Former Baylor player, Golf Channel exec Lisa O'Hurley still making mark on golf world
“In Texas, it’s really all about the people right?” Lisa O’Hurley said within the first two minutes of our conversation, explaining that she originally had no plans to play golf at Baylor University.
Now, the former Golf Channel executive can’t imagine what life would have been like without it.
The daughter of a country club manager who worked in Dallas, Houston and various other locales, O’Hurley’s first golf lesson came from future PGA Tour star Billy Ray Brown. By the time she was ready to pick a college, her family had moved to Arizona and she was playing for nationally renowned Xavier Prep, which also spawned Cheyenne Woods, Grace Park and current Arizona State coach Missy Farr-Kaye. When a close friend from her high school team said she was going on college visits in Texas, O’Hurley jumped at the chance, knowing how much she’d enjoyed some of her upbringing in the Lone Star State.
But when she got accepted at Baylor, the idea was to just attend and not compete. That all changed quickly.
“I had no intention of playing golf there until about two weeks into my time there. Literally they knocked on my dorm room door and said we're starting a golf team and we understand that you play golf and we want you to be part of the team,” she said. ”So I said sure, and I played on the college team at Baylor.
“We were nowhere as good, in comparison, as my high school team. Not even close.”
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Fast forward some two-plus decades and O’Hurley has built a successful career around the game, first with over a decade at the Golf Channel and now through her own line of clothing that’s quickly gaining traction. As the CEO of Lohla Sport, O’Hurley has built on her six years with Golfino, a fashion sportswear company based in Germany, and used some European flair to go with some West Coast vibes to create a line that has quickly resonated with female golfers.
O’Hurley, who had built a healthy Rolodex, reached out to 70 potential buyers on her Lohla line, even before she had any product to show. More than 50 bought it, sight unseen, and O’Hurley knew she was on to something. Still, it took a little luck for the whole thing to work as many clothing lines, especially those that popped up during the pandemic, quickly went under.
“Golf was the only thing that was marked safe and so the clubs were still open, the shops were still open, and that was enormous. If we were a brand that's just something in department stores, we never would have made it. So I mean, the fact that the golf community could support itself so to speak was tremendous,” she said. “And then with COVID, we got to pick up a lot of new females who were new to the sport who aren't used to wearing golf clothes.”
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O’Hurley now lives in Los Angeles with her husband John — J. Peterman of “Seinfeld” fame — and she still plays plenty of golf while holding her Baylor roots dear. In fact, she’s become close with the current coach of the Bears’ women’s golf team, and often plays with the squad when they make a trip to Southern California.
“I guess one of my lucky gifts, you know, is keeping my connections going and always having these wonderful people in my life. And so I have kept really good friends with the current golf coach at Baylor, Jay Goble, and he and I have become very close. I'm just really still in tune with that team.”
Speaking of her husband, he made a recent appearance at a jazz club in San Antonio’s Pearl District. John O’Hurley has hosted “Family Feud,” was a contestant on “Dancing with the Stars” and hosts an annual charity golf tournament with former major league baseball star Josh Beckett (who lives in Boerne).
But while he’s a man of many talents, he’s currently an underdog when playing in a twosome with his wife.
“When we met, we were pretty even,” Lisa O'Hurley said. “I give him strokes now.”
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Tony Finau wins Houston Open, WDs from RSM Classic
On Sunday, Tony Finau claimed his fifth PGA Tour victory — easily walking to the title at the Houston Open. It marked his third win since July. Coming into the week, Finau was the betting favorite for the RSM Classic at Sea Island Golf Club in St. Simons Island, Ga., and was hoping to earn back-to-back wins for the second time in 2022.
However, he’s no longer in the field.
Finau withdrew from the RSM, citing an injury, and was replaced by Kevin Chappell.
This is the final Tour event of 2022, but we’ll see Finau in December at Tiger Woods’ Hero World Challenge in Albany, The Bahamas.
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Metroplex course gets two big events
The USGA announced on Wednesday that Trinity Forest Golf Club in Dallas will serve as the host site for the 2025 U.S. Junior Amateur Championship and the 2031 U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship, marking the club’s first USGA championships.
“We are very proud to welcome Trinity Forest as a USGA championship host,” said Mark Hill, USGA managing director of Championships. “The U.S. Junior Amateur and U.S. Girls’ Junior have not only become two of our fastest-growing championships, but they have served as pathways to great achievement in the game, and we look forward to bringing the world’s best juniors to this terrific course for the first time.”
Trinity Forest was designed by Bill Coore and Austin native Ben Crenshaw and opened for play in 2016.
Tim Schmitt is the managing editor for Golfweek, golf coordinator for the USA Today Network and lives in Round Rock.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Golf Channel exec Lisa O'Hurley still marking mark on golf world
