Lauri Merten - Part 3 (Winning the 1993 Women's U.S. Open)

In this third installment of our four-part conversation with 1993 U.S. Women’s Open Champion Lauri Merten, we dive headfirst into the emotional and unforgettable week at Crooked Stick that changed her life forever. With raw honesty and captivating detail, Lauri takes us through the rollercoaster of self-doubt, resilience, and unlikely triumph that defined her historic victory.

Coming off a missed cut the week prior and wrestling with confidence issues, Lauri describes how a simple shopping trip and a bronze sculpture became her quiet source of inspiration heading into the championship. From early nerves and pep talks from her caddie, Tom Hanson, to clutch birdies and gritty par saves, she walks us through each turning point with vivid recollections—including a dramatic chip-in, a critical bogey save on 11, and her birdie at 16 that sent goosebumps through the gallery.

You’ll hear how Lauri navigated the pressure, a weather-delayed final round, and the tension of watching challengers like Donna Andrews and Helen Alfredsson fall just short. She reflects on her mindset, her putting drills that paid off at just the right moment, and the joy—and shock—of hearing the final roar when the final challenger's putt missed the mark.

With her trademark humor and humility, Lauri also shares heartfelt moments about her parents, her mixed feelings about a controversial Sports Illustrated article, and her plans to finally share some cherished memorabilia with the USGA.

This episode is a tribute to perseverance, belief, and the magic that can unfold when preparation meets opportunity. Don’t miss Lauri’s inside story of one of the most inspiring and underdog victories in U.S. Women’s Open history.

Transcript

Outro Music 0:07

Straight down the middle. It went straight down the middle. Then it started to So I finished second in a major.

Lauri Merten 0:16

I was like, whoa, I'm pretty good. And that night, Lewis and I went to a uh Bruce Springsteen concert, so it was uh definitely a consolation prize, which was fun to do. But that was the start of you know getting more and more momentum to think I was good enough. And and I have to say, Lewis, um he really did help me win because he would say, You're just as good as Patty, she and your Beth Daniel, Julie, Lopez, you know, Carner. I mean, they were all pumping you up. You're just as good as them, huh?

SPEAKER_02 0:52

He was pumping you up, getting you.

Lauri Merten 0:55

Yeah, and I think that he says your swing is just as good as them. And so it was it was helping me to believe in myself.

Mike Gonzalez 1:02

Yeah, I you know, we were with Laterina O'Choi yesterday, and she described it as all these puzzle pieces coming together, you know, to come in this picture. Uh or another way we say it is the we've got these building blocks, these stepping stones that uh eventually prepare us for our moment. Absolutely. This was an important stepping stone for you to develop the self-confidence, to believe that you could win on the grand stage, and when you did, because now we're talking about the 1993 U.S. Women's Open at Crooked Stick Country Club in Indiana. Of course, the dyes were famous uh for developing their that golf course. And uh this was a win by one over Helen Alfredson and Donna Andrews with rounds of uh 71-7170, 68 minus 8 in a U.S. Open. Bruce, that's pretty fancy playing in the U.S.

SPEAKER_02 1:53

Open setup and missed consistency that week, too. Just got better each day.

Lauri Merten 1:59

Well, yes, I did, and it didn't start that way. Um, the beginning of the week, I had just missed the cut up at Wycagale Country Club in Rochelle, New York. A very hilly golf course, and I was I missed it by 10, and and now I'm kind of thinking my Mazda or the LPJ Championship was a fluke, kind of I mean, I'm hitting it so bad on the driving range. I'm I think I even shanked it a few times, which they say is close to a perfect golf swing. So I I still haven't figured that one out, but um anyway, uh I I just was not hitting it well. Tom Hansen was my caddy, he was amazing, he kept trying anything and everything. Mike McGetrick was more into helping Julie and Beth Daniel and the and Meg Mallon, and they were all his proteges too. And he he was out there. I I had left Ed because in 1992 was was this was huge. I'll preempt it. Um, I went to see Mike McGetrick, or I went to see a different guy, Mike Lopozinski, who worked with Jim McClain. And Mike was down there working with Julie, and he he came up to me and he looked at my swing and he said, you know, Lori, it's good. Do you think you can win again? And I started to cry, and I said, No, I don't. And he says, Well, I'm willing to work with you. I think you can win. And in 92 is when I rededicated myself to the game. And I did things like uh Dave Pell's uh chipping and putting, like around the clock, you had to a three, four, and five footer at 12 and 3 and 6 and 9. Yeah, and you had to make all how many is that 15 of them, and and you'd get down to like 12 and you'd miss one, you have to start all over again. I mean, I made brown spots on the putting green. And I remember in Las Vegas we were playing, and I had to do the 20-foot drill where it's a little higher, so you're downhill and you're then you're uphill on the next, you know, you go back and forth, and you have to do seven in a row. And I would get to the seventh one, and people go, Oh, Merton's on her seventh one, let's see what happens. And uh I'd leave it short. You had to get it to the hole, past the hole. Didn't just if it fell in, you were lucky. But if it had to be past the hole, but within a two two feet, which I we used the putter, I'd pull the putter, try to get it to touch the grip so that I would definitely be able to be inside the two and get to the next, you know. So I did that and I accomplished it finally after three months. This drill in Las Vegas. It was almost like winning a tournament. So there were those two drills and chipping drills that Dave Pell's that's where Mike McGettrick got it, and those things helped me with my short game. I I there's some magazine, golf magazine or something, after I won the US Open, there's this uh um I'm on a trash dumpster thing, you know, hitting golf balls. They called me the trash queen. So um, and but anyway, the the week before I missed a cup by 10 at the US Open, and then I'm not hitting it well, so I call my dad even. I called Mike McGet, I talked to Mike, I you know, called my dad, and I always say when the going gets tough, the tough go shopping. And I went to this uh, I'm in Indianapolis, a mall, and there's like a little card shop in there, and then in the card shop is a curio cabinet, and there's this this tree house of little kids bronze tree house, and they're smiling and they're having fun, and and I asked the owner, how much is that? And I think it was like twelve hundred dollars, and I said, Well, if I win the tournament, I'm gonna come back and buy that. It was an artist that did it, and sure enough, when I won, I went on Monday back to to buy the tree house, and that's my that's kind of like my trophy because the US Open, you get a gold medal, and then you have to buy the trophy. Ah, so and they're expensive, and oh yeah, I'll have to give Lewis credit. He he bought the trophy for me, and it's like the 90%. So mine looks good. I think uh Patty Sheehan has like little ones, you know, little duplicates and stuff, but all three of my wins, I never really got a good trophy. I got a medal at the US Open, I got a plaque that with my paycheck on it at Springfield at the rail. And in Toledo, I have a ceramic pot with Jamie Farr's picture, you know, on it. And those are my three wins. No crystal, no nothing. My comeback player of the year that I got in because I won the US Open, that I got a really nice crystal thing, and in packing it, I have it, it's chipped, so even that doesn't look so good. But the the first round, um I, you know, really wasn't gonna play that. I just thought I was, I had no expectations. And the first hole, I get on the first hole, and I'm playing with Joanne Carner, and I'm like moving around, I get a little nervous, so I'm like a butterfly, and she just looks at me, gives me that stare down and says, Lori, you're in my line. And I was like, Okay. And I got really serious, and then Tom, my caddy, came over to me and goes, Lori, you're not gonna play well, being serious. And I'm like, you're right. And I kept putting my smile on my face and I let it go. And when I shot 71 the first round, it was like shooting 62. I was so thrilled because I really thought I was not gonna hit well. And the second round, um, I shot 71 again, and and I'm still I'm under the radar. You're nobody's asking me into the thing. I'm back, and no one's asking me into the media room. And but this one guy asked me on a microphone, one of those radio things where they held a microphone with a tape recorder, and he was asking me about my round. And I guess because I had just done well at the major of the LPJ Championship. So the third round, I play with Pat Bradley. Now, I have never played any concept of good golf with Pat Bradley because she was my idol. I thought I wanted to be like her, and she was a very serious player. I always would shoot 80. Every time I played with her, 80 or more, I would shoot. And so I was not thrilled to be playing with Pat Bradley on the third round. But again, Tom, my caddy, had said we gotta stay happy and you know, you know, very cheerful. And I shot 70 that round, so I broke my playing with her that yes, by 10. So I was thrilled.

Mike Gonzalez 9:11

Your your idol shot a smooth little 68 that day, too, so she didn't play too badly.

Lauri Merten 9:16

Well, and she yes, yes. She was she's amazing, and she still is, and and uh I mean she's still playing golf. These girls that can still do it and do it well. That's what Yeah, yeah like Lisa Lot Neumann. Oh my gosh, I played with her at the and Hillary Lunky at the reunion of champions at Cypress Point. I just wanted to play because I'd played one time with Ed O'Fill years earlier, and I was and I only was working was my swing, so I never even noticed the golf course. So anyway, um, but Pat I did, and then the final round I played with Ayako Okamoto, and I don't even know if Bobby Ingman was her her caddy at the time, but he might have been. Um but uh the night before, Mike McGetrick calls and he says, Wow, Laura, you're playing really well. And I said, Well, thank you. And I've got confidence in my mind. And he says, Well, everybody's playing well. Who do you think's gonna win tomorrow? And I thought, Well, I'm thinking I might, you know, I'm thinking I don't say that to him, but and I get off the phone and Lewis looks at me, he goes, What's wrong? And I go, he said, he wondered who I was gonna think if who could win tomorrow. And he said, He, I said he didn't even think I could win. And so he's and Lewis says to me, Well, Lori, you're five shots back. And I went, Well, it's the US Open. You know, anybody can win from five shots back.

Mike Gonzalez 10:44

Yeah.

Lauri Merten 10:45

So, you know, the next day we get a call, it was a huge storm, you know, tents were down, and you know, the stands were mangled, it was a huge rain, like a tornado came through there. We even had um uh free drops from a lot of bunkers that were filled with water still. And we also teed off two hours after we were supposed to. So you not only are you having this, you know, mangled golf course in a lot of ways, and it's not a fun one to play, you're also um it's hotter than heck. I remember Lisa Lot Neumann. I came in and she and her caddy were there, and they looked like drenched, and and they had just finished, and I'm just getting ready to go out there. And so I was not looking forward to it. I remember having like this little thing around your neck that you keep yourself, you those back then you had little cool things to put around your neck to keep you cool. But it was not, it was not a good day to play, but I did.

Mike Gonzalez 11:48

Does does being does being five back free up a little bit though?

Lauri Merten 11:51

Well, I was never, like I said, I was never in the media tent until I won. So it wasn't like I had to get interviewed and think, well, how's the pressure? What do you feel? All the stuff that they make you psych you into playing poorly. Um, I stayed under the radar, so it was perfect. So um, yeah, I didn't think anything, you know, and it's a tough golf course. You just have to try to golf your ball there. It was that golf course is not fun. Tough. And it's got a lot of dead elephants on the greens. You know, there are a lot of big greens, and and so you think you're on the green, but you could be 90 feet away. Um, but I I was I was starting to play. I played with Hirome, I I think it was Hiromi Kobayashi. I played with oh no, Ayako. I Harome came in afterwards. Um, but I was in like three or five, about five groups back. I uh you know, I was there were groups that had to come in after me. So it started on, I mean, I played pretty good. There was these railroad tie par three, number six was tricky, and then seven, and then I get to eight, and that's where Lopez lost the tournament. She there's water down the left and in front of the green, and and she hit it down there perfect and then dumped it in the water. And people were making numbers like on 18. Um, I think Patty, she had made a 10, you know, knocked a lot of people out of there, or Beth Daniel. I didn't I didn't realize it. Um I hated the 18th hole because it's a fader's hole, and I had to hit it. I had to, it was a dog leg right water down the full side and in front of the green. And they had a no-comment or a comment box in the middle of the water, so you couldn't even get to it to comment how sadistic this hole was. Um, but uh on eight, I you know, didn't hit a great shot, and I was like 80 feet from the pin. I mean, hello, up there. I was in the front and it's in the back, and and my caddy's tending the flag, and it goes up there and goes in. I'm like, whoa, that was cool. So I'm like, okay, Birdie, still not on TV, or I don't think I'm on TV, they might have shown it later. Um, I don't know. I was not, there's no uh live red dots on the cameras that make you all nervous. Um, then nine was a short part five, and I knocked it to the right of the green, and I had to keep it under a limb and pitch it. Somehow I made a great pitch, and I knocked it two feet, and it still is a it was a diver left, and I didn't hit it exactly firm and it snuck in, so I make another birdie. Then again, I go to 10 and I've got a four-iron in or three-iron, something like that, one of the two. If I would have had a heaven wood or a seven wood from Callaway, I would have probably been no problem. But anyway, I hit that up there and I had about a 20-footer and I made it for birdie. So I birdied three in a row, and now all of a sudden, now the cameras are all shuffling to go find Laurie Merton who's like somehow doing getting up there. So I get to to um 11, and that was the tricky. It's a it's a par five, I think. Yes, because I made both. Yeah, par five. And I it's my I quick, my swing got quick, which was one thing I had to remember to slow down because otherwise my left leg would cause me to hook the ball too much. So of course I hooked it. I was too quick, and I hooked it into the bunker, I knocked it out, and then I hit a pretty good shot, and it got into the bunker. I just missed going over the green to the pitch onto the green, and it stuck under this lip of the bunker that I'd washed away. And hindsight, I probably could have called and asked for you know relief because it was it all the um sand had just come away and and it was under the lip. There was no way to make it. I couldn't hit the shot. It was an unplayable eye in the bunker, and they were a lot of the bunkers were unplayable at that time, but they didn't mark that. So I took relief, I had to drop it in the bunker, and then I pitched it on, and I just birdied three in a row. So when I pitched it on, I had about a five, six, five-footer, six-footer, and I made it for bogey. It was just like making a birdie, so that momentum. And that's where my father said, I want the flag from number 11 because that's where you won the tournament. And it probably was, in fact, part of it.

Mike Gonzalez 16:30

Yeah.

Lauri Merten 16:31

And then I got to 16, and and I'm jumping forward just because um, but 16 was uh ridiculous. I all these holes were par four dog leg rights, and there's water everywhere. And uh I had to really work on putting it to the Jack in the Box or the McDonald's back there, trying to lay it off, you know, to really get it pointy, not crossed over. And I ended up um hitting this five iron and it just starts to leak a little bit, which is not good. And in fact, if it hadn't rained the night before, it would have been in the water because it just one of those curvy and just goes down in kind of like a you know, number 12 at uh at um the masters at Augusta. You know, it's just like if you don't hit it far enough, it's in the water. And I didn't hit it far enough, but it it came down, and because this grass was dried and Bermuda, maybe or whatever it was that was crusty, it it stayed up, the ball stayed up. So Pat Bradley three-putted that hole, and just from above the hole, it was so fast, you did not want to get above the hole. That's probably why I hit it short. So I ended up um chipping it with my nine-iron, and it goes in. It wraps around the hole like this. And I'm telling you, the crowd goes crazy. Goosebumps are everywhere on my body, but I'm trying to maintain an even level of concentration, like my father told me, and I didn't do when I was gonna be tiger woods back, you know, how many years earlier, 11 years earlier. So um I uh or 10 years earlier. Um, so it went in and I go to the back of the green, and Lewis said, You can win this thing. I was like, Oh, really? Last night I'm five shots back. How do you think you can't win, right? And he said, You can win this thing. And I go, Lewis, it's the Indianapolis Open. You know, I'm just like in shock. And and I get to 17, it's a par three, and there's a big elephant bunker down. I mean, there's a 12 foot deep, you know, you don't want to hit it in the bunker. I pured, I think it was a six iron, I or I pure the six iron right at the flag. You'd think I had adrenaline a little bit, but no, it lands on the front edge in a US Open, never does a ball stop. That ball stopped dead there. I mean, it was gonna be perfect, and so now I have like a 30-footer and I leave it three feet short. And I'm saying to myself, I have not three-putted all week on those huge greens, it was phenomenal. And I I thought, well, now's not the time, you know. And I I I kind of get the, you know, go you get those negative monsters in your head that you have to fight off. And so I just I stood over the putt and I kept my head down. That was the one thing I had to work on, is not peeking. And I knocked it in. So I'm thrilled. I don't three putt, I I go to the next T, which is the most terrifying T shot. I mean, because I have to aim it in the water and draw the ball because I can't fade the ball. And even the third round, I think it was, or the second round, one of the two, I had aimed it in the water and my hands got a little quick, and I hit it straight and I went right in the water. And then I took a drop and and and Tom wanted me to lay up. And I'm thinking, I've just hit it in the water, and you want me to lay up on this par four. What am I gonna? It's ridiculous. No. And he goes, Lord, I really think you should lay up left and then we'll go on. And I'm like, no, I can hit my five wood. And I hit my five wood, it goes over the green in the back, and I make a bogey. He goes, we're gonna talk about that when we get in. And I thought, what the heck is he talking about? And I guess either Patty or Beth Daniel, Patty Sheen or Beth Daniel had made a 10 on the hole because if I would have not carried it, I'd have been right back there again, having to hit my one, drop two, hit three, drop four, hit my five fifth shot. So, you know, it was I I was lucky enough to carry the the water. So now I've already hitting the water on this 18th darn hole. So I am sucking the marker, I'm hitting as far left as I can get, so I can draw the ball off the teeth of this dog lay right in from the water off to the fairway. Because be if you do it too much, it drops down into this canyon on the left. You know, you didn't know it was not a pretty hole for me. Was not conducive to my draw. So I I'm hugging this marker, and and that back then you could your caddy could line you up. And he goes, You're good. And I couldn't move my left foot because it was stuck on the marker. So I I backed up and he goes, What's wrong? And I said, My foot got on the marker. I got to get a little further back. So I moved the ball back a little further and I get up over it, he goes, You're good. And I hit the probably the best drive, you know, for my swing, and it landed perfect in the fairway. And I'd had three wood into that hole, five wood, three iron. This day I had six iron. They said on TV I had an eight iron, but they lied. I was 166. And I don't even hit a six iron, 166, but because of the adrenaline and because it was firm, I hit a Tom convinced me to hit a six. I wanted to hit the five, and he's like, no, you got it with the six. And so I hit it, and he keeps saying, get over the hill, get over the hill. I don't know anything. I don't remember. But there were these mounds, and the USGA, the sick ones that they are, they put this pin right below, you know, had to get over this hill, and it was just right after that. So he knew that there was this little hill, and my ball was going up, and he was trying to have it get over that hill. Once it did, it would feed to the hole. It fed right to the hole, and I had a four-footer. And they're screaming in the gallery and all that. And I get up there and I said, and I remember saying to Tom in the fairway, I don't know how close it is, but all I know is it's got to be pretty close. And I said, but we have to remember that this is a game and it's supposed to be fun. So I gotta start enjoying this. And he said, yes, he says, but don't pretend that it's late at night and we're doing our putting drills the four the clock around the clock, and yeah, where you have to make um three, six, nine, twelve. You have to make twelve, not fifteen. I said that earlier. He says, just don't think that it's your 15th putt, you know, that you have to make late at night, you know, because that's what I did. I worked late at night, and it was it was that putt. He says, just think of it as number 10 or something like that. And then I start laughing, and that's when I said, Yeah, this is supposed to be fun. And I got up over it, and I remembered Scott Hoke missing a two-footer because he took too much time at the masters. So I said, Don't do that. And then I think of Patty Sheehan saying she was nervous at the championship, at the LPJ championship, her hands were shaken. I said, just, you know, and just don't peek. Just whatever you do. And I shouldn't say don't peek because that's peaking with an X over top of it.

Mike Gonzalez 24:00

Yeah, right.

Lauri Merten 24:01

I I said, you that is something sports psychologists teach you, is you can't, if you say don't do this, that's what you're gonna do. Because it's like an X over top, and you see the problem. So I said, just hear it hit the hole, hear it hit the hole. And if you watch the video, I hit it, and I and they all cheer, and then I look up and it goes in. So now they want me up in the tower because there's four other groups coming in. Haromi Kobayashi could have won or could have tied me. This little kid, Mark Matthews, was the pink tour rep in that area, and his son was watching me. And um, Mark said, I have you in this pool before the week. And I said, Oh, Mark, you don't want me. You gotta trade me. I just missed the cup by 10 at Waikagale. So now this little kid, his son comes up to me, he says, Can I have your glove? And I said, No, I think I need my glove. Because I thought if I play the next day, it's an 18-hole, I had to first do laundry and if I had to play. That was not cool. I had no more outfits, and I didn't have a golf glove, so I couldn't give the golf club or golf club away. So the kid, I but I gave it to him eventually. Um, but I'm in the tower and they're asking me to look at this monitor, you know, and I'm trying to look here because they the monitor would go to the person that's hitting the shot, right? And I felt like I had no control and I didn't know what they were doing. Um, and first it was Harome, and then Donna Andrews had about a 30-footer, and she missed it, and and so I dodged two bullets, and then the next one was Helen. And Helen, poor thing, she she couldn't, she was fidgeting on 15, the hole that I made the birdie on. I chipped in. She was left of the green, and she couldn't get over the chip shot and and not hit it. She was getting stuck, and and she kept backing away, and then she flubbed it. And that's when she made bogey, and and I went one ahead. And she she just said a few, I think, Swedish words and was really upset with herself, which I don't blame her. It's you know, it's I mean, it was the stress. I mean, she had a lot of stress that day, I'm sure. I mean, I did too, but I had the momentum kept going my way, and it just built to the 18th hole, is all that happened to me. And anyway, then on 18, she tees off, hits. I mean, she's probably got an eight or nine iron in, you know, she's she hit it far. And she knocks it a foot from the hole. And I'm watching this ball go a foot from the hole to the right, and then it releases and it goes back about 15 feet. And I you can see me on the monitor, they show me, and I'm like, whoa, like this is how she could have hold the darn thing. Um, which I'm sure she would have wanted to. So she got over the putt, and I was the I was a kind of golfer if you're ever. I mean, I was tendency to be very analytical. I had maps, arrows of where things would go, the turn, and and how fast it was. Heather Farr used my yardage book one time, and she said, What is all this? Aim at the yellow tree. Yeah, I was like, you know, don't bar, don't give me grief if you don't want my yardage book. You know, don't give me grief if you take it. So she um Helen knocked it 15 feet behind the hole, and she's over the putt. And I'm watching her, and I know that this putt does not break right to left. I know it's dead straight. The water's left, you would think it would break towards the water, the grain, or not, but it did not. It was, those were the subtleties of die golf course or even Jack Nicholas. So she's aiming eight inches to a foot right of the hole. And I thought, there's no way she's gonna make this unless she yanks it. And she missed it one exactly where she hit it. It was a dead straight putt, and and I won. And I was in shock, you know, and I'm in the tower. I can't even get a hold of my parents because their phone's off the hook and everybody's calling them and wishing them. And I mean, that's the only thing I regret is they never saw one of my tournaments that I won. And it would have been nice to have them. I I do well, I won't tell that story. It's pretty funny though. But my mom at Desert Mountain, I will not Desert Mountain, but Desert Inn, she um she was not into golf. I mean, she she sent me my jumbles every week, and and one time she was out at the Desert Inn tournament, and I hated the ninth hole because it was again OB right, and she comes up to me, and I don't like the hole, and she's walking with me and she goes, Lori, you're doing really well. I go, thanks, Mom. And she goes, but guess what? Those Portagons that they have here, they are really, really, really nice. And I said, Why? And she said, Well, they even have a place to put your purse. Well, that was where the guys go, and I'm going, Mom! And I start laughing, and again, that's when I learned that I had to laugh and not get serious. And I hit it grade on the ninth hole, so she helped me do do well at the alcohol tournament. But um, anyway, I finally got a hold of my parents and and and they finally wanted me in the press room. And I remember the guy, John Garrity, never forget that name. He he wrote a piece in Sports Illustrated, and it was called Positively Pessimistic. And he wrote something like, Some people see the glass half empty, some see it half full. Merton doesn't even know if it's her glass. And he said I was, and it wasn't that I was pessimistic, it was that I was trying to be honorable to all the players. Like, I mean, I didn't expect to win the US Open. And I I didn't think I was that good. And it took me a lot to get there. And but the way he wrote things, it was like I was a negative person, which I was not at all. I needed the positivity to do what I did, and worked with Fran Perizzolo, my sports psychologist, and and even Joey Sindelar's dad. He played, I played with Joey and the mixed team, and Joey Sindelar's dad helped me with my swing and stuff. So um, but that kind of hurt my feelings. But I got back and Dinah Shorey came up to me the next year and he starts talking. I'm like, I ain't got a bone to pick with you, you know, with John Garrity. I go, you wrote this. He goes, I have to tell you, I was not in the press room till the end of the interview. So I said, Well, you didn't get the good stuff then. So anyway, he just wrote all the bad stuff about me. So that was kind of a bummer, positively pessimistic, because that was not me at all. And he apologized, so that was good.

Mike Gonzalez 30:42

Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, uh uh winning the the women's U.S. Open, nobody's gonna ever be able to take that away from you. People can visit the USGA museum and in golf house, they can look at the honor board and look at the women's U.S. Open champions and look up at 1993 and see Lori Merton's name. Have you ever been able to see it yourself?

Lauri Merten 31:09

I haven't been up there, and yet one of the girls they want something from me, and I keep forgetting, like they want some memorabilia. And you know, I I have some things, but I they're still in my I got this little box of a trophy room that's where my US Open stands. And you know, I got my La Femme putter, and and but I again I I got a bag up there, they want something, and so I have to get that out to the US GA. Um, I did walk through there, I I it marvels to me to see all the clubs and things from these, you know, Mickey Wrights and and all those, you know, amazing women and and men that have done so many things. And they brought some in for some of the reunions of champions, and we take pictures of it, and and so I I have to put some of my memorabilia, but I'm a little bit of a I keep things, so I have to let them go a little bit. I'm a little hoarder when it comes to the stuff. I got an office which is all these pictures, and I don't know what they really want. They say we don't care.

Mike Gonzalez 32:11

So well, you you change putters that week. Why don't you send them your putter?

Lauri Merten 32:16

I have that putter, I can do that. I yes, I I'm not gonna send them the beryllium copper. I played at at uh the tournament before with the B60 beryllium copper one, and and Mike had told me I think it's too heavy for you. And so I changed to a B60, and I liked it. And I so it was the first time I'd ever won with a B60. And Ping has been good to me. They still, Lou BB at Ping, he's in the works department, he still re-grips golf clubs for me. He he tries well when I played in the inaugural um U.S. Senior Open, they had to get me new clubs because mine had the U groove versus the V groove. Um, it was a thing that was illegal. So my clubs that I won with at the US Open were now illegal, so I had to get new ones.

Mike Gonzalez 33:09

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 song.

Outro Music 33:33

It went smack down the fairway.