Notebook: Drouin Finds Time To Practice, Play At Georgia

By David Shefter, USGA

Carefree, Ariz. -- While some college coaches admit to not finding enough time to practice their own game, Veronique Drouin said that’s not the case at Georgia, where first-year head coach Kelley Hester allows her to work out with the highly ranked team.

Assistant Georgia coach Veronique Drouin reached the round of 16 at the Women's Mid-Amateur.. (John Mummert/USGA)

“Kelley is awesome,” said the 26-year-old Drouin. “She lets me play a lot with the girls and I definitely practice a lot with them. It’s been helpful.”

Drouin qualified for this year’s U.S. Women’s Amateur, but missed the match-play cut. Hester also gave Drouin time off to compete this week in Arizona.

Last year, Drouin had to guide the Bulldogs through regionals and nationals after embattled head coach Todd McCorkle resigned.

“It was a good learning experience,” said Drouin.

Hester, a University of Georgia alum, kept Drouin on the staff when she was hired this past June. While Hester does most of the recruiting, Drouin, a former player at Kent State, did get a chance to talk to prospective players after missing the cut at the Women’s Amateur.

“I love Georgia and the girls,” said Drouin, who replaced another fellow Canadian, Laura Matthews, on the Georgia staff when Matthews accepted the head job at Oklahoma State in the fall of 2005.

Someday, Drouin aspires to run her own program.

“I love coaching,” she said. “It’s a passion. I love helping and that’s what I am going to keep doing.”

Charitable Efforts

Heidi Stark is quite used to giving. She’s been offering her services as a dentist to the underprivileged in Honduras for the last 10 years. But the Lincoln, Neb., resident was offered some entirely different charity this week.

When Tara Joy-Connelly reported to USGA officials Sunday night that she had signed an incorrect scorecard, Stark was the beneficiary of a rare first-round bye. Because the match-play draw had already been established, USGA officials gave Stark a free pass into the second round.

Four times a year Heidi Stark of Lincoln, Neb., goes to Honoduras for charity work. (John Mummert/USGA)

So instead of grinding Monday the 33-year-old Stark had a leisurely day off to practice and casually play the championship course, which is allowable under the rules for match play.

“It should have been an advantage for me,” said Stark of the bye. “I felt really good.”

Unfortunately, Joan Higgins played a bit better in Tuesday’s second round, eliminating Stark, 6 and 4.

“I don’t play a lot of golf anymore because I go to Honduras a lot,” said Stark, a pediatric dentist by trade. “It takes up my vacation time.”

This was Stark’s first appearance at a USGA event since the 2002 Women’s Mid-Amateur at Eugene (Ore.) Country Club. That year, she qualified at Desert Forest because she was living in the Greater Phoenix area at the time. She moved back to Lincoln in 2003. She wanted to qualify at Desert Forest this year, but a previous engagement forced her to play the sectional in Kansas City, where she barely made the final field.

Stark competed collegiately at the University of Georgia for 1½ years until she realized a professional golf career was not in the offing. That’s when she transferred to the University of Nebraska and eventually went to dental school. It was while in dental school that she found out about Heart To Honoduras, a non-profit organization that provides healthcare to the needy in the Central America country.

For the last 10 years, Stark has performed this charity work, going four times a year. She makes her fourth and final visit in a few weeks.

“I usually get the children,” she said. “They have no healthcare. We got to the areas that have no access. I do a lot of extractions in the rural areas. We’ll be in the city this time and I’ll get to do some restorations and fillings.”

Since many of these people don’t have such luxuries as a toothbrush, Stark and her medical team will provide these items and teach the people how to use them.

“Most of them have never learned how to brush because they don’t have the resources to buy them,” said Stark. “It’s very primitive.

“This [work] is something that is very rewarding to me.”

David Shefter is a USGA staff writer. E-mail him with questions or comments at dshefter@usga.org.