Laura Zonetta Baugh (born May 31, 1955) is an American
professional golfer
A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...
, who played the
LPGA Tour
The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at the LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekl ...
for 25 years. She is a published writer and golf broadcaster.
Early life
Baugh was born in
Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, Alachua County, Florida, and the largest city in North Central Florida, with a population of 141,085 in 2020. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gaine ...
. Her father
Hale Baugh
Hale Baugh (September 10, 1924 – November 16, 2011) was an American modern pentathlete. He competed at the 1948 Summer Olympics
The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an ...
, a lawyer who competed at the
1948 Summer Olympics
The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, England, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus ca ...
as a
modern pentathlete
The modern pentathlon is an Olympic sport consisting of fencing (one-touch épée), freestyle swimming, equestrian show jumping, pistol shooting, and cross country running. The event is inspired by the traditional pentathlon held during the anc ...
, was a very good amateur golfer, who introduced his children to golf at early ages. She won the National PeeWee Golf Championship five times, her first coming at age three. Her parents divorced when she was 11 years old, and she moved with her mother from their Florida home to
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California.
Incorporate ...
. Lacking the money to pay green fees, she and friends would sneak onto golf courses to play. At age 14 she won her first of two straight Los Angeles Women's City Golf Championships. Her older brother Beau Baugh played professionally for a time. She graduated from high school at the age of 16 with excellent grades. She studied at
Long Beach City College
Long Beach City College (LBCC) is a public community college in Long Beach, California. It was established in 1927 and is divided into two campuses, the Liberal Arts Campus in Lakewood Village and the Pacific Coast Campus in central Long Beach ...
and
California State University, Long Beach
California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) is a public research university in Long Beach, California. The 322-acre campus is the second largest of the 23-school California State University system (CSU) and one of the largest universities i ...
.
Amateur career
In 1971, at the age of 16, at the
Atlanta Country Club
Atlanta Country Club is a private golf club in the southeastern United States, located in the Chattahoochee Plantation section of East Cobb, Georgia, a suburb northwest of Atlanta. The club was founded in 1964 and opened two years later.
Histor ...
in
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
, she defeated Beth Barry, 1 up, in the 36-hole final match to win the
U.S. Women's Amateur, becoming the youngest champion in the event's 76-year history to that stage. Her physical appearance brought her considerable publicity, and for 1971 she was chosen as a ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' "
Woman of the Year
''Woman of the Year'' is a 1942 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by George Stevens and starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. The film was written by Ring Lardner Jr. and Michael Kanin (with uncredited work on the rewritten ...
". In 1972 she won ''
Golf Digest
''Golf Digest'' is a monthly golf magazine published by Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit under its Warner Bros. Discovery Golf division. It is a generalist golf publication covering recreational golf and men's and women's competiti ...
's'' "Most Beautiful Golfer." She made a television commercial for
UltraBrite toothpaste that won a
Clio Award. Baugh was a member of the U.S. teams that won the 1972
Curtis Cup
The Curtis Cup is the best known team trophy for women amateur golfers, awarded in the biennial Curtis Cup Match. It is co-organised by the United States Golf Association and The R&A and is contested by teams representing the United States and ...
and the 1972
Espirito Santo Trophy
The Espirito Santo Trophy (World Women's Amateur Team Championships) is a biennial world amateur team golf championship for women organised by the International Golf Federation.
The inaugural event was held in 1964. It was instituted by the Fre ...
, where Baugh finished tied third in the individual competition. Baugh was offered a full academic scholarship to
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
, but she declined because Stanford did not have a women's golf team.
Professional career
She turned professional in 1973 and after signing with the
International Management Group
IMG, originally known as the International Management Group, is a global sports, events and talent management company headquartered in New York City. It has been owned by Endeavor since 2013. Trans World International (TWI) is an event and pro ...
, soon had lucrative contracts with
Ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
,
Rolex
Rolex SA () is a British-founded Swiss watch designer and manufacturer based in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1905 as ''Wilsdorf and Davis'' by Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred Davis in London, the company registered ''Rolex'' as the brand name of ...
,
Suzuki
is a Japan, Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Minami-ku, Hamamatsu, Japan. Suzuki manufactures automobiles, motorcycles, All-terrain vehicle, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), outboard motor, outboard marine engines, wheelchairs ...
,
The Ladies Home Journal
''Ladies' Home Journal'' was an American magazine last published by the Meredith Corporation. It was first published on February 16, 1883, and eventually became one of the leading women's magazines of the 20th century in the United States. In ...
,
Wilson,
Bermuda
)
, anthem = "God Save the King"
, song_type = National song
, song = " Hail to Bermuda"
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's Tourist Bureau and
Colgate Palmolive. She had not yet turned 18, so she was ineligible to join the
LPGA Tour
The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at the LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekl ...
, but was eligible to play in
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
. She played several events on the
LPGA of Japan Tour
The LPGA of Japan Tour is a professional golf tour for women organised by the Japan Ladies Professional Golfers' Association. It is the second richest women's golf tour in the world. The U.S.-based LPGA Tour is the most important women's tour, but ...
, where her appearance attracted immense interest and publicity.
She earned her LPGA Tour card on her first attempt in
1973
Events January
* January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union.
* January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...
, and the very next week placed second in her tour debut. She earned 1973
Rookie of the Year honors.
During her professional golf career from 1973 through 2001, Baugh earned 71 top-10 finishes, including ten runners-up. She earned significant prize money, and supplemented this with even greater earnings from endorsements and golf outings.
She has worked as a television announcer for
The Golf Channel
Golf Channel (also verbally referred to as simply Golf) is an American sports television network owned by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Founded in Birmingham, Alabama, it is currently based out of NBC S ...
.
After her LPGA Tour career, she became a member of the
Legends Tour
The Legends of the LPGA, formerly known as the Women's Senior Golf Tour (2000–2005) and the Legends Tour (2006–2021), is a professional golf tour for women aged 45 and older. It is based in the United States and is the official senior tour of t ...
, formerly known as the Women's Senior Golf Tour, was part of the process to make the
U.S. Senior Women’s Open a reality and played in the 2018 inaugural event at the
Chicago Golf Club
Chicago Golf Club is a private golf club in the central United States, located in Wheaton, Illinois, a suburb west of Chicago. The oldest 18-hole course in North America, it was one of the five founding clubs of the United States Golf Association ...
.
Personal life
Baugh has been married four times, in her second and third marriage (divorced in 1985 but remarried two years later) to
PGA Tour
The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...
winner
Bobby Cole, the father of her seven children, including professional golfer
Eric Cole, who played on the
Korn Ferry Tour
The Korn Ferry Tour is the developmental tour for the U.S.-based PGA Tour, and features professional golfers who have either not yet reached the PGA Tour, or who have done so but then failed to win enough FedEx Cup points to stay at that level. Th ...
since 2016 and qualified for the
2022–23 PGA Tour.
Despite her successful start and prodigious talent, alcoholism and emotional problems took over her life, and she never won an LPGA tournament. Her drinking caused spontaneous bleeding that could have ended her life, had she not sought treatment that included time at the
Betty Ford Clinic
The Betty Ford Center (BFC) is a non-profit, residential treatment center for persons with substance dependence in Rancho Mirage, California. It offers inpatient, outpatient, and residential day treatment for alcohol and other drug addictions, as ...
in 1996. She described her battle with alcohol in a 1999 book titled "''Out of the Rough''."
After 25 years living in
Orlando, Florida
Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...
, Baugh moved to
Augusta, Georgia
Augusta ( ), officially Augusta–Richmond County, is a consolidated city-county on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The city lies across the Savannah River from South Carolina at the head of its navig ...
, in 2013 and to
Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida
Ponte Vedra Beach is a wealthy unincorporated seaside community and suburb of Jacksonville, Florida in St. Johns County, Florida, United States. Located southeast of downtown Jacksonville and north of St. Augustine, it is part of the Jackso ...
in 2016, to serve as a golf instructor at
Sawgrass Country Club
Sawgrass Country Club is a private member owned country club in the southeastern United States, located at Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, southeast of Jacksonville. A Distinguished 5 Star Platinum Club of America and a Premier Private Country Club of ...
.
Amateur wins
*1971
U.S. Women's Amateur
Playoff record
LPGA Tour playoff record (0–1)
U.S. national team appearances
Amateur
*
Curtis Cup
The Curtis Cup is the best known team trophy for women amateur golfers, awarded in the biennial Curtis Cup Match. It is co-organised by the United States Golf Association and The R&A and is contested by teams representing the United States and ...
: 1972 (winners)
*
Espirito Santo Trophy
The Espirito Santo Trophy (World Women's Amateur Team Championships) is a biennial world amateur team golf championship for women organised by the International Golf Federation.
The inaugural event was held in 1964. It was instituted by the Fre ...
:
1972
Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...
(winners)
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baugh, Laura
American female golfers
LPGA Tour golfers
Winners of ladies' major amateur golf championships
Golf writers and broadcasters
Golfers from Florida
American women memoirists
California State University, Long Beach alumni
Sportspeople from Gainesville, Florida
1955 births
Living people
21st-century American women