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A Family Affair

 

By Rhonda Glenn, USGA

Doris Allen relaxes in one of the rocking chairs Tuesday on a patio outside of the clubhouse.(Steven Gibbons/USGA)

A gentle breeze fanned Doris Allen, 81, of Greenville, S.C., as she sat in a rocking chair on the clubhouse porch, watching her granddaughter, Jennifer Lucas, stroke practice putts Tuesday.

“I go to these tournaments all the time,” Allen said. “I keep going. When Jennifer was in college (The College of Charleston), I walked (at her tournaments) nearly every year she played. I went from Delaware to Myrtle Beach.”

Allen, in a stylish short haircut, wore a soft, peach-colored shirt, khaki Bermuda shorts and a serene smile. She was content, rocking on the porch, her water bottle handy for her next foray to the golf course.

At least 13 of the remaining 32 golfers in match play had family members as their caddies, mostly husbands, but a sister and a father were also carrying clubs. Lucas, 28, of Knoxville, Tenn., one of the co-medalists, has taken family involvement to the extreme. Her assemblage this week had the earmarks of a big, Southern, family reunion, an annual Lucas-Bridwell-Allen gathering.

The gathering fits right in here in Ocala. Marion County is partly Southern, and partly made up of northerners who visited this rolling countryside and liked it so much they stayed. It’s a unique place where fabulous thoroughbred horse farms join with local businesses to make up the economy. The gorgeous pasture land abuts wooded areas of towering old trees. It just seems like the sort of place that welcomes family reunions, even if it’s a moveable feast like Lucas’ family is having this week.

Lucas’ husband, Ryan Lucas, was her caddie. Her grandmother was part of her gallery. Her daughters, Rylie, 3, and Kennedy, 4 months, were staying in the house the family had for the week. And her mother, Jackie Bridwell, of Greer, S.C., was here to care for the children. Lucas’ aunt and uncle, JoAnne and Jim Settle, even dropped by in the early rounds to cheer her on.

Theirs is a golf family, polite and mostly contained, but when Lucas makes a good shot it is hard for them not to show their enthusiasm. As part of her gallery, they are somewhat shy, trying to contain their excitement so as not to disturb her opponent.

Her grandmother remembers the thrill of watching Lucas compete. “The most thrilling shot I ever saw was when she was playing in the Greenville Amateur,” Allen said. “She hit it out of a sand pit and it just went straight into the hole. Well, everybody just had a fit!”

Lucas’ Ocala odyssey was dampened a bit when her two children and her husband came down with Swine flu a couple of weeks before this trip. A family doctor last week judged that they were in the last stages of the flu, out of danger, and it would be fine to make the trip. So far, so good, although Lucas says she has sprayed “more Lysol around that house than you will ever know.”

Lucas loved the Golden Hills Golf and Turf Club course. “There are lots of scoring opportunities out there,” she said.

She also loved having her family surround her for this important week of competition. This was her first USGA championship in 12 years. She played in the U.S. Girls’ Junior in Nashville, Tenn., in 1997, but failed to qualify. Lucas turned pro for a short time and played the Futures Tour, but with marriage and a family now a priority, she returned to amateur golf and was reinstated last year. Her favorite hobby now isn’t hitting golf balls, but decorating cakes.

A family presence has been part of her golf career since Lucas was a child. “I had fun traveling and having them go to tournaments with me since I was 14 years old,” she said. “I love it. I think it’s great support – great emotional support.”

Ryan knows it’s difficult for his wife to raise children, work at a job with a major industrial tape manufacturing concern, and play tournament golf, but he’s one of her greatest boosters.

“I encourage her to play as much as she can,” he said earnestly. “I want to see her succeed and she’s good enough to play at the highest levels.”

With few opportunities to compete, Lucas’ best finish in recent years was a victory in the Lakeside Ladies Amateur in Kingston, Tenn. Now she was off to a flying start in the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur. She joined three other players as co-medalist, and will take home a USGA medal for that effort.

She and Ryan weren’t here on vacation – they were here for Lucas to go as far in match play as she can. Unfortunately, she dropped a 5-and-4 decision to Christy Schultz in the second round Tuersday. For their family, however, the week was a warm, loving gathering.

And for Doris Allen, Lucas’ grandmother, making observations from her rocking chair on the clubhouse porch, the Women’s Mid-Amateur was a very good place to be.

“I love to come and watch them play,” Allen said. “They’re so confident when they hit the ball and it’s like they feel so happy. Golf is one of the best sports, and it’s a clean sport.”

And, as far as the Lucas-Allen-Bidwell group is concerned, it’s a family game.

Rhonda Glenn is a Manager of USGA Communications. E-mail her with questions and comments at rglenn@usga.org.