Golfer Heather Farr Dies at 28 After Cancer Fight

Heather Farr, one of the most well-known members of the Ladies Professional Golf Assn. never to win a tournament, died Saturday night. She was 28.

Farr had captured the hearts of athletes and fans alike during her four-year battle against cancer. In 1991, having overcome breast cancer, tumors on the spine and one at the base of her skull, the optimistic Farr targeted 1993 as the year she would return to the LPGA Tour.

But the cancer returned. And in the end, the body that had endured more in four years than some families do in a lifetime, gave in. She underwent surgery to relieve the pressure caused by a brain hemorrhage on Nov. 11 at Scottsdale (Ariz.) Memorial Hospital-North. After a few days, her condition worsened and at 9 p.m. PST Saturday she was pronounced dead.

“You go through life, especially as an athlete, thinking you’re doing all the right things with your body,” she said in a 1989 interview with the Associated Press. “You never expect this to happen. You may get in a car wreck or something, but you don’t expect your body to go haywire.”

Farr, a former Arizona State standout who joined the tour in 1986, was on her way to becoming a professional star.

In 1987, The Times’ Dan Hafner wrote: “Farr, only 5-1, is just beginning her second year on the tour. She hasn’t won a tournament, but she has all the shots, and that magical element called charisma. The future seems bright for the brunette with the flashing green eyes.”

But in July of 1989, she learned she had breast cancer.

All her dreams, her hopes were put on hold. She was convinced she would return to the tour. But what she didn’t know was what was to follow.

After undergoing a mastectomy and rounds of chemotherapy, Farr was feeling better and looking forward to resuming her career.

She started slowly, gradually increased her playing time and by June of 1990 was playing full practice rounds. She even entered a few one-day pro-am events and was encouraged by her play. By November, she was getting close, except for a dull pain she felt in her lower back from time to time.

Farr flew from her home in Phoenix to Cedar-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles for a routine checkup in December. She mentioned the back pain. Tests were run and it was discovered that the cancer had returned. This time there were two new tumors, one in her spine, the other in the back of her skull.

Farr’s comeback was put on hold again.

And there were new complications.

She needed a bone-marrow transplant, but before that could take place, doctors had to take care of a vertebra that had partially collapsed because of swelling from chemotherapy. Once a new vertebra was constructed, the marrow was transplanted. Then, in June of 1991, Farr had an operation to have the tumor removed from her skull.

Farr spent 39 days in an isolation unit so doctors could monitor her progress and make certain that her body would not reject the transplant.

Sharon Farr, Heather’s mother, spent 15 hours a day with her daughter during that time.

“There were days when I was afraid to walk through the door to her room,” Sharon Farr told The Times in 1991. “It never got to the point where I thought she wouldn’t make it, but there were times when I was afraid, because I didn’t know what that day would bring.

“It’s hard to put into words what it was like. When you’re a parent, this is not supposed to happen to your children. To your parents or friends your age, maybe, or your spouse, but not your children.”

By September, Farr was feeling better, but she was a little wary. The tumor in her head was completely gone and the scans looked good. Golf was still something she was thinking about, but not as a profession. Doctors weren’t sure if her back would hold up if she started playing again.

Things were going well until May of 1992, when doctors found cancerous lesions on her pelvis and at the back of her skull.

Then, three months ago, things got even worse. On Aug. 16, she had surgery to remove a breast implant that was causing internal bleeding. In September, she had X-ray treatment in hopes of lessening a cancerous tumor on her spine. In October, she had eight operations at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach to stop internal bleeding and rebuild her chest wall.

On Nov. 11, she entered the hospital for the last time.

Farr, who was born in Phoenix on March 10, 1965, always gave credit to her father, Gerald, for getting her started in golf when she was 8.

One of her biggest early thrills came when she was 9. She approached Lee Trevino at the Phoenix Open, handed him an article about him and asked him to autograph it. The next year she wrote him a letter and invited him to dinner. He surprised her by showing up.

Farr always admired Trevino for that and used the time with him to learn golf.

Farr won 12 times as a junior, including two Junior World titles and one PGA National Junior Championship.

She was also a three-time winner of the Future Legends and won the 1982 USGA Junior Girls and the USGA Public Links in 1984.

Farr tied for medalist honors in the 1981 U.S. Women’s Amateur and was the low amateur in the 1983 U.S. Women’s Open at Cedar Ridge Country Club in Tulsa, Okla.

In 1984 she also played on the Curtis Cup team and on World Amateur teams.

Farr’s fine play continued at Arizona State, where she won the Lady Aztec Invitational in 1984 and 1985 and was a two-time All-American.

Farr wasn’t particularly long off the tee, but she was an excellent iron player and had a good touch around the green. She worked on her strength with weights and always felt she was long enough to compete with anybody.

Farr earned her LPGA card on her first attempt, in 1986, and at 20 was the youngest player to earn her card.

In 24 starts her rookie year, Farr’s best effort was a ninth-place finish. She earned $26,835 and was 78th on the money list. She improved in all phases of her game the next year, earned $34,038, had a fourth-place finish and moved up to 67th on the money list.

Farr started off fast in 1988 with a career-best third-place finish in the Mazda Classic. She went on to have six top-10 finishes, shot career-low rounds of 68 three times and earned $75,821, 41st on the money list.

Survivors, in addition to her parents, include her husband, Goren Lingmerth, and sister, Missie Kay. Services are scheduled for Tuesday morning at St. Teresa Catholic Church in Phoenix.