LPGA card in woman's sights

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Cheryl Tooshkenig is rather eager to make a bit of history.

The 23-year-old, who hails from Walpole Island, Ont., is hoping to become what she believes would be the first Native player on the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour.

American Notah Begay III, who is also Native, has been making headlines on the men's pro circuit, the PGA Tour, in recent years.

"I'd like to get the chance to sort of follow in his footsteps," Tooshkenig said. "I've been looking on the Internet but I haven't found any Native players (on the LPGA Tour). It would be a huge honor to be the first one."

Tooshkenig has starred in the collegiate ranks the past four years. She began her collegiate career at Ohio's Kent State University. She spent two-and-a-half years there before transferring to Michigan's Oakland University.

This past April she placed second at the Mid-Continent Conference championships.

Tooshkenig helped the Oakland women's club to a second-place finish in the five-team event. She was also named to the conference's first all-star team.

Tooshkenig is now hoping to earn her LPGA tour card for 2003. To that end, she attended a qualifying school sectionals event, scheduled for Aug. 27 to 30 in Venice, Florida. (After publication deadline).

About 120 golfers were expected to participate at the event, held at the Plantation Country Club. The top 28 finishers would earn a spot into the LPGA Tour's final qualifying school, set for October in Daytona Beach, Fla.

Then just the top 18 from the Daytona Beach tournament would receive an LPGA Tour card, granting them entry into all events for the 2003 schedule.

Tooshkenig was confident she could advance to the Daytona Beach qualifier.

"I'm playing pretty good," she said the day before she left Rochester to drive down to Venice. "I like my chances a lot."

The entry fee just to participate at the Venice qualifier was $3,300 US. Tooshkenig raised just enough money to cover the fee with a fundraising golf tournament her family staged on July 5 at the Baldoon Golf Club in Wallaceburg, Ont., near her birthplace of Walpole Island.

A total of 60 golfers took part in the fundraiser, paying $100 Cdn each to play a round.

If Tooshkenig did not do well at the Venice event, then she was planning to go to another sectionals qualifier in Indio, California in early September. That event is also a qualifier for the final Daytona Beach event.

This marks the first time Tooshkenig has attempted to earn an LPGA Tour card. If she is unsuccessful, then she wouldn't mind trying to qualify for the Futures Tour, a women's circuit considered a step below the LPGA Tour.

Qualifiers for the Futures Tour begin in November. Tooshkenig has not sought out much information on those events since she's been focusing her thoughts on the LPGA Tour.

But she wouldn't be overly upset if she was eventually forced to hone her skills on the Futures Tour.

"Not at all," she said when asked if she would be disappointed. "A lot of girls on the LPGA Tour spent some time there. It gets you ready for the LPGA."

Regardless of how she fares in her qualifiers, Tooshkenig will return to Oakland University. She has to complete one more semester before graduating with a psychology degree in December.

But she has no plans to put her degree to use just yet. She'd rather commence a golf career.

"I think now is the time to give it a shot," said Tooshkenig, who has been golfing since the age of 10.

Tooshkenig believes the strength in her game is the length of her drives. About a year ago she was smacking the ball about 230 yards. But now she's whacking it about 260 yards. She credits Oakland golf coach Dave Dewulf for giving her tips to considerably improve her driving distance.