Playing For Pay

1985 APL Champion Sorenson's Decision To Skip Masters One He'll Never Forget

By David Shefter, USGA

Nobody could ever confuse Augusta National Golf Club with LaFortune Park. They are miles apart on the golf landscape, both geographically and aesthetically. One is pristine, prestigious and ultra private. The other is a public par 3 that is lighted and caters to an entirely different clientele.

However, in the spring of 1988, these two venues – one in northeastern Georgia and the other in eastern Oklahoma – were inexplicably linked to one individual.

	Jim Sorenson, right, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty were two of the dignitaries on hand who spoke at APL Media Day on May 26 (Photo courtesy of Warren Ryan)

As the first round of the Masters Tournament concluded for the day, Jim Sorenson, then a fledgling professional, found himself preparing to participate in the LaFortune Park Lighted Par 3 Pro-Am. Sorenson, the 1985 U.S. Amateur Public Links Champion, had decided to turn professional not long after representing the USA at the 1987 Walker Cup.

"I had already sat out one year waiting to play on the Walker Cup team," said Sorenson, who was the guest speaker at Amateur Public Links Media Day on May 26 at Rush Creek Golf Club in Maple Grove, Minn., a course near his hometown of Bloomington. "(So) I didn’t feel it was necessary to wait another year for two days of your life."

Sorenson was referring to the Masters invitation he received for being selected to the Walker Cup. Back then, Augusta National gave invitations to each member of the USA squad along with the semifinalists from the previous year’s U.S. Amateur. But there was a caveat: He had to remain an amateur to keep the invitation.

He chose to play for pay.

So instead of being in Georgia that April, Sorenson was on the first tee of a par-3 course with four amateur partners set to begin a round under the lights. "I’m thinking, ‘Oh my goodness, this is as far as you can get away from Augusta National,’ " he said.

Friends, family and media members still query Sorenson to this day about that decision. The only other amateurs to turn down a Masters invite since then were 1992 U.S. Amateur runner-up Tom Scherrer and 1993 APL winner David Berganio. Berganio played the Masters as an amateur in 1992 after winning the 1991 APL, but turned pro prior to the 1994 Masters. Scherrer eventually made the Masters field as a pro in 2001.

Sorenson, now a successful 40-year-old businessman with three kids, never quite had the pro career he envisioned after his decorated amateur days in the mid-1980s. He made three unsuccessful attempts to get his PGA Tour card and he tried to obtain a European Tour card twice.

He occasionally plays pro competitions when time allows. In 2002, he nearly advanced to U.S. Open sectional qualifying but lost in a playoff for the final spot.

"I still have the golf bug," said Sorenson. "I still have interest in playing good golf at some point in my life. I don’t know when that will be."

His MO

In the mid-1980s, Sorenson was one of the best amateurs in the country. Although he wasn’t recruited by any big-time college programs coming out of Kennedy High in Bloomington, Sorenson found his way to Texas Lutheran, a tiny NAIA school located in Segin. He won several tournaments at Texas Lutheran and finished eighth at NAIA Nationals in 1984.

But after Sorenson’s sophomore season, one of the coaches in the conference, Bill Woodley, landed the head coaching position at Texas Christian University. At the time, Sorenson was dating someone who attended TCU. He had always wanted to play at the NCAA Division I level and contacted Woodley.

With no scholarship available, Sorenson decided to transfer and redshirt his junior year (1984-85). He realized TCU practiced twice a week at Colonial Country Club and also at Shady Oaks, Ben Hogan’s home course.

Friends thought he was crazy for sitting out an entire season. They thought his game would get rusty without top-flight competition. "I told myself it was not going to happen," Sorenson said.

That summer, Sorenson qualified for his first U.S. Amateur Public Links, a competition that traditionally has had strong representation from Minnesotans. The state has the highest number of golfers per capita in the country and many play on public courses.

Sorenson had grown up at public courses in the Minneapolis area, honing his skills at Dwan Golf Course, a par-68 facility that "was basically a driver/wedge course."

The 1985 APL was held at Wailua Country Club in Lihue, Hawaii (island of Kuai). Just prior to departing, Sorenson’s older brother, John, passed his dental board exam, and as a present, his father bought him an airline ticket to join Jim, who had his brother caddie for him.

With John on his bag, Jim felt comfortable all week. He shot a 143 in the stroke-play qualifying, one stroke off medalist Robin McCool’s total. Only one of Sorenson’s first five matches was tight, a second-round 2-up decision over Jim Tucker.

Nevertheless, the night before the 36-hole final, Sorenson could not sleep. He awoke around 2 a.m. and took a stroll around the hotel pool.

"I kept thinking how I was going to play the course," he said. "I was consumed by this match. Then I realized I can’t be up all night; otherwise I won’t be able to function."

Yet it was Sorenson’s opponent, Jay Cooper, who snoozed. Sorenson shot the equivalent of 4-under-par 68 – Cooper had an 81 – in the morning 18 and was an astonishing 11 up heading to lunch. Seven holes later, the match was over, 12 and 11. The margin was the largest ever for an APL final, a mark that still stands today.

"It might have been one of my better rounds of my life," said Sorenson, who dedicated the week to his mother, Marilyn, who had passed away that April after a bout with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). "The greens were rock hard and I remember bouncing shots into them. It wasn’t a real easy day to play.

"Somehow during my career in amateur golf, that tended to be my MO (modus operandi). All through college, in the bigger tournaments when I had a chance to win, I somehow won. I wasn’t this guy who finished second a bunch of times. I either won or I finished 25th. I’m not sure why that was."

Getting Close

Sorenson’s achievement caught the eye of Woodley at TCU, who immediately gave him a full scholarship. And Sorenson rewarded that decision by winning four tournaments that season, including the Southwest Conference Championship. TCU also won its first-ever conference team title, edging No. 2-ranked Houston.

The effort landed Sorenson a spot in the PGA Tour’s Colonial National Invitation Tournament on a sponsor’s exemption. He missed the cut, but at that point, he was mentally fatigued from golf and school

"I had missed so much school in the spring," he said. "I had like 10 exams to make up in the last two weeks. I was just kind of a basket case. It was a great experience. I felt really comfortable on the first tee and thought this is where I wanted to be. It felt good and right."

Unfortunately, it would be Sorenson’s first and last PGA Tour event.

A few months later, Sorenson nearly won a second consecutive APL title, falling to Billy Mayfair in the final at Tanglewood Park in Clemmons, N.C., 3 and 2. Mayfair was a birdie machine that day, registering 10 in 33 holes, including a 65-footer at the 33rd hole after Sorenson had hit his 2-iron tee shot to the 215-yard par-3 within 8 feet. Earlier in the round, Mayfair holed a chip from the rough at the 26th hole to take the lead for good after Sorenson squared the match at the previous hole.

"He played phenomenal," Sorenson said of Mayfair, who went on to win the 1987 U.S. Amateur, becoming the only golfer in history to win the APL and Amateur. "That victory there really helped propel him and gave him the confidence (to be a successful player)."

That fall, Sorenson befriended former Masters champion Jackie Burke Jr. during a two-ball amateur event at Champions Golf Club in Houston. Burke offered his teaching services to Sorenson, and for the next six months they spent time working on his game. That was also the time the USGA called and offered Sorenson a spot on the Walker Cup team. Sorenson, who had reached the round of 16 at the 1986 U.S. Amateur and had other strong showings at other amateur competitions, had been told his chances were good to make the team so he maintained his amateur status.

The squad, captained by current USGA president Fred Ridley, featured future PGA Tour pros Billy Andrade, Mayfair and Len Mattiace. Sorenson also thought his future was the PGA Tour.

Burke’s tutelage, though, was having an adverse effect on his game. Sorenson's scores suddenly went from the high-60s to the mid-80s. At the Walker Cup, Sorenson posted a 1-1-1 record. His loss was to Colin Montgomerie, 3 and 2. The two had played against each other in college when Sorenson attended Texas Lutheran and Montgomerie Houston Baptist.

The two were having dinner one night at Sunningdale, site of the Matches, and Montgomerie asked Sorenson what his future plans were. "I told him I was going to turn pro," said Sorenson. "I then asked him what he was going to do. He told me he was thinking about asking (then USGA president) James Hand about getting a job with the USGA. We didn’t see each other after the Walker Cup and the next thing I know he’s winning Rookie of the Year on the European Tour and all those Order of Merit titles. I guess it was a good thing that he didn’t go to work for the USGA."

Sorenson’s other moment from the week in England came during a practice round with Andrade. As they walked the first hole of the Old Course, they noticed a familiar figure playing up the first hole of the New Course. "Someone said it’s James Bond," said Sorenson. "And sure enough Sean Connery is walking down the other fairway in knickers. As 22-year-olds, we were all impressed to see James Bond."

Not even Bond’s gadgets, however, could save Sorenson’s game. He struggled at PGA Tour Qualifying School and bounced around from Oklahoma to Atlanta to Minnesota and eventually to Mount Pleasant, Iowa, where he currently resides.

At least he has some fond memories. In the summer of 1986, Sorenson became the only amateur between 1981 and 1994 to win the Minnesota Open. The final pairing that year was Sorenson, John Harris, who would win the 1993 U.S. Amateur, and a fledgling pro named Tom Lehman. Sorenson beat Lehman, the future British Open champion (1996) and five-time PGA Tour winner, by a stroke.

While Lehman took the first-place cash for being the low pro, Sorenson got a trophy and a green jacket.

To this day, it’s the closest thing Sorenson has come to Augusta National.

David Shefter is a staff writer for the USGA. E-mail him at dshefter@usga.org with questions or comments.

 

 

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