B4. Terrace Review — Wednesday, July 3, 1991

Lisa Walters —

~ by Glenn Hauptman

There are probably a few names
that come to mind when the sub-
ject of Prince Rupert’s best or
greatest athlete comes up.

John Olsen, Ken Shields, Jim
Ciccone, Richard Wright and many
others who were around Rupert
before my time and whom I never
had the pleasure to watch. The list
is lengthy and the talk around the
hot stove could get very heated...
until one name is brought up:
golfer Lisa Walters (Y oung).

Lisa was born on January 9,
1960 in the Prince Rupert Hospital,
so more of a Rupert person would
be pretty hard to find. She com-
pleted her schooling here and
while still in school, won her first
provincial title, the B.C. junior
championship, in 1977.

When she lost her junior status
she then took on the provincial
ladies’ tournament as though it
was her own. Beginning in 1979,
Lisa won three straight titles. The.
match play portion of these events
was her strong suit and the con-
tenders became just pretenders
when going head-to-head with
Lisa.

After graduation from PRSS,
Lisa entered Florida State Univer-
sity, where she was an All-Ameri-
can in 1981 and helped the ladies’
golf team to the NCAA title. She
also graduated with honours in
1982 with a B.S. in leisure ser-
vices, It seems as though you
could win most arguments already,
and she hasn’t even turned pro-
fessional yet.

There were a few bright individ-
vals in Prince Rupert who could
see Lisa’s talent. When she
_ decided to turn pro in October of
1983 they helped back her finan-
cially. It was a bit of a gamble, but
after three years she had returned
all of their investment and treated
them to some pretty fine dinners
with some great stories from the

tour.

Golf is Lisa’s game, but she is
an athlete. One summer she came
back to Prince Rupert from FSU
and played ladies’ fastball; she hit
nearly .550 for the year. She was
also the catcher.

She even played a little basket-
ball in high schoo! and could have
been caught shooting hoops at the
civic centre with the boys now and
again. But if you wanted to find
her, most of the time she was at

_ the course. With the help of her

mom and dad and brother Layne
— and with a little basic know1-
edge from Barry Miles and, of
course, Moe the Pro — Lisa
turned her athletic ability into

something that most of us just

dream about.

The start was easy for her but
there was plenty of hard work.
There was many a night that many
can remember, when, being the
last group on the course, almost
too dark to see, there was Lisa
hitting a bucket of balls on the

‘practice green, She even worked

for Moe so she could hang around
the course and listen to the vast
knowledge that flowed around
there from the likes of John Pylot,
Larry Gordon, Ray Billing and the
rest of the men’s day crew.

It was a great time for everyone
concerned.

There is much more to Lisa’s
career.

Lisa has been on the LPGA tour

row since 1983. That is eight

years of playing golf with and
against the best women golfers in
the world.

According to the Daytona,
Florida-based LPGA Player Guide,
whose people responded to my
request for information within a
day, she is currently ranked num-
ber 107 on the career earnings list.
This might not seem like much to
some people, but any of us would
take being the 107th top money

earner in our current profession.

Lisa’s career has had its ups and
downs. In 1984 her best finish was
tied for fourth and her money
ranking at the year’s end was 58th.
In 1986 her best finish was again
tied for fourth but she cracked the
top-50 for earnings that year by
finishing at 48th.

This was also the year of her

knee operation. All this did was to.

get Lisa ready for her best year on
the tour. In 1987 she had her best
finish, tied for third at the McDon-
ald’s Classic.

Many of us can remember watch-

on the old Sony and hearing the
announcers talking of the up-and-
coming young big hitters (Lisa)
and their potential to win on the

‘tour. She also had five top-20

finishes that year.

In 1988 Lisa had a great year.
She got married. She credits hus-
band Mike Young as the person
who has most influenced her
career. Their residence is now
Tampa, Florida, but according to
the Province on May 17, she is the
"Prince Rupert golfer" who fired a

six-under-par 66 to lead the field .

after the opening round.

In 1989 Lisa had a very up-and-
down year. She earned over half of
her money in the last three events
and her best finish was tied for

“15th.

1990 was a little better, with a
best finish for ninth and a money
ranking of 94th, but her stroke
average was her best since 1987 at
73.86 per round. ,

This year has also been a little
bit of a roller coaster, going from
her opening 66 in the Centel Clas-
sic to a 76 in the next round. She
has still won over $15,000 this
year without a top-20 finish.

She has developed a little more
consistency over the last few
weeks and that might be because

of a knee brace she has taken to

AIN'T NO ORDINARY

wearing that she says has given
her some confidence in the knee
that has bothered her for a while.
All any of this translates to is the
fact that Lisa has competed and
held her own against the best of
her profession in the world. She
may not have had that elusive win,
but she has played some pretty
fine golf.
She also brought Prince Rupert
to the forefront in ladies’ golf and

best golf athlete in Prince Rupert

times, "Where is Prince Rupett,
anyway?" than even Mayor Peter
Lester.

If anyone deserves a tour win it
would be you, Lisa, but if you
don’t get it, Bub, you have done
us proud. Have a great life down
there in Florida. Come up and visit
sometime and play a round on
your old course.

_Reprinted by permission of

has probably been asked more Prince Rupert This Week.

"Leave your card with 5,600 veaders:

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