Coach Rizzo to Compete in LPGA Legends Tournament
April 24, 2012
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – University of Miami women’s golf coach Patti Rizzo will be in Arizona this weekend to compete in the LPGA’s Walgreens Charity Classic Legends Tournament. The event includes a $200,000 purse with most of the proceeds benefiting the Phoenix Children’s Hospital. The tourney will be staged from April 27-29, at Grandview Golf Course.
Coach Rizzo, whose been playing on the Legends Tour since 2006 will be entering her 15th tournament.
“It’s fun for me because I still get to compete, I still feel the tournament pressure I felt 20 years ago,” said coach Rizzo. “Competing reminds me of how to deal with the student-athletes on our team. It really serves as a good reminder of exactly what they’re feeling and it helps me as a coach.”
Of her previous 14 appearances Rizzo has placed in the top-20 seven times and within the top-10 on three occasions. Her best outcome came in 2006 where she finished seventh at the Concord Golf Course in Sydney, Australia.
The Walgreens Charity Classic will feature LPGA and World Golf Hall of Famers Amy Alcott, Pat Bradley, Patty Sheehan, Betsy King and Hollis Stacy, who will be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in May. All of which coach Rizzo has competed against in her career.
“When I go back to play, it’s with all the women of my era,” said Rizzo. “We all hung out on the regular tour, which back in my day was the highlight of the LPGA.” The event begins with a one-day Pro-Am on Fri., April 27 and is followed by a two-day, 36-hole women’s competition with a $200,000 purse. The tour has awarded more than $9 million in prize money and helped raise more than $11 million for charity.
Coach Rizzo was a 1981 All-American at the University of Miami and later went on to become the 1982 LPGA Rookie of the Year, and holder of four LPGA Tour wins. She was inducted into the UM Hall of Fame in 1995 and is currently in her second-year of coaching the University of Miami women’s golf team.
Currently the University of Miami women’s golf team is on the bubble of an at-large bid into the NCAA regionals. The NCAA field will be announced on Monday, April 30. The team currently sits in 60th according to GolfStat.com.
Tee time for Friday’s Pro-Am begins at 11 a.m. (MT), while round one of the Legends Tournament will begin Sat., April 28 at 8 a.m. (MT). For live scoring and to keep up with Coach Rizzo throughout the event click here, and be sure to follow the University of Miami women’s golf team on twitter.
