Lauri Merten - Part 1 (The Early Years)

In this first installment of our four-part conversation with 1993 U.S. Women’s Open Champion Lauri Merten, we journey back to where it all began. A self-proclaimed “cheesehead” born in Waukesha, Wisconsin, Lauri shares her early memories of snowy winters, fried cheese curds, and a childhood move to Arizona that would unknowingly set her on the path to major championship glory.

Lauri opens up about a childhood shaped not by early athletic success, but by determination, resilience, and a tight-knit family. With heartfelt humor and humility, she recalls her initial forays into sports — including a memorable knee injury during a failed long jump attempt — and how golf became her sanctuary. A set of hand-me-down Patty Berg clubs and a desire to spend time with her father sparked a love for the game that would carry her to the top of women’s golf.

Listeners will hear about the summer golf school that transformed Lauri’s outlook, the strict (but loving) influence of her father, and how her shorter left leg created challenges — and ultimately forged a gritty, repeatable game that made her the “Trash Queen” on tour, getting up-and-down from everywhere.

Lauri’s authenticity shines as she reflects on meeting Bob and Dolores Hope, playing in celebrity pro-ams, and the powerful women who helped pave her way in the game. Her voice adds an intimate touch to a story that is both deeply personal and inspiring.

Join us as we uncover the roots of a U.S. Open champion — a story that’s as much about heart and perseverance as it is about fairways and greens.

Transcript

Intro Music 0:07

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

Mike Gonzalez 0:15

Welcome to another edition of FORE the Good of the Game and Bruce Devlin. I must say, for our 102nd interview of Golf Greats, we have today a major winner that might be the most prepared guest we have had on the show.

Bruce Devlin 0:34

I think you're correct, too. Three-time winner on the uh LPGA tour and the 1993 U.S. women's open champion, Lauri Merten. Thanks for joining Mike and I today. It's uh we've looked forward to chatting with you.

Lauri Merten 0:52

It's nice to be with you both.

Mike Gonzalez 0:54

Lori, thanks for joining us. And I I I I kind of joked about that, but uh uh you were so nice in helping us fill in some of the blanks of your life and career, and it's just gonna be great, great material today to get through.

Lauri Merten 1:08

Well, otherwise, uh, you know, three wins after Lorraine Ochoa is like, I mean, that there's other people that uh have a lot more stuff with golf, put it that way.

Mike Gonzalez 1:20

Yeah, well, you referenced Lorena Ochoa, who we had yesterday on the show, and and uh yes, she had a she had a bunch of wins as a as a World Golf Hall of Famer, and quite a sensational uh story she had. But uh uh we're anxious to to help you tell your life story. And as we've talked about, the USGA is archiving these stories in perpetuity. And so we would envision in a hundred years you're gonna have boys and girls that are curious about some of the past greats and major winners, particularly somebody that's won their national championship, which is a big deal, let's face it.

Lauri Merten 1:53

Uh it's amazing.

Mike Gonzalez 1:55

You know, as we talked earlier, there are several World Golf Hall of Famers out there that'd give their eye teeth to have a U.S. Open win. Right. Now true.

Lauri Merten 2:04

I always wanted to win the dinosaur. That was my I lived in Arizona, so I always wanted to win the dinosaur. So I never really thought until the final round was if when I was gonna, I was starting to practice putting, and I said, okay, this one's for the U.S. Open. And it went in and it kept going in. I'm like, okay, I'm stopping that. No, I never really thought about winning the U.S. Open until probably about the 16th pole.

Mike Gonzalez 2:31

Yeah, well, you mentioned the Dinosaur, and of course, for the ladies, uh that's what really put the LPGA tour on the map, wasn't it? Uh Colgate, Palm Olive, and David Foster, and Dinah Shore, and and uh boy, uh you're right. I mean, I I think just about anybody that's played on the LPGA tour, that that was your masters, wasn't it?

Lauri Merten 2:53

It it was, and it was the something that I really wanted to win. Just because my parents were always out there because they were in Arizona, so they would drive over and things like that. But one thing that was funny that I didn't think about till just now is Dolores Hope invited all the LPGA players to go to her um house for dinner. And Miss Dr. or Mr. Hope was not there, Bob was not there, but we got to look around the house, and I got into the closet of Bob Hope. And I'm seeing all I'd say there were a hundred pairs of pants, and they went from light tan to brown to orange. It and then the guy comes in and says, Um, you're really not supposed to be in here. And I went, Oh, I'm sorry, you know, I'm I I'm always getting into trouble. But it was fun, and she had us all over, and it was that's my first taste of like like those that you know, how great the hopes were, you know. I just really enjoyed that. I mean, I just that's fun to meet those kind of people. And we met a lot of celebrities on at the dinosaur plane in the program. I played with some a mash guy, I forget what his name is, but you know, it would and just Larry Gatlin I played with. So we got to play with a lot of great people, which was fun. It was it was fun.

Mike Gonzalez 4:18

Yeah, yeah. Well, I'm sure there was great times. And while it's moved on from Mission Hills, there's a lot of great memories uh from that golf tournament for all of you.

Lauri Merten 4:27

A lot of plunges in the pond.

Mike Gonzalez 4:29

So that's right. Well, as you know by now, we always go back to the very beginning, and uh, you know, we kind of jokingly refer to you as a cheese head because you were born in Walkershaw, Wisconsin. Didn't spend a lot of time there. I mean, uh, probably don't have very many early recollections of your life there because you moved, I think, when you were five or so, right?

Lauri Merten 4:51

Yes. Uh the one thing I do remember is we when it snowed, you know, we always wanted to go out to uh um go do make snow angels. And my mom would b bundle us all up, we'd get out there, and two minutes later, after we went one time, we're like, okay, it's too cold, let's go back inside. Had to put the socks or the mittens and everything on the radiator. And yeah, um, but I have I go back there now, but um to see my cousins, all my cousins, a lot of them are still there. But when you say you say jokingly, I am definitely a cheese head. So and and cheese curds are my favorite. Even my cousin Amy, she mails them to me, you know, when I want to have that, watch a game and have a beer with the uh cheese curds. There you go.

Mike Gonzalez 5:40

Fried or not, either you don't like them.

Lauri Merten 5:42

No, no, no. Nothing you like no I don't like the fried mozzarella. That's kind of like mozzarella. No, I don't like them. I I like basic ones, not even flavored or anything. I don't know. Cheese curds are the basic, and bratwurst are the basic.

Mike Gonzalez 5:57

Oh, yeah.

Lauri Merten 5:58

Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 5:59

Let's talk about life as a little girl. Uh, you moved from Walkershaw, you moved to Arizona. So tell us a little bit about your folks and what was behind that move out west.

Lauri Merten 6:09

My father, um, I remember Parker Davis. He sold, you know, medicine uh um uh stuff. And and anyway, then he went out to Arizona and he worked for Sperry, um, which is Honeywell. And and I remember, I think back on it, I their first home they purchased was $17,500 back in 1965. And then my grandparents came, uh my dad's side came also to Phoenix, and um they we were lower middle class, and we um my mom would, you know, make all our clothes, and she we I remember we had little Barbie dolls that she had a uh an irony lady that would definitely um uh make some doll clothes for us. I guess she didn't want to do those, but she made me some blue bell bottom trousers one time, and I thought if there were hip huggers and I thought I was the cat's meow. It was they were polyester, you know. Like leisure suits cause cancer in the laboratory rats. That that was fortunately I haven't had any of that other than skin. We all have that, but I was not really an athlete. I tried, I I in I went to Sevilla grade school, and um that was I was a cheerleader. And then after that, I I when I went to high school, I wanted to be a cheerleader, but I wasn't good enough. And so I became a mascot, which is kind of interesting with you know, psychological to hide yourself with a lion head. You know, it was it was interesting. Um, but I always wanted to be popular and I never did, so I hung around kids that weren't so popular and kind of started getting into a little bit of trouble, you know. You know, little like you know, my sister Kelly would always rat on me. She was like my best friend, she still is, but you know, I I smoked a cigarette and she and she said, I'm gonna tell dad and mom. And you know, so she always ratted on me. Um, but um what else?

Mike Gonzalez 8:23

Um you had two sisters, right?

Lauri Merten 8:26

Yes, my sister Georgia. She was the older one. My because we're middle class, um my dad only had somehow he got a set of Patty Berg's. And I did see one of her shows one time, which was phenomenal, where she turns the hat and hits the shot. Remarkable, remarkable. I loved watching her, and Patty Berg was hilarious. Um anyway, she my sister Georgia got the clubs, and at that time she really didn't want to play golf. So I said, then my dad, so she gave my dad the clubs back, and I thought I'm getting into trouble. It was the best thing that ever happened to me because I try not to get into trouble anymore. Um, and uh, and anyway, my my dad gave me the clubs, and that's how I first started getting into the game of golf.

Mike Gonzalez 9:16

Yeah. So are you saying that you didn't play any other sports as a youngster?

Lauri Merten 9:21

Oh, well, I tried track and field. I was doing long jump, and in seventh grade, I was running, you know, the long jump, and my sister Georgia was watching me, and I hit the board and did a terrible jump. And the kids were all laughing at me. I mean, I wanted to also do uh gymnastics, but that wasn't that was balance beam was not my thing, unlike Simone Biles. But anyway, I ran and hit the board. So now she Georgia said I looked like a crazy woman running my next one. And when I hit the board, I went off and I I totally dislocated my knee. Um, and I'm asking the seventh-grade science teacher, I said, How'd I do? And he said, You scratched. So I'm not an athlete. I just say a lot of times I say, Oh no, I'm not a golfer, I just played one on TV.

Mike Gonzalez 10:22

Well, you know, I I asked that because uh, for the most part, across all of our interviews, the common thread with with most of all these golfers is they were multi-sport athletes. They they enjoyed team sports and and learning about the the aspects of being on a team and part of a team as well as individual sports. And uh eventually they all sort of gravitate toward golf. Um but uh I you know you say you weren't athletic. You must have been to excel at golf.

Lauri Merten 10:50

I, you know, it it was a lot of repetition for me, and hence why I quit and retired early, because it was demanding. I didn't hit it that far, but they also called me the trash queen because I got it up and down from garbage cans and ball washers. It was really, you know, I just I mean, I have to say I'm really not an athlete. I have great hand eye coordination with a ball that's sitting there. Tennis, not really. And, you know, now my left knee, I have a shorter left leg. When after I dislocated my kneecap, my my uh tibia or the one in the front, your shin, it stopped growing. I damaged my growth plate. So I had a shorter left leg, which was really tricky in the game of golf. I mean, I remember when I first was playing at Maryvale Golf Course, which is now Grand Canyon, the where the the Grand Canyon State people play golf. Um, but uh the shorter left leg, I remember one time I was on the whole and I went took my swing back, and all of a sudden my left leg collapsed. It wasn't strong yet, and I just fell over. It it just almost dislocated again. So it was um, but because of the shorter left leg, I've always had a hard time because I played a little bit, it's about an inch and a half shorter, and uh, I played downhill, which you know, if you're not level, you know, even that's why I always won on flat golf courses, not you know, Waikagale up in New York, which is hilly and everything. I just I don't do well on those golf courses because of that shorter left leg. But my caddy Tom Hansen, when I won the open, he was the one that that year started helping me to realize I had to hip get my hips up on the left side before I took it back. And I remember Frank Cherkinian said, We always like that little wiggle that you do with your rear end. And it was it was really to make my left leg get up higher. I mean, I I haven't I even had a lift in my shoes.

Mike Gonzalez 13:01

Okay, all right.

Lauri Merten 13:03

Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 13:04

So I have to ask then, I mean, uh in terms of lies, did you prefer uphill lies to downhill lies then?

Lauri Merten 13:11

100%. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. It was amazing. I'm telling you, that is what really, you know, and so I I wanted to be an athlete, but you know, yes, I have the hand-eye coordination, but it was a lot of roteness and stuff, but but uphill lies in a heartbeat because it was more level for me.

Mike Gonzalez 13:30

Yeah, I can I'm I would visualize you trying to drive and or hit layup shots to an uphill lie area just to give you a little bit of a bit of an edge.

Lauri Merten 13:40

Well, I don't know if I really was that smart back then, but uh that would have been smart for me to do that. I agree. Why weren't you my coach?

Mike Gonzalez 13:48

That might be a level of precision that's uh beyond everybody. I don't know.

Lauri Merten 13:52

Exactly.

Mike Gonzalez 13:54

Yeah, yeah. Well, let's take you back to early golf. I mean, uh uh you talked about sort of begging your dad to take you along. Uh what was it about golf that was the attraction back then?

Lauri Merten 14:05

Well, I was mainly uh it turned out that it was that I wanted to be with my dad. You know, he and he was very strict, but he was very, you know, usually right about everything. One time he said, Lori, I used there was one time I was wrong in life, and that was when I thought I was wrong and I was actually right. So he he he's that strict guy that but it helped me to maintain you know focus and things because I can be kind of all over the place. And but my dad would go out at in Sun City, they they moved to Arizona and they lived in Phoenix, but uh we would go out to Sun City, they they'd let him play out there, and um, so he he'd wake me up at you know 4:30 to get out there at you know, because we had to get to the golf course and tee off by I forget some uh unbelievably early hour. And I would pull his cart around with they had this group that it was had to do with Sperry, you know, but they called it the shit league, which was at its stand, but it was with Sperry was the and those guys were um you know I I I have a great picture of what them. They did everything together because they were all they were just good friends, and and um my father let me tag along and and I think he we'd pick up a dunk and donuts and then we'd go out there and and uh I I've got a lot of great memories with my dad that were you know great. He passed a few years ago, and but he really helped me. I sometimes didn't listen, and and I I hence I really wish I would have sometimes.

Mike Gonzalez 15:50

What kind of golfer was he?

Lauri Merten 15:52

He he played in the army and he got down to like a four. So he was my teacher in the beginning, and he Ben Hogan was the five fundamentals of golf. That's what I learned. And you know, the grip that was you know extremely important. I I think funny I see things like Judy Rankin now with that. I remembered her grip being all the way so strong, and I'm thinking so it really wasn't, I think it's just consistency in the grip, is what's important, but um yeah, the five fundamentals is what my father taught me, and he got to the point that he said, I can't teach you anymore. And and that's when we had found Ed Oldfield was at Orange Tree um on the west east side of town.

Mike Gonzalez 16:39

Yeah, of course I remember Ed from being up on the north side of Chicago.

Lauri Merten 16:44

Glenview Golf Club was where he was, and I would go up there, and Mr. Green, I would stay at Mr. and Mrs. Green's house, and I was able to go up there and get golf lessons from him. I'll tell you, you know, one of them was the which was funny, he would say, Well, it was that orange tree, but he he was having me change something, and I'm I was always having to feel like I was laying it off because I always crossed the line. Honestly, I think it was because of my shorter left leg, because I had to get try to get so I could clear, have enough time to clear my left hip. And I would always think that there was a there was a McDonald's or a jack in the box in the back, so I had to aim my club head at the jack in the box. And I'd hit, you know, I'd hit a shot, he goes, No, more. I'm like, more, there's no way. And I'd do a more and he's like, that's perfect, and I just had rolled it, you know, it just puttered out, you know, not even an inch high. And he goes, that was perfect. I go, I'm gonna shoot a hundred. And he's like, No, you're not, you just gotta do it. And and I won that week.

Mike Gonzalez 17:52

Interesting.

Lauri Merten 17:53

So I but I was that kind of a very mechanical golfer. I yes, I probably had natural ability, but it not uh I I'm definitely a mechanical golfer.

Mike Gonzalez 18:07

Like you said, a lot of repetition.

Lauri Merten 18:10

Yeah, I mean I used to dark 30. Uh we always called it when I was on tour. It I I was I was one the one out there the latest. And if I didn't have private housing, you know, I and I'm staying in a hotel, I'd first of all go eat by myself and then go back to the room and crash. And but I mean I'd I'd go till dark almost every night. And you can't maintain that for very long, but it was what I did in order to excel at the game.

Mike Gonzalez 18:41

Yeah, yeah. So you m you mentioned uh coming to the game at uh you know, around age 11 or so with your father, and and he gets to a point where he he really can't help you uh too much. Uh I think in the summer of 73 you attended a golf school, uh swing school. Tell us a little bit about that experience.

Lauri Merten 19:03

Well, I I had heard about it because I was at Maryvale, the public golf course, and and I heard about this thing. So I got home and I told my dad there's this swing school. It's for a whole month in July in the summer of Arizona, and it was from eight in the morning until five in the afternoon. And I found out, so I called my dad said it while we were having dinner. He goes, Well, after dinner, you call and find out how much it cost. So I called the golf course, and the guy told me it was $125 for the golf school. And I said, Okay, thank you. And I hung up. It felt like a million dollars to me. And I thought, oh my gosh. And my dad said, Well, you know, I know we can't really afford it. That that's a lot of money, Lori. But if you're really wanting to do it, I said, Really, really? And so that was the start of my, you know, golf like serious. And we get up, it was from eight in the morning until four in the afternoon. When we first got there, this was wild. There were these soaker bins, and you'd put your hands in iodine water, and it would help us so that we didn't get blisters on our little hands that are now very calloused and rough from golf. But we did that one, and um, and then we'd always hit balls on the range, and everybody had to stop, and then we had to go out to the range and pick up our golf balls in the basket and bring them back and start over again. So when we went on tours of the ping factory, and we went on tours of the Titalissa Kushnet factory, and we took a test, and on that test, um, if you won, you got a putter. And I have this La Femme putter that I'm pointing at. It has my name on it, Lori Merton. It's got a lot of lead tape on it because it wasn't very heavy back then. But um, it's over there with my U.S. Open Trophy.

Bruce Devlin 20:58

Was there a uh PGA professional who was at that school? Was there a teacher, a fairly well-known teacher?

Lauri Merten 21:07

Mr. Farkas, Bill Farkas senior, was and his son also was at Encanto. Um, but Mr. Farkas, that was his, he was into junior golf. He really helped us. There was a guy named John Martin that also helped us, and there was another guy, I can't remember his name, but Mr. Farkas did this great thing. He, I mean, he I remember when we first got in there, he goes, This is not babysitting. And I was like, Well, I didn't think so. I'm paying $125. Hello. And anyway, so he because I think a few of the kids were, you know, babysat, I think. Uh, but me, it was more that I was really there for learning the game, and Mr. Farkas was. He also did this thing with a guy in American Samoa that um Talani Tileso, who I just found out died last month. Month and at 92. But Talani was in the Olympics in the and he was a marksman sharpshooter. So he was into the mental game of golf, and he was able to um help us uh you know do that side of it. So they flipped two juniors from this nine-hole golf course in American Samoa and brought two of the guys over to be at in in American Samoa to learn from Telani. And I said to Mr. Farkas one time, I said, Why can't girls try to qualify for this? It's the first time, you know, you're standing up for women's rights, right? And he said, Well, you have to play from the boys' T's or the men's T's. I go, I already do Mr. Farkas. And he said, Okay, and it was based on swing and etiquette. And I was, I ended up third, but because David Rizzo banged his club somewhere and Mr. Farkas saw it in the he would go around and see. He got kicked out. He ended up going, I think, the next year. But Pat Reese and I went to American Samoa, and I ended up, it was great because I was able to um see this, you know, somewhere in the middle of the ocean, you know, way past Hawaii. And it was a nine-hole golf course built on lava. And if there was, he'd always sell tell us if our ball was near the lava, we'd definitely have to um get get a free drop. So, but that that really was the start of of all sorts of learning slowly other sides and aspects of the game.

Mike Gonzalez 23:45

Yeah. Of course, you were coming along uh, you know, uh uh early teenager pre-Title IX. So the opportunities for women had not yet uh developed to the extent that they are they have today.

Lauri Merten 23:57

Yes, and they're trying today not to. And I I remember we were having that issue just recently, and it's a you know, but the Title IX was huge because it gave allowed us to have women's sports, and and uh it I had some, you know, that helped me a lot, you know. So Title IX is I very important, and and I remember, and Nancy Lopez is an advocate for a lot of different things on that, which I really highly respect. I stay out of all that kind of stuff, but you know, in the background, I'll definitely, I'm not one to be that much out front, but I'm glad she is in so many things. But the Title IX was great for our scholarships.

Mike Gonzalez 24:43

Yeah, yeah. So um back then uh we talk about uh opportunities for women, but uh as a result, uh you were probably surrounded by a bunch of boys you were competing with for the most part.

Lauri Merten 24:56

Absolutely. I mean, we it it it started, yes, I was always competing when I was in grade, you know, in like high school and stuff, but we did have a girls' golf team at at Alhambra on my high school, and the math teacher was our golf coach, and that was Linda Volstead. And Linda was um she was the coach of the girls' high school golf team, and I did, you know, uh, we were pretty good. Kelly was on it. My sister Kelly and I were both on the team after she's two years younger than me. Um, but Linda, everybody knows Linda Volstead as the ASU golf coach that um won, you know, she's won, I mean, she's in the golf hall of fame because of her accolades of coaching.

Mike Gonzalez 25:49

Coaching.

Lauri Merten 25:49

Um, and she was my high school and my college coach. I mean, I was I was recruited by uh Judy Whitehouse, and then in the interim, we had Jocelyn Barassa was our coach, even George Bautel, the men's coach, was it. And my dad said to Linda, you should be, you should, you know, apply for the coaching at Arizona State. And she said, George, I'm just I'm just a math teacher. And he says, Well, you're better than what they have. And she applied and she got it, and hence, you know, her life was changed. I mean, she really like just from math teacher to a hall of fame, you know, coach. So a lot of NCAA wins, not with us, but we, not with me, but but she was a great coach. And Jocelyn Barassa, she worked with Ed Oldfield, so she actually was kind of having like I had a coach, you know, but you know, with uh her, I could, and she would call me the pest. She goes, Oh, you're just a little pest. She's you know, French Canadian, because I would always say, I need help, I need help. And you know, she helped me with my putting, and Ed did too. So anyway, I I had a lot of strange experiences. George Bautel was the one, it was crazy when he was our interim coach, but but uh Linda was was phenomenal. But I got recruited by Judy Whitehouse, and and I think Joanne Lund was the coach at at Arizona, and I we call them the Mildcats. We were my friend calls us the scum devils, which is not nice, but he because he's Mildcat. But the Sun Devils, and I got offered like books and tuition down in Arizona, but I got a full ride at Arizona State. And you know, sometimes you wonder if that helped you in your career to be that close to home, because it was a 40 five-minute drive, and I'd take my clothes home to have my mom do laundry and I'd go back. So I was very close, so I never really grew up, I would say, if if that's you know, I it took me a lot longer to grow up in life, I think. And so I always tell kids that they should, I really think they should advance, you know, to go out earlier so they can learn. But, you know, I hey, it worked for me.

Mike Gonzalez 28:16

Yeah. Well, before we get you through college, we want to talk a little bit about some of your early triumphs as an amateur. Uh, but before we do that, tell us a little bit about Maryvale Municipal Golf Course.

Lauri Merten 28:30

Well, it that's where I grew up, and and and I didn't live on the golf course. We had to drive 15 minutes to get there. And so I finally got my license, and my dad didn't have to drop Kelly and I off. Kelly and I, Arizona is so dry, it never rains, right? And so Kelly and I always had to go to the golf course. Our dad was like, okay, you're going, you're going. And so we kind of prayed for rain so that we didn't have to golf that day. You know, it was just, it was, he he had a regiment. I think it was his military background. I don't know. But um Maryvale, well, that was, I mean, that was my whole life. I'm a I'm a public links golf course person. I have an honorary membership at Rehobith Beach Country Club, which is very, I'm very honored. But I'm not a country club person. I I play with some friends now at Royal Palm, you know, my friends Debbie and Ralph. They and and the people out there, the head pro and everybody, and the director of golf, they let me come out and let me play for free, which is nice. And and I play with them, but I don't really play that much anymore. But Maryvale um was my that that was my life. I and I met my first husband. He was um Paul Peterson there, and pretty blue eyes, and I was like, and it was so you know, you hung out with all the guys, and and um, you know, you're younger, but anyway, that was that's how I met Paul, and and then he eventually played, or he was he worked at the ping factory doing irons, and he he ended up um being the tour rep on our tour um when we were when I was out there after Bob Canton.

Mike Gonzalez 30:15

Was uh Mary Vale a a nine-hole course, 18-hole course?

Lauri Merten 30:18

Uh oh no, it was an 18-hole golf course. Um the first four holes, you'd get back, um, and on the the first four, it got back to the clubhouse almost. So if you're over par, you start over again. And it's like, okay, I didn't like that first four holes. So, and my grandfather would come out there, and he they always I think we put his ashes in the back of uh uh by a tree at Maryville because he would always come out and and uh be there. You know, I mean he wasn't really a golfer, but he he supported me in my sports, my grandfather on my dad's side, another George.

Mike Gonzalez 30:59

So well, Bruce, if you know you look at the the amateur career of Roy Merton uh starting in 1978, winning her high school championship, there's quite a few uh quite a few successes she had uh at a young age, uh leading up to and including her days at uh Arizona State University.

Bruce Devlin 31:17

That's right. Also won in uh 1978, the uh state junior match play championship. Whom who did you beat in the final there?

Lauri Merten 31:27

Oh gosh.

Bruce Devlin 31:28

You remember?

Lauri Merten 31:29

Absolutely. That would be Heather Farr, um who was four years younger than me and a heck of a lot better than me at the game. And she she was a tough spunk. Um I uh I remember that every time I would actually do better than her, possibly, it would still say on the newspapers at the Arizona Republic, far loses. And then then it would be Lori wins in the bifocal section.

Mike Gonzalez 32:05

Yeah.

Lauri Merten 32:06

Um, but but she she was an amazing girl, and I I mean I was a competitor and we didn't like each other really, you know, just because she always beat me, and maybe I didn't like her, but she was she was good. Kelly Fuchs was playing, which is Nancy or Kelly Ledbetter, yeah, um, who's David Ledbetter's um wife, and you know, um Julie Stanger Pine was out there, but but Heather was my nemesis. She was she was just better, she was very good mental. I'm not a good match player. Julie Inkster is great. I always would be up, and I was up in that match, and then I lost a lot because I feel bad for these people, which dumb eng, you know. You I mean, Ed Ophel you Ed Ophel used to say to me, take no prisoners and kill the wounded. And and I say that to kids once in a while, you know, to try to give them, you know, direction. But um, but anyway, Heather, when she passed, her mom and dad called me and asked me if I could speak at her funeral. I mean, she died at 28 years old, and and it's and and it was that, you know, I it was she was went to pup papago golf course, which is another public golf course, her and Missy.

Mike Gonzalez 33:24

Yeah. Well, you had uh success in college. You were college all-American, um uh your uh Western Collegiate Athletic Association champion, 1980, 1981. Uh at some point uh you're thinking about maybe I want to do this for a living. Tell us uh a little bit about that thought process and what led you to the decision to turn professional.

Lauri Merten 33:47

Well, that's kind of interesting because in college I I always say I studied underwater basket weaving, but it's not that I I studied private and commercial recreation, which was the business side of the recreational field. And that is more for like if you're uh going, you know, you want to start a travel agency or a workout, you know, you know, place or something like that. It was that. So you learned, I learned advertising, which was great, but I'm not good with math. And so I didn't have to do all the stuff that a business degree would get. So I mean it was good, I liked it, but what what it was gonna do, I had no idea what I was gonna do. I I I mean to this day, I've never had a real job other than my one job at Meryvale. At Merrivale, Mr. Farkas um hired me to go in the pro shop. And he said to me, Why don't uh you um go out, there's a cart in the parking lot and go pick it up. And I said, Okay, I can do that. So I ran out to the parking lot, and I'm looking and and I'm thinking, well, there it's in neutral. Of course it's not working. So I turned it to to forward, and the thing took off. The the gas pedal had been stuck and it took off and ran into a golf cart. I mean another car, and I went, oh no, I'm I'm gonna get fired. And and I ran back in and and I'm like Mr. Farkas, and he didn't fire me. And another thing I did in the back room, we they always got golf balls from the golf course, and it was um they had this machine that you you'd press a foot pedal and the cups would open up and you'd stick the golf ball in there and it would spin around, and then you'd take this red paint and you'd hold it there, and you'd make a red ring around the ball, and that was our range balls, so they were good balls versus some of those ones that aren't so good these days, but because they were usually from the ponds at Meryville. But as far as golf goes, um, that's all I knew, and I didn't have any, I wasn't one of those people that knew that I was gonna have a career in something else, so it was always stepping stones. You know, you go from the the Mr. Farkas swing school to to high high school, and then you go to college, and so all of a sudden it was like, okay, I might as well try it, you know, and if I and then if I didn't, I was a a creep because I wouldn't have known what to do next.

Mike Gonzalez 36:34

Yeah. So one thing, you know, Lori, we've asked a number of our guests, and that's if not golf, what was plan B? I think it's safe to assume from what you've shared with us that there wasn't a plan B.

Lauri Merten 36:46

There wasn't a plan B. I and it was funny, girls on the tour say, Lori, you're not supposed to ask people, your program partners, what they do for a living. But it's always, you know, the plan B, I didn't know. So I'd always be interested in what other people did for a living because I was just a golfer, and that's all I knew. And I turned out I was lucky enough to be good at it that I didn't have to find out. But I can see where these kids don't know what to do if they're even, if they don't really want to go to college, it's too expensive, what would they have done? And I think I just worked my butt off so hard that I, you know, I didn't, I said, no, that's not gonna happen, or something. And and I guess I would have figured out what it would have been, and probably wouldn't have been as lucrative because what I really like to do is work in the garden and I put Zoisha grass in my front yard. I'm the only one on the street, and I I push mow my own grass because it's a golf course grass, and and it's I mean, that's what I loved it to do. But I mean, I was just saw someone yesterday. I said, You work at Bushel Stop, and and he said, Yeah, and I go, Well, I'm gonna see you sometime because I'm sure there's lots of good flowers out there right now. I love being out in the garden and and I love manual labor. I mean, my first husband or my second husband, uh Lewis would say, I didn't marry the maintenance man. And and I was like, Well, because I just that's what I love to do is figure things out. I YouTube things all the time to figure out, even electrical, which I probably shouldn't, but but that's more what I am. Uh I would be a mud monkey. My neighbor next door, he he said, Lori, I always thought you couldn't afford a gardener, but it's not that. You just really love doing it. And I said, I know, I love it. I think people should always do what they love, and that's probably what I would have done is something, maybe have a garden center. My friend, she always says to me, Lori, if I win the lottery, I'm buying you a nursery.

Mike Gonzalez 38:50

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, tell your friends until we tee it up again for the good of the game. So long, everybody.

Intro Music 39:14

It went smack down the fairway. And it started just like just spit off line. Mac had it as long as you're still in the stage you're okay. It went straight down the middle five.