Angela Buzminski Continues Her Journey in Golf
Tue, 03 Mar 2009 01:45:26
Nothing strikes fear in the heart of an athlete more than injury. It can be debilitating at the least, career threatening at the worst. So when Canadian Angela Buzminski stood at the starting gate as a provincial slalom skier one day more than half a lifetime ago, she knew her days on the slopes would be numbered.
Too big a Fear Factor, she said.
""It came to the point,"" said the 31-year-old 2002 LPGA Tour rookie, ""where I had to decide what would be a longer career - golf or skiing.""
""It (the decision) wasn't rocket science. I was a pretty good skier. I raced at the provincial level. I never broke anything but there were the concussions - nothing real bad, but I got them from a series of falls. So I quit racing.""
Ah, yes. Concussions are the bane of the modern athlete. Have too many and your brain gets foggy; have one too severe and it could kill you.
Buzminski knew golf wasn't a contact spot and so a new career was born. The Oshawa, Ontario, resident took up the game.
""My dad would take me to the course,"" said Buzminski, the only left-handed golfer on Tour in 2002. There at Devil's Elbow Golf Course in Peterborough, a 13-year-old youngster found the game of a lifetime.
""He wanted me to decide what I wanted to do,"" said Buzminski of her parental guidance.
""While I was playing junior golf a (Royal Canadian Golf Association) official told me I wasn't good enough to get a (college) scholarship. But I was determined.""
And Buzminski did get that golf scholarship. She was awarded one at Indiana University (IU), a place ruled more by the antics/heroics of basketball coach Bobby Knight than by its golf tradition. But Buzminski showed promise in college. She was an all-America as a junior and senior and finished second in the NCAA Championships her senior year.
In 1994, Buzminski graduated from IU with a degree in Fine Arts & Art History. She also graduated with a load of collegiate experience. A year later she embarked on a Futures Tour career, playing only one event yearly on the LPGA Tour and missing all five cuts. There was more learning to be done, said Buzminski, and there were financial obligations to meet as well.
""It is frustrating in the fact that I don't think people realize when you start on the Futures Tour, how expensive it is and how hard it is to get a sponsor.""
To raise the $300 entry fee per tournament, Buzminski resorted to odd jobs and drove from tournament to tournament when she did play.
""I was painting houses in South Carolina to make money so the first couple of years on the Futures I could only play late at the end of their year,"" said Buzminski.
""And believe me painting houses in South Carolina in the summer (heat) is not fun. I definitely appreciate all the hard work it took for me to get here.""
Buzminski enjoyed a break-through year on the Futures Tour in 2001. She finished third on the money list and that earned her a LPGA Tour card for 2002. The top three money winners on the Futures earn automatic LPGA cards for the following season.
""When I got my (LPGA) card in Morgantown, W. Va., at the last event last year, I always felt I had been good enough to get here and I'm absolutely driven to stay.""
The long journey from slalom skier to LPGA Tour player had come to fruition.
""Now I'm in my third year with some sponsorship,"" said Buzminski, who is sponsored by the Ocean Sports Medicine doctors in Myrtle Beach, S.C., a relationship formed by those summers painting houses and working on her game.
""I've never put a time limit on myself making it as a (professional) golfer. I'll continue as long as my heart is in it."""
