Pleasanton's Creamer wins LPGA Tour at New Rochelle Pleasanton's Creamer wins LPGA Tour at New Rochelle (May 27, 2005)

Castlewood, Pleasanton Middle School star is youngest first-time winner ever
by Jeb Bing

Paula Creamer was only 10 when she started putting golf balls on a practice green at Castlewood Country Club, where her father Paul is an avid golfer. Seeing her enthusiasm and budding young skills, he worked with her on playing the course, turned her over to Castlewood pros to perfect her techniques and urged her to "stick with it."

She did. And last Sunday, Paula Creamer made a 15-foot birdie putt on the final hole to win the Sybase Classic at New Rochelle, N.Y., becoming, at age 18, the youngest first-time winner on the LPGA Tour.

Bruce Robinson, Paula Creamer's coach in her early years and chairman of the Castlewood Junior Golf Committee, said Creamer had plenty of good coaching from golf pros and fellow players she teamed with, "but it was her competitive spirit and determination to be the best" that drove her to try ever harder to win tournaments.

With her family's home next to the first green on the Castlewood golf course, finding a place to practice was easy and she did it every day after school and all weekend, Robinson recalls. By age 13, a top golfer on the Pleasanton Middle School girls team, she was recognized as one of the best golfers in her age group, playing with the Junior Golf Association of Northern California (NCJGA) and most often finishing at the top or near the top in tournament play.

She also had encouragement from her mother Karen, who with Paul Creamer, an American Airlines pilot, started scheduling their time to join their only child at tournaments no matter where they were being played. That support has continued through the years with the Creamers traveling as a family to top golf courses throughout the country and on British, Scottish and other European tours as Paula Creamer steadily moved into the top ranks as a young woman golfer.

Stories about her successes have appeared regularly on televised sports shows and in the sports pages of newspapers throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia. The Scotsman, for one, while praising a new generation of British and Irish golfers, also acknowledged that America's Paula Creamer "is capable of playing alongside the world's best professionals in the women's majors."

The Taipei Times, whose own favorite is Michelle Wie, 15, seen as a future rival when she turns 18 three years from now, noted in its report on Creamer's LPGA victory that she'll have to sit out other tournament play this week to return home to Pleasanton for her high school graduation.

Actually, instead of at Foothill High School, where she was slated to go, her high school graduation was scheduled to take place last night at the IMG Academies at Bradenton, Fla. She enrolled there after completing eighth grade at PMS because Bradenton is considered one of the world's premier multi-sports training and education facilities. With numerous amateur tournament successes already, she and her parents agreed that to truly excel as a pro golfer someday, she should go to Bradenton to be part of its famed David Leadbetter Golf Academy, which has a long list of pro golf alumni, including Tiger Woods.

Her success in tournament play as an amateur also won her recognition from IMG, the major marketing and tournament-scheduling arm for professional golf that supports Leadbetter. Then, last August, when she turned 18, she qualified as a pro golfer, gaining that official recognition from the LPGA Jan. 1.

In winning the LPGA Tour at New Rochelle, Creamer, who was already 19th on the LPGA money list with $143,000, won another $190,000, moving her to fourth on the money list as a rookie. That should bring some financial relief to her parents who have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars of their own money to finance Paula Creamer's education and early tournament play. Besides traveling with their daughter, they also purchased a home near Bradenton, returning to their Castlewood home during school and tournament breaks and for holidays.

Robinson, who has caddied for Creamer in a number of tournament events, said Creamer hasn't forgotten her roots. She came home a few weeks ago during a break in tournament play at Palm Springs to pass out golfing awards to 220 youths who played in the NCJGA tournament at Castlewood over the Easter break.

"Paula won this same event with the overall best girl's score when she was 14 years old," Robinson said, "the first year we sponsored the tournament. So she came back to hand out the trophies and, as she said, to give something back to these younger players."

Robinson said Creamer's best skills are in putting, skills that her father recognized years ago on Castlewood's practice greens. She is fifth in the LPGA in the number of birdies now, and in the New Rochelle Tour she birdied three out of the last five holes, including her 15-foot birdie on the final hole that brought her victory by one stroke.

"You can bet that if she's inside six feet on the green, the ball's going to go in the cup," Robinson said.

With her New Rochelle victory, Creamer also earned her LPGA card that is good through 2006, making her eligible to play in any professional women's golf tournament. The LPGA requires that you end the season no lower than 75th on its money list to keep the card, without having to requalify to play, which can be a costly process. She also has been given an honorary membership in Castlewood Country Club, where her parents are long-time members.

Two other Pleasanton golfers also are professionals with the PGA. Joe Kribel graduated from Amador Valley High School and went on to Stanford University, where he qualified for the PGA Tour. He continues to play, but has yet to earn his card full-time for the next season.

Todd Fisher graduated from Foothill High School and is currently on the tour with a full PGA card because of his huge success last year. He finished 102nd on the money list in 2004, winning over $700,000. To keep the card, golfers must finish no lower than 125th on the PGA money list.

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