Catch a rising star

Laura Diaz has come into her own, fashioning a break-through year in 2002 to lead a wave of young American players toward the ton of the LPGA Tour.

Standing flush in the middle of the 18th fairway at Tucson, Arizona's Randolph North Golf Course, Laura Diaz was right where she had always wanted to be. Playing in Sunday's pairing at the Welch's/Circle K Championship last March, she had shrugged off bogeys on the first two holes to overtake tournament leader Juli Inkster by a single stroke. Now she had just 167 yards, a comfortable six-- iron, to the hole of this closing par 5.

Slowly, deliberately, she stuck to her routine, lining up the shot, taking her stance, trying to swing through the same way she had countless times before. Looking up, Laura spied her ball sailing left for the greenside bunker. Spontaneously she hollered after it, "Kick right!" Her shout, characteristically, was no plea; it was a firm command. As surely as if it heard, the ball did just that, coming to rest on the green 35 feet from the pin. When Juli missed her eagle putt, Laura calmly two-putted for birdie-and her first LPGA win.

Memories of last year's four runner-up finishes banished, Laura hugged her husband, Kevin, and was, within minutes, on the phone with her father back in Florida to share this hallmark victory. "He couldn't be here today," she later explained, "but I know he was here in spirit." Indeed, her father, Ron Philo, is always there in spirit, for she credits him with sparking her career and nurturing her game.

Laura Diaz is an intense golfer with a serious demeanor and a straightforward manner. On course, she avoids looking at leaderboards, preferring instead to concentrate on her own game, one shot at a time. She goes about her work coolly, methodically, but she still lets her fierce nature and competitive fire show. If a ball doesn't behave, she's not shy about revealing her aggravation, a very human trait to which golf fans everywhere can relate. That and her superior ballstriking are attracting a growing number of fans, which one golf writer has dubbed "Laura's Legions."

Taking time out of practice to talk about her young career, she answers questions directly, in the sometimes-rehearsed manner of frequently interviewed athletes. Her blue-green eyes beam with pride, though, when she. declares, "My dad is the only teacher I've ever worked with. My dad is my coach, my teacher, one of my best friends. I've been quoted as saying that he's my everything, and he really has been. He's done it all for me. He's been my inspiration to play."

A Game of Life

Laura first started playing golf at the age of 9. She remembers with a smile those earlier years, a time during which, you could almost say, she inherited the game. "Golf's always been a big part of my life," she begins. "My father is a golf pro; my grandfather was a golf pro; my brother is a golf pro. We owned a driving range and miniature golf place when I was a kid, and we lived on it. You had to be there, so I figured I might as well hit a few balls and play Putt-Putt." She and her friends would gather there under the lights on summer nights, arcing balls up into the surrounding darkness.

Intrigued by the sport, she pursued college golf. Wake Forest University coach Dianne Dailey admired Laura's solid, fluid swing, and she offered her a scholarship to the North Carolina school. During those four years, things started to click in Laura's game-and in her mind. As a sophomore she shot a 69, and at the end of that year she won the 1995 North and South Amateur Championship. She earned All-American honors her last two years at Wake. "By my senior year," she says, "I was so in love with the game that there was no way that I wasn't going to try to play for a living."

The Road to Success

When she failed to qualify for the LPGA Tour, she turned to the Futures Tour, where she won three times. In 1998 she headed overseas. There she was the top qualifier for the Women Professional Golfers' European Tour and finished the season as that tour's Rookie of the Year.

"Europe was a huge stepping-stone for my game," she observes. "I got to play with some of the best players in the world-Laura Davies, Helen Alfredsson, Carin Koch-the list goes on and on. It was a big growing experience for me."

Laura drew upon what she had learned when she earned her LPGA card that fall. It took a couple of years for her to pull it all together, but last season everything began to jell. She posted 12 top-10 finishes, including four seconds. She may not have won, but her year-end statistics were more than merely promising: She ranked first on tour in eagles, fourth in birdies, and seventh in rounds under par. Score like that, her dad reassured her, and the wins will come.

Indeed, this year they have. After coming from behind to win in Tucson, Laura held the lead all four days at the Coming Classic, fighting off a Sunday charge by Rosie Jones, a 12-time winner on tour. The pivotal shot-one that best depicts her ability and relentless focus-was the near-miracle, 30-foot chip that she holed on the 9th to save par and preserve her lead.