Historic Brownsville Open: McPherson, Duncan serve as caddies

Three weeks ago, Duramed FUTURES Tour alumna Kristy McPherson of South Carolina nearly got to take the traditional winner's plunge at the Kraft Nabisco Championship -- the LPGA's first major championship of the season. She tied for second in her career-best finish on the LPGA Tour.  

Last week, the two-time winner on the FUTURES Tour gladly served as caddie in Lafayette, La., for good friend Jenny Gleason of Clearwater, Fla. The two have played together both on the LPGA and FUTURES Tours.

"I wanted to come down and hang out and see my friends and my former housing hosts," said McPherson, who earned 2007 LPGA status by finishing in the top five of the money list on the 2006 Duramed FUTURES Tour and was the 2006 winner of the Jalapeno FUTURES Golf Classic in McAllen. "And I think you can learn a lot being on the other side of the golf ball."

Tour alumna Meredith Duncan of Shreveport, La., also drove down to Lafayette last week to caddie in the pro-am for Tour member Janell Howland of Boise, Idaho. Duncan, now also a full-time member on the LPGA Tour, looped for Howland, a former Louisiana Pelican Classic tournament winner, before hustling back up the highway to prepare for this week's event in Mexico.

"I'm only three hours away and I would feel like a jerk if I didn't at least come down here and say hello to a lot of people," Duncan said. "I want to see people that I'm not going to see in a while, including my [former] host family and everybody out here."

Collecting Ponytails

Nearing the two-year anniversary of her mother's death, Duramed FUTURES Tour player Cindy Lee-Pridgen wanted to do something special in memory of her late mother, Shirley Lee, who lost her battle to cancer in June 2007.

So the player has decided to work with tournament organizers of The Duramed Championship to host a special day where individuals can donate a length of their hair to be used to make wigs for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.

The Pantene Beautiful Lengths Share Your Shining Strength charity event will be held Tuesday, June 16, at The Golf Center at Kings Island in Mason, Ohio, in conjunction with the Duramed FUTURES Tour's tournament that week. Women and men with locks of eight inches or more may have their hair cut for the charity by stylists from Mandarine Spa in the Cincinnati area.

The event is open to players, volunteers and to the public at no charge.

"I wanted to do it for my mom because when she was sick, she really struggled with the fact that she was losing her hair," said Lee-Pridgen, a native of Sabah, Malaysia, who now lives in Oklahoma. "My sister and I went and looked at wigs and we couldn't believe how expensive they were. It would be nice to be able to help provide wigs to women who need them and give them one less thing to worry about."

The player is growing out her hair for the charity event and hopes other players will consider doing the same. She says it takes six ponytails to make a wig.

"Big Break" Premieres

The "Big Break" is back, and fans of the Duramed FUTURES Tour will have a chance to watch Tour members in action on the Golf Channel over the next several weeks.

The new show, "Big Break: Prince Edward Island," was scheduled to premiere Monday night and featured DFT members Caroline Larsson of Stockholm, Sweden, Brenda McLarnon of Belfast, Ireland, and Gerina Mendoza of Roswell, N.M.

"I'll probably be really anxious on Monday around 7:30 p.m., but I plan to just watch it with my host family in Brownsville, Texas, at our next tournament," Larsson said. "We filmed it a long time ago [last year], but it will be fun to watch."

Also in the cast of six females and six males are Tour alums Kim Kouwabunpat of Upland, Calif., Blair O'Neal of Scottsdale, Ariz., and Nicole Sikora of Valley Cottage, N.Y. Top prize to the winner is $100,000 cash.

Basking in the Masters win

Like the rest of her countrymen, FUTURES Tour member Maria Laura Elvira of Buenos Aires, Argentina, is still celebrating the playoff victory at The Masters this year by Angel Cabrera.

It was a long-awaited win by an Argentine following Roberto De Vicenzo's ill-timed signing for the wrong score at the 1968 Masters. His incorrectly signed scorecard cost the Argentine a playoff with eventual Masters champion Bob Goalby.

Instead of a final-round 65, De Vicenzo erroneously signed for a 66 - making him more widely remembered for his scorecard gaffe at The Masters than for his victory at the 1967 British Open.

"Futbol [soccer] is still the most popular sport in our country, but this win at The Masters will help make golf bigger," said Elvira. "Roberto made golf big at home, but Angel's win is important now for today's players.It's like, ‘If he can win, why not us?'"

Ring on the 18th Green

Melissa Eatonof Port Shepstone, South Africa, had been one of the local favorites all week at the Louisiana Pelican Classic. Not only was she a Louisiana State University (LSU) alum, but she also was engaged to a local man, Billy Jackson of New Iberia, La.

Jackson surprised Eaton after Sunday's final round of the tournament in Lafayette, La. He led Eaton over to the 18th green, pulled a ring out of his pocket, knelt down and asked the LSU grad to marry him, much to the cheers and delight of tournament volunteers at the hole.

Eaton had just carded a final-round score of 67 to finish tied for ninth at 142 (-2) with Jackson on her bag. And the answer was "yes."

"I made lots of birdies today and I feel like I just had a hole-in-one on the 18th green," Eaton said. "It was a really good day."