Lori Atsedes: A 'mother' of many

MARION -- Biologically, Lori Atsedes has no children.

On the minor-league women's professional golf circuit that is the Duramed Futures Tour, she has dozens.

"I figure every tournament, I have 140-some daughters," Atsedes said Wednesday. "They call me Grandma, Miss Lori or Mama."

Atsedes is one of 150 women scheduled to compete at the Duramed Futures Tour Titan Tire Challenge, which begins Friday and runs through Sunday at Hunters Ridge Golf Course.

The majority of the competitors are in their 20s and hoping this tour propels them to the LPGA Tour. Atsedes is 46 and deep into the back nine of her career.

"This might be my last season of competing. It might not be," she said. "It's still a joy, and I love it. I hate weeks off."

Every tour weekend is an opportunity for Atsedes to play golf. It's an opportunity to teach her younger peers about golf. And life.

"She's very honest. She helps you with every aspect of the game, said Emma Calderone, a player half Atsedes' age. "The tournament aspect, the golf aspect, the life aspect."

"We're learning from all of her experiences. She's willing to share all of that with you, and you can learn from her mistakes and her successes."

Atsedes has had both.

The daughter of Jim Atsedes, once a top amateur in upstate New York, Atsedes picked up a club for the first time at age 13, in an attempt to draw nearer to her father. She began playing professionally at 29.

Those 16 years between, those were wayward years.

"I was a bad kid," she said. "A lot of those days involved drugs and drinking."

Atsedes was taken to Florida at 18 to live with family and friends. She "straightened out," suddenly, at age 27.

"I'm a black-and-white person," she said. "There's no gray area for me. I went from all (the bad habits) to nothing."

Atsedes was serving as a cook for the Outback restaurant chain, practicing her golf in her spare time in a field across from her condominium. One day, she packed up her belongings and took them to a flea market. She earned about $1,000.

She took that money and went to a used-car dealership.

The first three cars she saw, didn't start. The fourth one did. She bought it, a Dodge Aries, for all of the money she had, that $1,000.

Atsedes continued to cook and golf. In 1994, she joined the Central Florida Challenge Tour, where she won twice, and the Futures Tour, where she had played since for the most part since.

She is the tour's career money leader on the Futures Tour, earning $221,727.  She was ranked as high as No. 2 in earnings, in 1996.

Atsedes spent some time on the LPGA tour (1998-2001, 2003) and played in five U.S. Opens.

"I was just another fish in the pond," she said. "I loved playing the Tour, but nothing is easy about it."

She said she "lost the joy" on the Tour in 2001, and quit. She came back in 2003, focused less on competing and more on smelling the roses.

"I enjoyed everything about it," she said. "I don't remember much about how I played. I just made sure not to miss anything."

Upon rejoining the Futures Tour, Atsedes developed L.A. Sports Consulting, an opportunity to assist young golfers. Last year, she mentored six players. This year, three are under her guidance, including Calderone.

"I'm going to be honest with them," Atsedes said. "I'm going to straight-shoot them. If they need a kick in the ass, I'm going to kick them in the ass. If they play great, I'll tell them they played great."

If her game has eroded with age, the numbers deny it. She has made four cuts in six tournaments this year, twice finishing in the top 10. Her earnings of $6,681 rank 23rd this year.

"She's very consistent. Her chipping always gets her close," Calderone said. "She's a great player, a great person." 

 Lori Atsedes, of Ithaca, N.Y., practices putting at Hunters Ridge Golf Course in Marion on Thursday, June 3, 2010. (Julie Koehn/SourceMedia Group News)

DURAMED FUTURES TITAN TIRE CHALLENGE

When: Friday through Sunday

Where: Hunters Ridge Golf Course, Marion

Format: 54 holes, stroke play

Purse: $110,000, including $15,400 to the winner and $11,000 for the runner-up

Top players: Cindy LaCrosse (No. 1 in 2010 earnings), Angela Oh (No. 2 in 2010 earnings), Gerina Mendoza (No. 3 in 2010 earnings), Lori Atsedes (all-time leading money leader)

Follow online:

http://www.duramedfuturestour.com/