Former UT star Lisa DePaulo hopes Austin can become women's golf hub

Lisa DePaulo has a very simple outlook on life — why not?

Why not come back to playing golf at a high level after nearly two decades away? Why not meet and befriend some of the game’s biggest names, even if it happens in life’s second act? And why not push to turn Austin into a hub for women’s golf?

DePaulo’s golf story is really her life story. The game has been interwoven through her 50-something years on the planet.

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A part of two conference championships at the University of Texas before she graduated in 1988, her only full LPGA season was memorable for all the wrong reasons. After a dozen trips to qualifying school, she finally became a full-fledged member of the tour in 2004 but then missed 20 cuts in the 21 events she entered. She withdrew from the other.

But DePaulo — who still lives in Austin half of the year while spending summers near Aspen, Colo. — later found a winning formula by combining golf and a business, Tournament Treasures, where she created gift packages for golf events. A talker by nature, she was a natural salesperson and soon found herself playing in groups with the likes of former President George W. Bush.

These days, however, she’s not on the exterior. DePaulo is back in the game, playing multiple events on the Legends of the LPGA tour. She finished T-32 at the recent U.S. Women’s Senior Open in Kettering, Ohio, placing ahead of names like Danielle Ammaccapane and Amy Alcott. Among her highlights over the past few seasons was a T-3 at the 2021 Senior LPGA Championship, one that netted her over $40,000. She was the leader at the 2022 Senior LPGA after the opening round.

And she’s since struck up friendships with the likes of Annika Sorenstam, whose sister Charlotta is also a Texas ex, and Nancy Lopez.

Now DePaulo is hoping she’ll get more opportunities to play, perhaps with some of the superstars she’s recently been rubbing elbows with. The Legends of the LPGA tour was decimated by COVID-19 and the circuit has been cut down to just a handful of events. And the glass-always-half-full DePaulo is hoping that a company, perhaps an Austin-based company, can help take the circuit to new heights, especially with the recent focus on elevating the women’s game.

“With all with the guys have and what they're doing and even having it, you know, audacity to complain about. I mean John Daly complaining that LIV didn’t ask him to play with them and that they don't play for anything on the Champions Tour, that's just it's ridiculous,” she said. “Really, we need some help. And we got hit harder than any other golf group out there. Nobody really understands that. I mean, junior golf barely missed a beat. The LPGA missed a couple months. But this has killed us for a year and a half. The Legends tour has absolutely got hammered.

“If we could just get a sponsor, let’s say it was Tito’s Legends tour, would be huge. What (the guys) play for in one tournament, let’s say $3 million, that would put on our whole tour. And Austin is such a great place, it would be a great host for a major event like this.”

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DePaulo is still a member at UT Golf Club and is building a new place in Marble Falls, where she expects to play consistently. Her business was also hit hard during COVID, but her game is as good as ever. How come? Spending time with her mother when she passed in 2014 from colon cancer caused her to reevaluate her own life.

“When you watch somebody 24/7 go through the final stages of life, someone who really wants to live and they end up not winning that fight … that changed me immensely,” she said. “Every day is just such a gift, getting to play. And I just think I'm not nearly as hard on myself. I have become a better putter, too.

“I feel like I had a great attitude, but I really enjoy every day now. No matter what.”

Jordan Spieth named to Presidents Cup team

Not only does Davis Love III have the home-field advantage at the Presidents Cup later this month, but the captain of Team USA has a distinct edge in the talent department, as well.

The first six players for the American side qualified Aug. 21 via the Presidents Cup points standings — Texas ex Scottie Scheffler, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Sam Burns, Justin Thomas, Tony Finau — leaving Love six captain’s picks for the biennial event comprised of a 12-person U.S. Team and a 12-person International Team (LIV Golf and European players, aside) to be held Sept. 22-25 at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, N.C. The Americans lead the all-time series 11-1-1.

On Wednesday, Love added another University of Texas product, Jordan Spieth to the team. Spieth enters the 2022 Presidents Cup as the most experienced golfer in international competition on the active U.S. roster. He was a stalwart on the 2013, 2015 and 2017 teams, the latter two coming during the best seasons of his career. He missed the 2019 Presidents Cup when he was in the middle of his slump, but Spieth, who was on the 2021 Ryder Cup team, is out of it and back to being one of the best golfers in the world.

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Why did PGA of America move to Frisco?

During the recent unveiling of a sparkling new PGA of America home in Frisco, CEO Seth Waugh said the group didn’t think it would leave its home in Palm Beach Gardens.

“We were totally happy in Florida,” he said. “We’d been there for 60 years, you know, all good. We did an RFP (request for proposal), sort of assuming we’d get paid to stay, right? That’s how it works, right? You get the state and the county to step up. They kind of did it. But we went to, you know, all the other places in the country that you would go to, so Charlotte and Atlanta and Phoenix and, you know, everywhere you can imagine. Frisco jumped out. They just jumped out.”

But why?

“Financially, they were attractive,” he said, of an incentives package that’s expected to total around $160 million. “It’s obviously a business-friendly place. But this isn’t just a building. This is a destination where we can really get a return on our investment here in a way that we can’t elsewhere.

“And then, as you start adding it up — you’ve got a workforce that’s as good as anywhere, educated and willing. And then, the centrality was a big deal because you know we actually built something that our members are going to come see. There’s no reason to come to our old headquarters building right now. They’ve got a reason to come.”

Golf in Texas:Save Muny event raises $800,000 for renovations at Lions Municipal Golf Course

Muny fundraiser to be held Friday

A handful of tickets still remain for the Forever Green fundraiser to be held this Friday night at Lions Municipal Golf Course in Austin. The event is a benefit for The Muny Conservancy, a nonprofit formed to actively engage the University of Texas Regents, city of Austin officials and concerned citizens to keep the iconic golf course. Musician Jonathan Tyler headlines the event, which will also include a BBQ dinner, drinks, live music, a silent auction, and more. Tickets are available at themunyconservancy.com

Tim Schmitt is the managing editor for Golfweek, golf coordinator for the USA Today Network and lives in Round Rock. Golfweek’s Cameron Jourdan also contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Former Texas golfer Lisa DePaulo continues career in Legend of LPGA