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CNN Sunday Morning

Profile of Suzy Whaley

Aired December 08, 2002 - 08:52   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: CNN's Kara Henderson caught up with Suzy Whaley. He is the first woman who will play a PGA tour event.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARA HENDERSON, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A club pro qualifying for a PGA event isn't big news. A pro shop merchant getting to play a tournament with stars like Phil Mickelson isn't much of a story either. That this Cinderella story stars someone who can fit the dress is the big surprise.

SUZY WHALEY, FIRST WOMAN TO QUALIFY FOR PGA TOUR EVENT: Good afternoon, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) this is Suzy, may I help you?

HENDERSON: When Suzy Whaley, golf teacher, cashier and cart cleaner at this small public course in Avon, Connecticut won the PGA Connecticut section championship, she earned an automatic berth into next June's Greater Hartford Open, becoming the first woman ever to qualify for a men's professional event.

WHALEY: I didn't go to a PGA qualifier and try to be the first woman ever to play on the PGA tour. I went to an event where it was attached to it, and landed in this place that nobody knew or had ever had any experience with.

HENDERSON: Her unexpected chance at making history brought her unexpected attention as well.

WHALEY: We went to bed. I mean, I had won this great tournament. My daughter has made me congratulations cards, and that was really the end of it for us, until the next morning at 6:00 a.m., when I got the first radio phone call. And by 6:00 p.m. that night, I probably had received 350 calls.

HENDERSON: With all the questions she's been asked since her win in September, the toughest for her to answer was, will you play? Her decision to enter is just the first in a flurry that won't end until the last putt drops.

WHALEY: Even if you got your game to the physical level, the best I could possibly be for me, not for them, but for me, I don't know that my mental will hold up. And that's a big part of golf.

HENDERSON: As rules allowed, Whaley played from some closer tees in beating the 88 men against her in the sectional, but now the mother of two young daughters knows trying to beat men from the back tees will be very different.

WHALEY: The yardage for me, for one, is far longer than I'm used to playing. It's at a yardage even longer than the LPGA tour plays on, like 6,850, and that's an extremely hard test for me. The rough will be much longer than I'm really strong enough to handle. And the greens will be faster than I'm used to playing on a daily basis.

HENDERSON: Although Whaley will be the only woman in the tournament, she knows she won't be the only woman on the course.

HENDERSON: I have received hundreds of letters from people across the world saying things to me like, if you don't play for your daughters, play for ours. If I could make a young girl out there just try to do something that she didn't think she could, terrific.

That's in. Yes.

HENDERSON: For CNN, I'm Kara Henderson.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired December 8, 2002 - 08:52   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: CNN's Kara Henderson caught up with Suzy Whaley. He is the first woman who will play a PGA tour event.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARA HENDERSON, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A club pro qualifying for a PGA event isn't big news. A pro shop merchant getting to play a tournament with stars like Phil Mickelson isn't much of a story either. That this Cinderella story stars someone who can fit the dress is the big surprise.

SUZY WHALEY, FIRST WOMAN TO QUALIFY FOR PGA TOUR EVENT: Good afternoon, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) this is Suzy, may I help you?

HENDERSON: When Suzy Whaley, golf teacher, cashier and cart cleaner at this small public course in Avon, Connecticut won the PGA Connecticut section championship, she earned an automatic berth into next June's Greater Hartford Open, becoming the first woman ever to qualify for a men's professional event.

WHALEY: I didn't go to a PGA qualifier and try to be the first woman ever to play on the PGA tour. I went to an event where it was attached to it, and landed in this place that nobody knew or had ever had any experience with.

HENDERSON: Her unexpected chance at making history brought her unexpected attention as well.

WHALEY: We went to bed. I mean, I had won this great tournament. My daughter has made me congratulations cards, and that was really the end of it for us, until the next morning at 6:00 a.m., when I got the first radio phone call. And by 6:00 p.m. that night, I probably had received 350 calls.

HENDERSON: With all the questions she's been asked since her win in September, the toughest for her to answer was, will you play? Her decision to enter is just the first in a flurry that won't end until the last putt drops.

WHALEY: Even if you got your game to the physical level, the best I could possibly be for me, not for them, but for me, I don't know that my mental will hold up. And that's a big part of golf.

HENDERSON: As rules allowed, Whaley played from some closer tees in beating the 88 men against her in the sectional, but now the mother of two young daughters knows trying to beat men from the back tees will be very different.

WHALEY: The yardage for me, for one, is far longer than I'm used to playing. It's at a yardage even longer than the LPGA tour plays on, like 6,850, and that's an extremely hard test for me. The rough will be much longer than I'm really strong enough to handle. And the greens will be faster than I'm used to playing on a daily basis.

HENDERSON: Although Whaley will be the only woman in the tournament, she knows she won't be the only woman on the course.

HENDERSON: I have received hundreds of letters from people across the world saying things to me like, if you don't play for your daughters, play for ours. If I could make a young girl out there just try to do something that she didn't think she could, terrific.

That's in. Yes.

HENDERSON: For CNN, I'm Kara Henderson.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com