Laurie Anne Rinker (born September 28, 1962) 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 on 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 ...

in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s.

Amateur career

Rinker was born and raised in

Stuart, Florida Stuart is a city in and the seat of Martin County, Florida, United States. Located on Florida's Treasure Coast, Stuart is the largest of four incorporated municipalities in Martin County. The population is 17,425 according to the 2020 United State ...

. She attended the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

in Gainesville, Florida, where she played for coach Mimi Ryan's

Florida Gators women's golf The Florida Gators women's golf team represents the University of Florida in the sport of golf. The Lady Gators compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Southeastern Conference (SEC). They play their ...

team from 1980 to 1982. She was recognized as an All-American in 1980 and 1982, and qualified for the LPGA Tour in the summer between her junior and senior year of college. She completed her education by traveling to the University of Florida during off weeks, and graduated with a bachelor's degree in finance in 1983.

Professional career

Rinker's best years in professional golf came in the mid-1980s, and included two LPGA Tour wins: the 1984

Boston Five Classic The PING/Welch's Championship was an annual golf tournament for professional female golfers on the LPGA Tour. Founded in 1980 as the Boston Five Classic, it took place every year in the Greater Boston area from 1980 through 1997. It was played at t ...

and the 1986

LPGA Corning Classic The LPGA Corning Classic was an annual golf tournament for professional female golfers on the LPGA Tour. It took place every year from 1979 through 2009 at the Corning Country Club in Corning, New York. It was one of the longest running tourname ...

. Her best finishes in the LPGA majors included a seventh place in the 1984 Nabisco Dinah Shore, a tie for third in the 1987 LPGA Championship, and a tie for seventh in the

1995 du Maurier Classic The 1995 du Maurier Classic was contested from August 24–27 at Beaconsfield Golf Club. It was the 23rd edition of the du Maurier Classic, and the 17th edition as a major championship on the LPGA Tour. This event was won by Jenny Lidback. Final l ...

. The most lucrative year of her career was 1987, when she earned $158,916 and had nine top-10 finishes. To date, she has won over $1,200,000 as a professional golfer. As the winner of the 2015 LPGA Teaching and Club Professionals Championship, she is qualified for the inaugural U.S. Senior Women's Open in 2018 through 2020 as an eligible winner of the past five editions of the said tournament.

Family

Rinker's two brothers,

Larry Larry is a masculine given name in English, derived from Lawrence (given name), Lawrence or Laurence. It can be a shortened form of those names. Larry may refer to the following: People Arts and entertainment *Larry D. Alexander, American arti ...

and Lee, have played on the

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 ...

. She competed under her married name, Laurie Rinker-Graham, from 1992 to 2003. She has two sons, Brent and Timothy.

Amateur wins

*1980

U.S. Girls' Junior The United States Girls' Junior Championship is one of the thirteen U.S. national golf championships organized by the United States Golf Association. It is open to amateur girls who are under 19 on the last day of the competition and have a USGA ha ...

*1982 Doherty Challenge Cup

Professional wins

LPGA Tour wins (2)

LPGA of Japan Tour wins (1)

*1984 Chukyo TV Bridgestone Ladies Open

Other wins

*1985

JCPenney Classic The JCPenney Classic was a mixed team golf tournament sponsored by the PGA Tour and the LPGA Tour. Teams consisted of one PGA Tour player and one LPGA Tour player (except in 1967 when the teams were male only). It was played in California and Flor ...

(with brother Larry Rinker) *2015 LPGA Teaching and Club Professionals Championship.

Legends Tour wins (4)

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

Women's Senior National Invitational *

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

ISPS Handa Legends Open Championship *

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

The Legends Championship *

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

Chico's Patty Berg Memorial

Team appearances

Professional *

Handa Cup The Handa Cup is a series of senior women's golf matches between a United States team and a World Team drawn from players from the rest of the world. It was founded in 2006 and is an event on the LPGA Legends Tour. Since 2013 it has been officially ...

(representing the United States): 2013, 2014 (winners), 2015 (winners)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rinker, Laurie American female golfers Florida Gators women's golfers LPGA Tour golfers Golfers from Florida People from Stuart, Florida 1962 births Living people