Voorhees’ Bumpy Road Beginning to Smooth Out : North Hollywood Golfer Earns Her Shot on LGPA Tour

One might think Heidi Voorhees envies the success of her former Notre Dame High teammate Emilee Klein.

One might think Voorhees, two years older than Klein, feels left behind after her longtime amateur adversary burst into the professional spotlight with two LPGA Tour victories last season.

But while her own career has been a roller-coaster ride since she graduated from USC in 1994, Voorhees remained focused without getting caught up in the careers of others.

Her efforts paid off when she earned a conditional playing card for the 1997 LPGA Tour.

“I don’t feel like I’ve missed out on anything or I’m behind anyone,” she said. “[Professional success] may not have happened as quickly as it did for some people, but I’m really happy with what I’m doing.”

Voorhees, a North Hollywood native, is among about two dozen golfers who will compete in a qualifier Monday for the final two spots in the LPGA’s Los Angeles Women’s Championship. The 144-player tournament runs Friday through next Sunday at Oakmont Country Club in Glendale.

The 24-year-old Voorhees is forced to qualify for the tournament because the field was nearly filled with exempt players. Conditional card holders are granted exemptions into tournaments only when there are sufficient openings.

Voorhees, who finished 37th at qualifying school, would have earned a full exemption if she finished in the top 20. Still, she isn’t complaining.

“Obviously it’s not the way I prefer,” Voorhees said. “But I’ll make the best of the situation. It’s a privilege just to play on the tour. Not too many players are going to be upset that they have a conditional card.”

Optimism and a competitive spirit have kept Voorhees trudging through a post-USC career filled with almost as many bogeys as birdies.

Soon after earning her degree in communications in 1994, Voorhees qualified as an amateur for the 1994 Ping-Welch’s Championship, an LPGA event in Canton, Mass. She was in the middle of the pack after rounds of 72 and 71, becoming the lone amateur to make the cut.

The golf gods were not as kind over the next two rounds: Voorhees’ scores ballooned to 79 and 80 and she finished last.

Using that performance as a gauge, Voorhees decided against entering the LPGA qualifying school that year. Instead, she remained an amateur before joining the Players West Tour, a mini tour covering the Western U.S., in 1995.

After earning nearly $11,000 and finishing second on the Players West money list, she decided to take a crack at the 1995 LPGA qualifying school. She failed to make it out of the second round.

A broken arm incurred in a biking accident limited her playing time in 1996, so she spent the summer mentally preparing herself for qualifying school.

Voorhees’ father, Larry, said the time off was the best thing for her.

“Her only shortcomings were above her eyebrows,” said Larry, who introduced Heidi to golf at age 8. “She’s a dynamite player, but it’s just taken a little time to show the results of those talents.”

At the 1996 LPGA qualifying school in Daytona Beach, Fla., last October, Voorhees’ maturity paid off. Consecutive rounds of 72 to open the tournament had Voorhees cruising toward her playing card. But a third-round 77 dropped her back in the pack and rekindled memories of previous shortcomings under pressure.

Faced with the grim prospect of missing the LPGA Tour for another year, Voorhees rose to the occasion in the final round and shot a 70.

“It was all or nothing at that point,” Voorhees said. “I was pretty nervous the whole time, but it was one of those things where I had to play good or I wasn’t going to play on the tour.”

Getting the chance to showcase her new-found mental toughness in front of family and friends at Oakmont, a course she played often through high school and college, is something Voorhees relishes.

She is also looking forward to competing against the best players in the world, something those who know her believe Voorhees can handle.

“I look for her to do very well on tour,” said Chris Mullane, Voorhees’ personal coach. “She has a nice golf swing and not really any weaknesses. Once she gets in there with those girls, she will be fine. She just needed some time to get the butterflies out.”

Voorhees’ amateur record also indicates that she is capable of rising to the top of the LPGA ranks.

She was the stroke-play medalist in the 1993 U.S. Amateur, shooting 69 to set the 18-hole record.

She finished second in the 1991 U.S. Women’s Amateur as an 18-year-old, beating Klein, 2-and-1, in the second round. She was the No. 1 golfer at USC as a freshman, following an impressive senior season at Notre Dame in which she was the leading medalist on her coed team in 1990.

Because of her conditional status, Voorhees does not have a set schedule for the season. To the contrary, her schedule over the next eight months is a mystery.

Voorhees, who moved to Palm Springs last August, figures to be spending a lot of hours on the phone in the coming weeks trying to get into tournaments.

“It’s not that bad,” she said. “It’s just as easy to hop on a plane a week ahead of time as it is to plan months in advance. And in the meantime I get to hang out and play golf everyday in Palm Springs.”