came out on tour in 1980, and as you mentioned, playing in six events, I think you averaged about three grand per event across that that must have probably seemed like a fair bit of money just getting started out of the box.

Patty Sheehan 0:50

It was a lot of money. Um my parents gave me$4,000 to get started, and told them I would pay him back as soon as I could. And uh so I think I in four event uh six events I made over seventeen thousand dollars or something. And I thought I had, you know, loaded. I was loaded, and I I went and bought a condo, you know, and my parents were like, uh, okay, yeah, go for it. And so I bought a condo, I think I bought a car, you know, and then I probably didn't have a whole lot left for the next year.

Bruce Devlin 1:22

No, I wouldn't think so.

Patty Sheehan 1:24

But it seemed to work out because I um ended up winning my first tournament at the the very last tournament of the year in 1981, um, you know, over in Japan.

Mike Gonzalez 1:35

And um, I think you've always operated uh pretty well under pressure. That's the feeling I get. Uh yeah.

Patty Sheehan 1:42

Yeah, you know, I I don't know. I I never felt like I did all that great under pressure because I was always so nervous and um, you know, I I didn't know how to, you know, later on this really gets magnified, but I didn't know how to take care of myself on the course. I I don't think I drank enough water, I don't think I ate the right things, I don't think I ate enough. Um you know, I was just sort of uh as I came down the stretch, 14, 15, 16, I was running out of gas all the time. And I was, you know, I was nervous, so that burns a lot of energy. And I just it it the whole thing was just not, it just wasn't comfortable. And so um, you know, when I did win, it was like a big shock to me that I would was able to hang in there and perform good enough to win.

Mike Gonzalez 2:38

Um well you were shocked a lot then. Yeah, right.

Patty Sheehan 2:42

I was depleted a lot and I was hanging on like you know, a cat on a tree. So I I um I was lucky though. I I got lucky a lot and I got in contention a lot. Um my first 10 years on tour, I was in contention a lot. So, you know, I like I kept saying, just keep going. Keep going happen.

Intro Music 3:02

Yep, yep.

Patty Sheehan 3:03

Don't change anything, you know, don't you know don't investigate how you can get through those last four or five holes without crashing. I never even came to my brain that I've that I was doing something wrong and or or that I could correct it and make it better. I always thought, oh, you're just in terrible shape. You need to work out more, and you know, so I'd run and I'd do all the stuff, but it I just keep crashing at the end and uh just hang on to win tournaments, hang on.

Mike Gonzalez 3:34

Just imagine if you had the the team assembled that the current players have oh boy nutritionists and chefs and trainers, and you'd maintain that blood sugar level and your energy level, and right yeah.

Patty Sheehan 3:47

I mean, it's you know, it's it's fun to think about, but I'm not sure I could have had that many people around me to bug me. Yeah, that to me would be too much input. I I I'm a you know, keep it simple, stupid kind of person. And I that would be I think that would have been overwhelming for me. Too much how I would have dealt with it.

Mike Gonzalez 4:08

Yeah, Lanny Watkins said his his team of two was large enough, and that was his caddy and whoever the bartender was in the town.

unknown 4:16

Right on.

Bruce Devlin 4:18

Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 4:19

So six major victories for Patty Sheehan. She was a 1981 LPG Rookie of the Year, the 1983 Player of the Year, won the Vera Trophy 1984. Uh lots to talk about. And so so now comes the time where we're gonna this is gonna be the memory chick.

Bruce Devlin 4:37

Here comes the memory chick.

Mike Gonzalez 4:41

Uh but along the way, we're gonna have to ask you about the distinctive golf attire that you came to be known for because you were satirally uh resplendent in your attire over several years. So how did that come to be?

Patty Sheehan 4:56

You know, it's funny. Um uh I was at the time I was looking for a clothing company because I thought, you know, I should probably represent somebody. And um so uh my manager at the time, Margaret Leonard, um came across uh head sportswear, uh, and they apparently were looking for uh a female and a male um person to represent them. And so about the same time um that uh Payne Stewart signed with them, I did too. So Payne and I basically wore head clothes at the same time. Um obviously his contract looked a little different than mine.

Bruce Devlin 5:45

Yeah, probably.

Patty Sheehan 5:47

Probably, but um yeah, so it was you know it was Payne Stewart and I that wore the knickers, and he went on to, you know, make his own clothes and be, you know, the spectacular dresser that he was. Um, I don't think I was quite as spectacular as he was. I, you know, it wasn't um something that I was a big uh proponent of, you know, looking impeccable and dressing the a certain way, but I enjoyed wearing the knickers. Um it gave me some notoriety out there, it was different from everybody else. And um, so I I enjoyed it. I had fun with it, and um, you know, it worked out pretty well. Um there was a time when I realized that this is probably not the best thing for me to do, is wear knickers, and that came about, you know, like 10 years later.

Mike Gonzalez 6:40

So yeah. Yeah, but you wore it well. You were quite stylish out there. Yeah, I think that's just very a lot of us remember that. Uh so let's talk about that win number one, Bruce, and in Japan.

Bruce Devlin 6:52

Yeah, beat a pretty good player there, too. Four shots over Beth Daniel, and uh you talked about winning like 17,000 the year before. You just collected a smooth 30,000 for that victory. That was pretty nice, wasn't it?

Patty Sheehan 7:07

Yeah, that was a nice paycheck. Um, yeah the last tournament of the year, and we were over in Japan, and I'd never been to Japan before was uh um amazing. And um I was playing pretty well that week. Uh it was kind of a chilly week there at Sagamihara Country Club. Um I fortunately brought enough clothes to wear um because it was cold. Uh and um uh the the morning before I teed off my final round, Debbie Massey came up to me and said, she's like, hey, if you win today, it's like Christmas. She says, you're not gonna believe the things they're gonna give you here in Japan. They you get gifts and gifts, they keep giving you gifts. It's like being, it's like having Christmas. That's an interesting thing to say to me before I pee off. But anyway, um, fortunately I had enough clothes because it was cold and um it rained and it was like sleeting and terrible. And and I thought, you know, I think I have an advantage here because I'm used to being cold. I'm used to being in the cold, and I know dress in the cold. And so I felt like I had an advantage over everybody. And I I was watching, you know, Beth Daniel. I knew she was from the south, I knew it was warmer down there. I I don't know if she had the right clothes on or not, but I just had this feeling that I I had the I had this advantage, and you just, you know, you just have to keep grinding in the cold and try the best you can to stay warm. And um, so fortunately I came down to the last hole with a three-shot lead, uh, and I hit, you know, I had some adrenaline going, and I hit my approach shot over the green par five. Um, and so so I've got about a 40-foot chip or putt or whatever it was, and and and I chose a putter um to hit this my fourth shot, and I hit this beautiful putt, and it ends up going in the hole for a four-shot victory. But the thing that I remember most about that is that um I did a cartwheel, and after I went, I just it just was spontaneous, and I just did a cartwheel, and um, you know, the Japanese people were just like, Wow! Oh, tsumarishi! Oh, you know, and uh they went they went crazy. And so from then on I had this this uh reputation of doing somersaults and everything winning and cat wheeling. So I would get off the plane and they would want me to do it right there in the airport. Oh, somersaul, somersaw. And I'm like, no. But that was uh that was a big win. I mean, the first win you know of your career on the on the tour is huge.

Mike Gonzalez 10:11

Yeah. So did Christmas come then with that victory in Japan?

Patty Sheehan 10:15

They gave me this beautiful, huge uh print of a a dragon that was made from um silver and gold thread. And um, I mean, it's just gorgeous. And they gave me this beautiful vase that's um kind of greenish in color, and I thought, well, that's appropriate. My first win. I'm Irish, it's green. Yeah, you know, that's cool. I mean, they just gave me, they probably gave me, I don't know, five beautiful pieces of art, and I mean, just incredible.

Bruce Devlin 10:49

And uh great place to play, wasn't it?

Patty Sheehan 10:51

Yeah, I love playing in Japan. It just people were so wonderful to me, and you know, I love the food and uh, you know, the excitement of the fans, and it it's just a different place and it's very special.

Mike Gonzalez 11:04

I I have to ask because I'm sure this was the the first of several trips that you probably made to Japan. We've heard a lot about the bus rides.

Patty Sheehan 11:16

Okay.

Bruce Devlin 11:18

Tell us what you were doing in those bus rides.

Patty Sheehan 11:22

Were you singing along? Singing along, dancing in the aisles. Um, I'll never forget uh Kathy Whitworth invented the chair dance because she was, you know, she didn't want to stand up because she was afraid she'd fall over. So she'd sit sit on the arm of the chair and she would rock out, and and we all loved it because you know Wit had the hairdo that never moved, and she was rocking out, and uh we loved it. She loved partying, she was right there with the best of us, and um it was fun, it was a lot of fun, and um I did do uh you know something a little risque for me. Um we had two buses that were um you know front and back, following each other. And uh we I was in the front bus and um and Rosie Jones uh was sitting near her and and she's like, hey, you know, there's the bus behind us. I'm like, hey, why don't we go moon them?

Bruce Devlin 12:24

And she's like, All right, all right, all right, let's go do that.

Patty Sheehan 12:30

So we went to the back of the bus. We mooned him.

Mike Gonzalez 12:37

Oh is there any photographic evidence? Probably not.

Patty Sheehan 12:40

No, unfortunately, there were no cell phones at the time.

Mike Gonzalez 12:43

Yeah, you know, try it be all over social media, wouldn't it? Yeah, yeah, we heard that we heard that there were usually a few uh a few beers in the cooler.

Patty Sheehan 12:53

Well, more than a few, yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 12:55

Yeah, more than a few.

Patty Sheehan 12:56

Yeah, and I um I'll never forget um Julie Inkster, she had had uh quite a few beers on a bus ride once, and we had to get her, you know, out of the bus and up to her room, and um we got her up to her room, and she she just you know laid on the bed. And you know, those bus rides can be pretty long. So we didn't get back until pretty late. We were laying on the bed and she was just moaning, and excuse me, I I said, What are you gonna do? She says, I can't do anything. I can't even take out I can't even take out my contacts. She's like, Will you take my contacts out for me?

Bruce Devlin 13:48

And I'm like, No, I don't know how to do that. I'll try.

Patty Sheehan 13:51

So she's laying on the bed and I'm leaning over her trying to pick out her contact from her eyes. And um, oh my god, I couldn't believe it. I got them out, and uh that's something else, and then uh and then we had to get her in the shower. She she's probably gonna deny all this, but she uh no, she won't. She we got her in the shower and put her in cold water.

Mike Gonzalez 14:21

Oh that was a shock. That is cold. That is cold.

Patty Sheehan 14:24

She just kept saying, too cold, too cold.

Mike Gonzalez 14:31

That's funny. Oh I'm it just sounds like you guys had so much fun on some of those long bus rides.

Patty Sheehan 14:38

We did. We we had a blast, and we um we had toga parties, you know, for Halloween, and uh some of the togas were pretty risque. It was it was great fun. We had you know the caddies come in and uh some of the staff, you know, everybody was invited, so we just blast.

Mike Gonzalez 15:00

Oh well. Well, let's move along to uh validation.

Bruce Devlin 15:04

Didn't take you long.

Patty Sheehan 15:06

What did I do?

Bruce Devlin 15:08

Well, you jump you jumped right into Orlando, Florida the next year in 82. When it reopened, yeah.

Patty Sheehan 15:15

You played there.

Bruce Devlin 15:17

I did. We used to have a tournament there.

Patty Sheehan 15:19

That's what I thought.

Bruce Devlin 15:19

The men did, yeah. Yeah, the men used to the citrus open, right? Yep.

Patty Sheehan 15:24

Yep. So uh the I think um can't remember clearly, but I played uh against Kathy uh Kathy Pulsterweight uh in a playoff.

Bruce Devlin 15:36

Correct.

Patty Sheehan 15:37

And I don't remember much about it, but um It was quick. Oh, wasn't it? No, it wasn't.

Bruce Devlin 15:43

No, it wasn't really quick. It was four holes.

Patty Sheehan 15:47

That was American.

Bruce Devlin 15:49

Yeah. And you won with a pa.

Patty Sheehan 15:52

Oh, good, okay. Well, I don't remember much about it, other than I did play her in the playoff.

Mike Gonzalez 15:57

Yeah. Yeah, so that's I mean, uh just going back to 1991 where you won in Japan, you you won rookie of the year there. You were 11th on the on the money list that year as a rookie.

Patty Sheehan 16:07

Yeah. Yeah, it was a good year. I I don't know, I had a hundred and I don't know, hundred and I don't even remember. Over a hundred thousand. So pretty good.

Mike Gonzalez 16:18

And and eighty-two, top ten in the money list, as we talk about eighty-two winning in Orlando, and then a couple of other wins. You won uh over Joanne Carner by one at the Safe Co. Classic in Meridian Valley Country Club in Seattle, yeah, which is the the inaugural event. Were you remember anything about that one?

Patty Sheehan 16:35

Just that I was nervous and I wanted to beat her so bad.

Mike Gonzalez 16:41

Were you guys kind of head to head down the stretch? Were you playing with her last day? Do you remember?

Patty Sheehan 16:45

I was, yeah. Yeah, we got the 18, and all I had to do was make par. And of course, you we all know how that goes. Sometimes it's not the easiest thing to do, make a par on the final hole. But I pulled it off somehow. Yeah, it was a it was a big that was a big boost going head to head with Big Mama.

Mike Gonzalez 17:03

Bad.

Patty Sheehan 17:04

Yeah, that was great.

Mike Gonzalez 17:05

Yeah, yeah. And then that that final win was uh at the Inamori Classic at Almadin Golf and Country Club in San Jose, which you probably knew fairly well, didn't you?

Patty Sheehan 17:15

Uh played there a few times, not a lot, but um yeah, it was it was home, and I could, you know, sleep in my own bed and had lots of friends there and um support. Um that was that was huge. Um it it was really the thing I remembered most about that one is um Ann Murray, the singer, came out to watch us a little bit uh that day because she loves golf, as you guys probably already know. Um and she came out and watched, and then uh she was doing a show that night, and I got tickets and um went to see her, and she called me up on stage and handed me a big bouquet of red roses. And yeah, I that was completely unexpected. That's what I remember most about that one.

Mike Gonzalez 18:09

Well, that's that's a pretty good memory that you you went back to back, so you won, I guess, uh week to week from between Safeco and Inamori. That was two wins in a row for you, and you won by four over Joyce Kazmirski.

Patty Sheehan 18:21

Oh, the great Kaz, yeah. I loved her, she was great fun to talk to. She was talking about all kinds of stuff, stuff that I never even heard about before.

Mike Gonzalez 18:32

Speaking of her, uh, you probably remember the book that Liz Kahn did.

Patty Sheehan 18:39

Well, I remember she wrote a book. I don't think I ever read it, but um yeah, I might have it in my archives of there it is. Oh, yes. Oh yes.

[Ad] Did I Tell You About My Albatross

(Cont.) Patty Sheehan - Part 2 (Winning the 1983 and 1984 LPGA)

Mike Gonzalez 18:52

So anyway, uh when we talked to Gloria Earrett, she mentioned Liz's book, and we thought, well, this is be great to use as sort of prep as we talk to some of you guys, because there's a chapter in here on page 267 about Patty Sheehan. Oh and so I opened the book, I bought it off Amazon, right? I opened the book, and who is it signed by inside? Joyce Kasmirski. Joyce Kasmirski. It's addressed to Barb to the to the LPGA's number one fan, Joyce Kasmirski. So I thought I'd mention that too. Yeah, that's great, isn't it?

Patty Sheehan 19:30

That's classic.

Mike Gonzalez 19:31

Yeah, yeah, I thought that was pretty cool. What a small world, huh?

Patty Sheehan 19:34

Yeah, yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 19:36

Well, anyway, so that finishes up 1982, Bruce.

Bruce Devlin 19:39

Uh 1983 was a pretty good year for follow up of three uh victories in the year with four victories in the year, starting with the Corning Classic in uh Corning uh Country Club in New York by eight over Cindy Hill. And uh you put a little herding on them the last round there. 63.

Patty Sheehan 20:01

Yeah, I was in a coma when I was playing. Everything went in.

Mike Gonzalez 20:07

No pressure coming down to stretch there.

Patty Sheehan 20:10

No, I hope that was I I'd never felt that before, you know, like everything everything went well, everything went in the hole that I thought I could make, and boy, it was it was amazing. It took me a long time, as you you guys know, after you're in that in that zone, it's took me a long time to get get out of it. So because I don't really remember a lot about what happened after I won. I don't remember much at all. All I remember is Birdie in the 18 and and knowing that I just shot 63, which you know I never even sniffed coming close to that before. So that was that was incredible. Um but I'd always loved Corning, New York, Corning Country Club. Um usually played pretty well there. The fans were wonderful. I stayed with a beautiful family then my first year there, um, and I offered to mow the lawn because I love mowing lawns and making the lawns look perfect and you know, straight lines and stuff. So I that's that's what I remember about uh corning is staying with them and mowing their lawns.

Bruce Devlin 21:24

That's why she had all those great clothes, uh Mike. You know, she liked everything in order.

Patty Sheehan 21:29

Yes, right. That's right.

Mike Gonzalez 21:33

Well, uh it sounded like you were getting your game uh in shape for an upcoming major, which was just a few days later, the LPG Championship at the Jack Nicholas Golf Center.

Patty Sheehan 21:44

Yeah. Uh yeah, I um the year before I missed the cut. And so I didn't uh play very well there. I didn't have a lot of great memories, but then '83 happened, and I I guess I was just on a roll and and playing. Playing well. Um I I you guys have some notes here for me and Oh that looks pretty good.

Mike Gonzalez 22:08

You can cheat if you want, yeah. Can I? Yeah, okay. Yeah, sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Refresh your memory. Well pretty impressive as you read through that though, isn't it?

Patty Sheehan 22:20

Yeah.

Bruce Devlin 22:21

How about that finish again, too?

Patty Sheehan 22:23

Oh no, oh no, I missed. Oh, I see. I got DQ'd the year before.

Bruce Devlin 22:26

You remember that?

Patty Sheehan 22:28

Yeah, because I took an illegal drop. Oh I, you know, I still learning. Learning red and yellow.

Mike Gonzalez 22:37

So after that eight birdie final round the previous year, where would you have finished without the DQ? Would you have been high up on the leaderboard?

Patty Sheehan 22:45

Yeah. Yeah, I was way up there. Uh and I got in the tent and they said, we need to talk to you. I'm like, what? Oh, you took a the illegal drop. And it was on the 16th holes par three. And um, I remember hitting hit hit it over the water and it came back in.

Mike Gonzalez 23:08

Um and so I thought, well, I'll just, you know, were you thinking it was a red lateral drop of right up there? Yeah.

Patty Sheehan 23:16

And uh so uh somebody else had done the exact same thing after I did it, and um the rules official came up and was asking the marshal. Um uh, well, who else has taken this drop? Because the marshal's like, oh, girls have been doing this all day. The only one he could remember was me.

Bruce Devlin 23:38

Oh boy.

Patty Sheehan 23:40

So I I got hammered and and a lot of other people got away with it. But um, you know, it was a good another good lesson. Yeah, good lesson to figure that out.

Mike Gonzalez 23:50

Let's come back to happier things, which is the next year when you won by two over Sandra Haney.

Patty Sheehan 23:55

Yeah, that well uh you know, I came from way behind, like seven shots behind or something that day. Um, and I don't remember a whole lot about that, other than I I was playing well, and I my my manager was there, and I said to her after eight holes, I was playing well. I said, you know, you better stick around because she was gonna fly out that afternoon. I said, You better stick around, I might win this. And so she did, and I did.

Bruce Devlin 24:24

Yeah, and yeah, I mean that was big.

Patty Sheehan 24:27

I you know, Sandra Haney was was always the player that was way up there, and yeah, she such a you know smooth swing, and her demeanor was always just so even and you know, I I was like you know, up and down and emotional and nervous. I always wanted to be like somebody like her, and just nice and but um being able to to come from behind, that was a big one. I I hadn't done that ever. Um, so that was cool.

Mike Gonzalez 25:03

Yeah, yeah. I one one quote in Sports Illustrated that kind of caught me. Uh, this is Patty Sheehan talking. I've got to get my gander up, said Sheehan, and then struggled to explain. That's a goose, isn't it? They get mad. That's what I need. Something to get me going. And you got going. Yeah.

Patty Sheehan 25:23

I'm not sure what I was talking about there, but maybe it was the DQ.

Mike Gonzalez 25:29

Yeah, well, maybe so. Maybe, yeah. But anyway, uh, did that change your life much? Getting that first major under your belt?

Patty Sheehan 25:37

Uh I don't think it changed my life much. Um, it changed my belief in myself, I think. It helped, you know, bolster confidence. And I I wasn't really short on confidence, but I think in inner um I don't know being being able to you know solidify something, something like that and come through and win in pretty grand fashion.

Bruce Devlin 26:07

Yeah, yeah.

Patty Sheehan 26:08

Um it did more for me uh internally than externally, I think. I I'd already had um um contracts by then and you know they weren't big contracts, but they were contracts, and so I had somebody else believing in me and my potential, and uh so that I I had all that in place and and I just think that I needed to work more on my self-esteem and and belief in in side of me, and and that was big. Um yeah, I I was then known as a uh major winner. So yeah, that's that's big, and and not a lot of people can say that. Um so it's yeah, that was that was big, and that was fairly early in my career, so um that was very helpful.

Mike Gonzalez 27:01

Yeah, Bruce, she uh finished off her player of the year uh in grand style with a couple more victories, too, didn't she?

Bruce Devlin 27:08

Yeah, I'll say so. Hendred on Classic at Willow Creek Country Club in North Carolina. Uh you beat uh somebody that uh was pretty intimidating too, Joanne Carnival.

Patty Sheehan 27:20

Yeah, and I think I think also in the same group was Whitworth.

Bruce Devlin 27:24

Ah, okay.

Patty Sheehan 27:27

I I think the two of them were in the same group, and that was that to me was like, okay, I I'm up against the two best players that I've ever known. And and uh that was that was inspiring, apparently.

Bruce Devlin 27:42

You threw a little 66 for the last round there again, uh same as you did at the PGA championship, and then you win at uh Torrey Pines in the uh Inamori Classic for the second time, and this time uh you beat a roommate.

Patty Sheehan 27:59

Yeah, I beat Julie uh coming down the stretch. It was that was cool um because I'd heard so much about Torrey Pines and um what a great golf course it it was, and um you know to be able to win there was very special. It reminded me, I think, a lot of you know, Pebble Beach, um being right there on the Pacific and the types of grass and greens and setup and the speed of the greens and the bumpiness of the greens and things like that. It it reminded me a lot of that. Um and beating Julie was um obviously special because we were teammates and uh you know I just I just really had the highest of esteem for for Julie and we were always very competitive uh while we were on the team at San Jose State. So uh that was that was I loved it. I mean, that was big for me, and uh you know I I just remember grinding, um just grinding, trying to try not to fall apart and at the end, and um somehow I pulled it off.

Mike Gonzalez 29:11

Yeah, yeah. Uh we've come now to your Vera trophy uh year, which also included four victories. And uh so you start off at the Elizabeth Arden at Turnbury Isle Country Club in Florida and win that by two over Sherry Turner, and then uh I guess you took a little time off, a little different approach to this LPGA from the prior year, huh?

Patty Sheehan 29:33

Yeah, I have to just say that Elizabeth Arden was fun because it's a golf course, it's a target golf course. And um, you know, you don't hit driver every hole, you hit whatever you hit and get yourself in position. And you know, it's a real uh uh it's everybody's golf course. Everybody has a chance to win there. Um, you don't have to be a long hitter, you don't have to be anything, but you know, just kind of fairly precise and hit targets. And um, so I did that. I had a big lead, as I recall. Um, I think I had a four-shot lead coming down 18. I hit it in the water.

Bruce Devlin 30:16

Uh-oh.

Patty Sheehan 30:17

I hit it in the bunker. I I remember taking a double bogey to win. That's that's all I remember, really.

Mike Gonzalez 30:25

Well, uh the important thing is that you got the W.

Patty Sheehan 30:28

I did get the W.

Mike Gonzalez 30:30

And so uh uh conscious decision to take some time off uh preparing for the LPGA, or was there other stuff going on?

Patty Sheehan 30:38

I don't know what was going on. Um I'm trying to think, oh, maybe it was uh I'm not really sure why I did that.

Mike Gonzalez 30:49

Um whatever it was, it worked. It worked.

Patty Sheehan 30:53

Yeah, yeah, it worked. It worked. I don't think my first I don't think my first uh tournament back was the LPGA championship, but um Yeah, okay.

Mike Gonzalez 31:02

Yeah Well you had a you had a rough go of it in that LPGA championship. It was it was just nip and tuck all the way. Uh uh just just edging out Pat Bradley and Beth Daniel by 10 shots.

Patty Sheehan 31:17

Did I shoot 63 that no? Yes, you did.

Bruce Devlin 31:21

You shot 63 on Saturday again. 131 the last two days. That's pretty good.

Patty Sheehan 31:28

Yeah. Uh you know, those are the special weeks, and uh, and like I said, when I get into those coma type situations, I don't remember a whole lot about it.

Bruce Devlin 31:41

Um so but you liked it.

Patty Sheehan 31:44

Yeah, it was great. Great, great to beat those those two. I mean, those are my contemporaries and have you know so much respect for for both Pat and Beth, and they're my good buddies. And um I just Yeah, you you just I guess you just put the grinding, the grinding in, and you just keep put you you put your head down and keep going. And yeah I didn't want to get too carried away with um I've got a chance to beat these two or whatever, but um I just kept going. I just kept my head down and kept going and and it was uh like I said, I was just like this with blinders and yeah, don't remember a whole lot.

Mike Gonzalez 32:28

Yeah, I mean 16 under 272. It set all kinds of records uh back then for uh the tournament. It was uh records for under par, records for total score, records for victory margin. Uh again, that had to be a fun walk down 18 that day.

Patty Sheehan 32:43

It was. Uh it was a lot of fun, and um, you know, I I didn't have to go for the par five, green, and two. I could lay it up easy and just cruise in and yeah, no biggie.

Mike Gonzalez 32:56

So you probably wish they'd played the LPG championship there forever.

Patty Sheehan 33:01

I was I was kind of upset, although I did have some some success in the uh the future uh sites of LPGA championships.

Mike Gonzalez 33:13

Well, great victory, and then uh uh you go on with a couple more wins uh that very trophy year. The McDonald's Kids Classic at DuPont Country Club in Wilmington by two over Amy Alcott, another one of our prior guests who told us all about the bus rides.

Patty Sheehan 33:28

I'm sure she did. Sure, she did, yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 33:31

I'm sure she was right in the middle of it.

Patty Sheehan 33:33

She always was. She always was, you know, we called her Hollywood. So she was always in the middle of all of it.

Bruce Devlin 33:41

Very fitting, yeah. So tell me about tell me about this bonus thing that was going on that week, too, about winning back to back. Do you remember anything about that?

Patty Sheehan 33:52

That year, um, McDonald's put up a bonus. If you won the Corning Classic, the LPGA uh championship, and the McDonald's, um, you would win a million dollar annuity. Well, I didn't win corning, but I won uh the LPG Championship and McDonald's, and I won a$500,000 annuity. So it had to sit in the bank for 10 years before I could get my hands on it.

Bruce Devlin 34:26

Right.

Patty Sheehan 34:26

And then I got a nice 10-year payout of I forget how much it was a year, but it was, you know, it was a nice chunk of change. And nobody on the LPGA tour had ever done that before.

Bruce Devlin 34:39

Yeah. No, great. And it and it probably was worth a little bit more than the$500,000 after 10 years, right?

Patty Sheehan 34:46

Uh no, I think I think that's what I got.

Bruce Devlin 34:49

Oh, that was capped, was it? Yeah. Oh, okay. I thought they might I thought they might have had it uh where it you know you know normally something like that in an annuity would double in 10 years.

Patty Sheehan 35:00

Yeah, well, I probably what they put in doubled to get to 500,000.

Bruce Devlin 35:04

Oh, okay, gotcha. It probably covered it for them.

Patty Sheehan 35:07

Yeah.

Bruce Devlin 35:08

There you go. There you go.

Mike Gonzalez 35:09

I bet you cashed it. I bet you cashed the check, though.

Patty Sheehan 35:12

Oh, yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 35:13

Yeah, yeah.

Patty Sheehan 35:14

Every time.

Mike Gonzalez 35:15

So the last one, 1984, Bruce, was uh in North Carolina.

Bruce Devlin 35:19

Yeah, at the Henredon Classic, Willow Creek Country Club again.

Patty Sheehan 35:24

Yeah, that was that was uh I I by then I um I think uh I had just driven down with my dad from Vermont. He wanted to help me drive my car down there to get to uh North Carolina. And um so he was there. We got there on Monday, and I checked into my house, my housing, and he got a hotel room, and he was gonna fly out the next day and go home. And so he came out to the golf course, and you know, it's such a nice place, and the people in the south are so nice and so welcoming, and he somehow got hooked up with you know, the biggies of the tournament, the the sponsors and uh yeah, the club people, and he was, come on, Bobo, come on in. Might as well stay. We got cocktails for you, come on, he's all over that. So he stayed that day, and then he's like, Well, you know, I think I'm gonna come out for the pro-am and uh hang out, uh, you know, watch you a little bit, hang out with my new buddies. I'm like, okay, fine. Well, he had he had one set of clothes, he had his khaki shorts, his golf shirt, and a pair of crappy old sneakers. And uh, so he had that's what he wore every day. He says, This is my lucky outfit. And I and he'd every day he'd say, Okay, I'm gonna go home tomorrow. And then he'd come back from the golf course and say, I'm gonna stay another day. So he was there all week and ended up watching me win. He was my lucky charm. Uh yeah, and that was great. Um, and just as a sidebar, um the Henry Don people were so wonderful to me, and they um I had um I had a charity, charitable house in um in uh Santa Cruz, California, that um housed um girls that were neglected and abused, um, teenage girls. And they uh sponsored my house and filled it up with furniture.

Bruce Devlin 37:32

Furniture.

Patty Sheehan 37:33

Loaded up with furniture from beautiful furniture. Oh my gosh, it was so wonderful. They were they were incredible people to to be able to be so generous and kind, and um so that that tournament meant a lot to me.

Mike Gonzalez 37:49

Yeah, that's neat. Well, that was a a win by one over again uh Joanne Carner and also Dot Germain.

Patty Sheehan 37:56

So uh Yes, I love dot.

Mike Gonzalez 38:00

So let's go to 1985 when you went over a million, and and I would guess that the half a million from McDonald's probably didn't even count toward that yet, did it? No, no, no, so you still had that in the bank? That's kind of a comforting thought.

Patty Sheehan 38:13

Yeah, I had that coming. If I could live long enough, I'd had it.

Mike Gonzalez 38:16

Yeah, a couple of wins in 1985.

Patty Sheehan 38:19

Yeah. Uh-huh. Um, let's see, Sarasota, huh? Sarasota. Yeah, yeah, that was a good one. Beat Nancy coming down the stretch. That was that was fun.

Bruce Devlin 38:30

And then the Desert Inn.

Patty Sheehan 38:32

Yeah, Desert Inn in my home state in Las Vegas.

Bruce Devlin 38:37

Beat Alice uh Miller, right?

Patty Sheehan 38:40

Yeah, that that was that was the year of Alice Miller, I think. She played great that year. And uh yeah, uh I loved uh I love the Desert Inn Country Club when I was uh still a kid in Reno. My dad would go down to Vegas and play a um member guest with a friend of his, and he'd we would go down there and uh stayed right there at the desert inn and um I'd go out and hit balls at that teeny weeny range. Roosh you probably remember that.

Bruce Devlin 39:13

Yeah, I do remember tiny little range there.

Patty Sheehan 39:16

And I mean, I thought I had gone to heaven because I was hitting off of green grass in the middle of winter, you know, coming from Reno where everything's frozen. Um anyway, that was a big treat for me to go down and play at the DI and then to to have a tournament on tour. Uh felt like I was really coming home. Uh felt very much at home there and uh had a great time. You know, the casinos were not a big deal to me because I lived in Reno, uh, didn't gamble at all. And um my friends would, you know, egg me on, come on, let's go play blackjack. And so I I would at night a little bit, but not much. I'd put in 20 bucks if I lost it, that was it. You know, I was pretty tight back then. We had to be, you know, we had to figure it out. So that was that was fun. And I remember the um big barrel of silver dollars coming out.

Mike Gonzalez 40:12

Yeah, okay. All right. Unfortunately, the the desert end bit the dust long uh bit the dust long ago, didn't it?

Patty Sheehan 40:19

It did, yeah, unfortunately. But it you know, it's another place there now.

Mike Gonzalez 40:24

Yeah. Well, it it just seems like you were just building and building and building career-wise because you know, every year that you went by, a couple wins, three wins, four wins, very, very consistent. So you you you know, you you're in 85 winning at the Sarasota, you win the J and B Scotch Pro Am at the Desert In, then you uh and then you come back into 86 and three more wins. Uh your second win at Sarasota, by three over a couple ladies we've talked about, Pat Bradley and Julie Inkster. So I guess you enjoyed getting in each other's pockets from time to time, didn't you?

Patty Sheehan 40:56

You know, it was it was a it was a really interesting uh era on the LPGA because there were seemed like there were six six of us that sort of rotated wins. And that was um that was Lopez, um Beth Daniel, Pat Bradley, me, um Julie.

Mike Gonzalez 41:17

Probably throw Betsy in there.

Patty Sheehan 41:19

Betsy King, uh seemed like there was another one.

Mike Gonzalez 41:23

And Julie, yeah.

Patty Sheehan 41:24

Julie, yeah. And so we just sort of seemed like every week we were all one of us was winning. And you know, we all seemed to get in contention a lot together.

Mike Gonzalez 41:35

And that was you could probably throw Hollis in there occasionally, I guess.

Patty Sheehan 41:39

Uh Hollis, yeah, Hollis played well in U.S. Opens, that's for sure.

Mike Gonzalez 41:43

Yeah, how about it?

Patty Sheehan 41:44

Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 41:46

How about it?

Patty Sheehan 41:47

Well, she had she had she probably had the best short game of anybody I watched. Uh Hollis.

Mike Gonzalez 41:56

We had her on fairly recently, as uh matter of fact. Uh yeah, yeah. Um so we we talk about the Kia Sarah in 1986. That was your third win there in that Inamori uh classic, and and of course it went from Almadin, I think we talked about to Tori Pines, and now this one's at Bernardo Heights in uh in San Diego by one over Pat Bradley again.

Patty Sheehan 42:18

Yeah, that was a playoff, I if I recall correctly. Um, and I I believe it was the same day that Jack Nicholas won the Masters.

Bruce Devlin 42:31

Ah.

Patty Sheehan 42:32

Because we got almost no coverage.

Mike Gonzalez 42:36

Oh, really? That'll happen.

Patty Sheehan 42:40

I I I mean, I could be wrong, but I think it was the same day.

Bruce Devlin 42:45

Uh yeah. Well could could right well be because that was the year that he won for the last time.

SPEAKER_03 42:51

Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 42:51

Yeah. 86. Uh, well, yeah, this says the Kiacera was played at the end of February 1986.

SPEAKER_03 43:00

Okay. I wonder why I thought that.

Mike Gonzalez 43:03

Well, it's the same year, anyhow. Maybe it's coming up yet. Uh, because then the 86 Konika would have probably been played close to the Masters. It would have been a little after the Masters, I think, that year, when you won um uh uh at Almadin, speaking of Almaden, who you'd won already. And that was in a playoff with Amy and and Betsy and uh and uh Yako Akamoto.

Patty Sheehan 43:27

Yeah, I don't remember a whole lot about that, other than I think that was the year that I held uh hosted a toga party at my house, my condo in Las Gadas. And um, so we I had a huge party with players coming in wearing togas, various togas, and and caddies, players and caddies. And um uh a lot of the players had their were driving their tournament car.

Mike Gonzalez 43:59

Oh, sure.

Patty Sheehan 44:00

With you know the signs on the side.

Bruce Devlin 44:07

Did they really? Yeah.

Patty Sheehan 44:09

They all got towed. And when they went to leave the party, no one had their car. And we had to scout, you know, you can't go to the tow company with a credit card. You have to get cash. And so we're like scratch scavenging my house and everybody's pocketbooks to try to get enough cash to get one or two cars out so that the rest of them could go back and get more cash and come back and get the rest of them.

Mike Gonzalez 44:44

That's funny.

unknown 44:45

Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 44:45

I'm telling you, you just couldn't get away with that in this in today's uh day and age, can you? With nope. So we're gonna go to 1987. Uh you were too busy to win that year because you were uh uh too busy being the first women golfer on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

Patty Sheehan 45:03

Oh yeah, that was that was incredible. Um you know, and I I had never really paid any attention to that type of uh an honor before. Um and they called and said I was gonna be on the cover, and I I just couldn't even imagine why. And then uh learned that uh an al along with that uh beautiful um uh award that I received, I would get to go um also to a state dinner at the White House um because of the award. So I um I went to the White House and had dinner with um President Reagan. And um I'm staying in a hotel, it's a beautiful hotel they put me up in, and uh they said I was gonna have an escort come and pick me up and take me to the White House, you know, and it's all very, you know, pomp and circumstance and all that. And um so they drove up in one of those black limos, and a gorgeous military guy.

Bruce Devlin 46:16

Handsome guy.

Patty Sheehan 46:17

Handsome, gorgeous guy gets out of the car and comes to get me in the hotel, and um, you know, that was you're thinking. I was yeah, I was starstruck, and and um, so anyway, you know, and they report coming in, officer we're coming in, you know, and all that. And so I get out of the car, and he helps me out of the car, and I have to go walk down this long hall to um to get into the White House, and in this hall they had uh photographers lining the hallway, and it was so funny because I walked down that hall and one person clicked a camera. I got one photo of it, and I have no idea where it is, but is that right? Nobody knew who it was, and nobody, you know, it was just not really a big deal to them. But I got up in there into the the White House, into the East Room, and um my chauffeur, my my date, I like to call him, uh, he said, uh Miss Sheen, I'm gonna go find out which table you're at so I can you know get you to the right one. I said, Great. So I'm mingling around, talking to people I've seen on TV and never met before. And he comes back and he says, Um, Miss Sheen, um I've got I've got some some news for you. I said, Well, great. What what what is it? He says, You're gonna be sitting at the president's table tonight. And I'm like, Oh, oh nice! You've gotta be kidding me. I'm like, how did I ever fall into this? How did this happen? I couldn't even imagine how this happened. So he takes me in there, and I'm you know, I go to the table, and uh Bryant Gumble's on my left, and Floyd Patterson is on my right, and Catherine Um Sullivan, the first woman to walk in space, is at the table. Yeah, I've got the Duchess of Luxembourg at the table, and the president, and I'm just like, this is this is a dream. I I'm this is not me. I'm a little country girl from Vermont. I grew up looking cows. I should not be sitting in the White House with the president of the United States. So um, that was quite an evening, and um um fabulous honor.

Bruce Devlin 48:53

Fabulous honor.

Patty Sheehan 48:54

I just it was amazing.

Mike Gonzalez 48:57

Yeah, I bet it sure was.

Patty Sheehan 48:59

Yeah, the President Reagan told some of the best jokes I've ever heard, and most of them were Lussian jokes.

Mike Gonzalez 49:08

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.

Intro Music 49:29

Whack down the fairway. It went smack down the fairway, and it started to slice, just smit offline. It headed for two, but it bounced off nine. My caddy says long as you're still in the state, you're okay.