With a few tweaks to her golf game, Lisa Ferrero's play, pay on the rise

After averaging a 41st-place finish in the first seven tournaments of the 2008 Duramed Futures Tour, Lisa Ferrero knew she had to make some changes in her golf game.

Lisa Ferrero

So she got a new swing coach, switched from a normal putter to a belly putter and completely changed her chipping technique.

The result: lower scores, higher finishes and more dollars.

The former Lodi High star went from barely making enough money to cover the $500 entry fees of each tournament to totaling $21,637 in the last nine tournaments.

Ferrero's scores started shrinking at the Duramed Futures Players Championship in Illinois in June, where she tied for fifth place and earned a check of $3,784. Since then, she's finished in the top 10 in five of eight tournaments.

"It's been pretty consistent," Ferrero said. "It has been exciting."

The results have vaulted the former Texas Longhorn golfer from the bottom of the standings into the 13th spot and on the verge of securing a promising golf season in 2009.

"What you are seeing is her grinding and when she starts grinding she is as good as anybody," said Ferrero's former Lodi High coach Steve Wolf.

There is one more tournament left in the 2008 season — the I Love New York Championship in Albany Sept. 5-7.

With the 25-year-old Ferrero currently sitting in 13th place, there's a lot riding on her finish in the Duramed Futures Tour, which is also known as the road to the LPGA.

If Ferrero can stay in the top 15, she'll skip stage one of qualifying for the 2009 Futures Tour, which would make for a longer offseason.

Lisa Ferrero's 2008 season

Lodi native Lisa Ferrero plays on the Duramed Futures Tour, a developmental tour of the LPGA. Following her season stats.

Events: 18
Best finish: T3
Top 10 finishes: 6
Cuts made: 16
Earnings (rank): $26,013 (13th)
Average score: 72.49 (8th)
Next tournament: I Love New York Championship, Sept. 5-7. (last money-making tournament in 2008 season).

Duramed Futures money leaders

Note: Top five earn LPGA card, next five earn conditional LPGA status

1. Vicky Hurst, $88,472
2. Mindy Kim, $69,270
3. M.J. Hur, $42,577
4. Jin Young Park, $39,808
5. Song Yi Choi, $37, 623
6. Jessica Shepley, $36,909
7. Leah Wigger, $35, 880
8. Sarah-Jane Kenyon, $34, 637
9. Kim Welch, $33, 768
10. Haeji Kang, $29, 252
11. Mo Martin, $28, 320
12. Sophia Sheridan, $27,272
13. Lisa Ferrero, $26,013

"That would be huge," she said. "That's a whole other tournament I don't have to play in."

If Ferrero can crack the top 10, she'll be granted LPGA conditional status, meaning she'll be selected to play in a limited number of LPGA tournaments, basically filling in when there are open spots. Ferrero played under conditional status in 2007 and was able to play in three LPGA tournaments.

The top five golfers in the season-ending standings will earn a LPGA card and graduate to the premier women's golf tour. With the winner pocketing $14,000, Ferrero's still in the running for the fourth or fifth spot.

Life on the tour

The Futures Tour started back in March and Ferrero's life has been nonstop ever since.

She's driven around from Florida to Kansas to the East Coast playing in tournaments almost every weekend and staying with a new host family every week. She hasn't been to her home in Austin, Texas since early May. She hasn't been to Lodi in about a year — not even to meet her new niece.

On the other hand, she gets to play the game she loves for a living. From teeing off to hopping in her car, Ferrero's life consists of a lot of driving.

"It is kind of exciting, but it also gets old after a while," she said. "We basically pack everything up and are on the road for four months."

Then there is the financial aspect of being a professional athlete. Competition stirs up butterflies for lots of people, but then things escalate when your performance determines your paycheck.

"It is tough on this tour because it is not a lot of money. It gets stressful. For the most part I have made enough to keep going. I have been lucky," Ferrero said. "... I try not to worry about it too much, but sometimes I think about it when I am putting or something. In one tournament, I had a putt worth $3,000."

It's not only hard on Ferrero, but on her parents back in Lodi as well.

"It's great but I worry. She is traveling the East Coast and we only get to see her play in about one tournament a year," her mother Janice said. "We watch on the Internet and it is very nerve-racking. We don't know if the scores are right because sometimes they aren't. If she is playing very well we hope they are right. Sometimes I think it is harder for a parent."

Whether it is this season or one in the future, if Ferrero could merit an invitation to the LPGA, things would change dramatically. There would still be stress and the demand of making the cut week in and week out, but the rewards would be on a higher scale.

"It would be guaranteed. I wouldn't have to be worried about getting in every week and you can win $240,000 instead of $14,000," Ferrero said. "You can get more sponsors. Your whole life changes — travel, people come to watch you, your name gets out there, you are on TV."

If Ferrero doesn't end up on the LPGA Tour, she would love to coach collegiate golf in the future. Ferrero said she just takes it year by year and how long she stays on tour depends on how she's playing.

Wolf thinks she should stick with playing instead of instructing — for now at least.

"I think she will make it (to the LPGA Tour) this year or next," said Wolf, who also admitted he thinks she would make a great college coach in the future.

New York, New York

Ferrero will be jumping on a plane today and heading to Orlando to meet up with her swing coach. She'll play there on Thursday and Friday before heading to New York for the Futures season finale.

"It's just a quick tune up before I go to New York," she said. "We are going to work on chipping and putting. If I would have done those better, I could have maybe won that last tournament."

Ferrero is coming of her best finish of the year, a third-place tie at The Gettysburg Championship in Pennsylvania Aug. 22-24. Her three-round total of 214 netted $6,125 — the most she's earned all season.

Going into the last tournament, only $3,239 stands between Ferrero and the No. 10 spot. Ferrero knows it could come down to one drive, one chip or one putt.

"It is going to be close," she said. "There are a couple who have won a lot of tournaments and are at the top, but it is close around the top 10."

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