By Mike May
While the LPGA’s season-ending CME Group Tour Championship, won by Lydia Ko, was held in late November at the Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Florida, there was an Indiana element to the event. During the final two rounds of this 72-hole tournament, the father-daughter tandem of Brent and Kate Edwards of Evansville served as a volunteer walking scorer-standard bearer team.
During the third and fourth round of the CME Group Championship, Brent tracked the scoring of the LPGA players in their group on a cell phone scoring device (supplied by R2 Innovative Technologies, the official scoring provider of the LPGA) and Kate walked alongside her father carring the sign which displayed the scores.
“Kate had the role of ensuring that the patrons could see the players’ scores within our group as she was carrying a standard bearer score sign,” recalled Brent, who alongside Kate, plays most of his golf in Evansville at the Cambridge Golf Club. “I was tracking the strokes and other data points, allowing the digital platforms to receive live scoring data which was displayed on the large scoreboards on property, on the LPGA website, and on Golf Channel. The device I carried also allows the tracking of other important information such as greens in regulation, total putts, and sand saves.”
During the third round, they walked with Andrea Lee and Chella Choi and on Sunday, they scored for Hye-Jin Choi, Patty Tavatanakit and Yuka Saso.
Traveling to the LPGA’s CME Group Tour Championship to serve as volunteers was something Brent and Kate had been discussing for months.
“We have been talking about being part of the CME Championship since this past spring,” said Brent. “I have gained a relationship with Candace Adkison from the LPGA office as she has been so kind in helping our junior golfers in the Evansville area for several years. Candace was able to connect me with Taylor Low (of the CME Group Tour Championship staff) and we were able to work it out.”
It helped that Brent and Kate had some experience scoring golf tournaments.
“We had worked the 2022 French Lick Charity Classic, the LPGA’s Epson Tour event in French Lick back in August,” said Kate. “My dad and I were scorers and worked together at the event for several days. I have also worked many local tournaments (in Evansville) such as the Evansville Men’s City Tournament.”
The LPGA players were kind and courteous to Brent and Kate, especially young Kate.
“The players were very nice to me,” said Kate. “On the first tee, they came over and introduced themselves and thanked me for helping out. Also, during the round, several times they spoke to me. On Sunday, I was a bit cold so Yuka (Saso) and Patty (Tavatanakit) came over and each gave me an extra jacket from their bags. I was able to add a few layers and stay warm and dry.”
The LPGA players expressed their true appreciation at the end of each round.
“Each day after the round, the players thanked my dad and me for helping,” noted Kate, now in the sixth grade. “All of the players gave me a signed ball after the round, which was really nice of them. Patty also gave me a signed glove.”
In addition to their roles as volunteers, Brent and Kate were able to watch many of the LPGA’s top players in action.
“We were able to watch Nelly Korda and Lydia Ko a bit,” added Brent. “Kate was also able to participate in the in Girls Golf Clinic held on that Saturday afternoon.”
Kate’s favorite LPGA players, they are Lexi Thompson, Lydia Ko, Nelly Korda, Jessica Korda, and Brooke Henderson.
