caption: WOMAN’S DAY OUT: Local golfer Peggy Ference kept smiling despite shooting a 118 earlier this month in the Golf Digest U.S. Open Challenge at the Pebble Beach Golf Links. The Skillman resident and Cherry Valley Club member was the first woman to win the nationwide vote in the contest in which the five finalists vie for the chance to play a round alongside three celebrities under U.S. Open conditions at the site of the event.

Ference Struggles at U.S. Open Challenge but Love of Golf Deepened by Experience

Bill Alden

Peggy Ference had already made history when she stepped up to the first tee at the Pebble Beach Golf Links on June 9 to start her round in the Golf Digest U.S. Open Challenge.

The Skillman resident and Cherry Valley Club member was the first woman to win the nationwide vote in the contest in which the five finalists vie for the chance to play a round alongside three celebrities under U.S. Open conditions at the site of the event.

As she teed off with her celebrity partners, Super Bowl MVP Drew Brees, hockey great Wayne Gretzky, and actor Mark Wahlberg, Ference hoped to become the first contest winner to break 100 in the event which started in 2008 after Tiger Woods famously said in a post-round U.S. Open interview at Oakmont (Pa.) Country Club that a 10-handicapper couldn’t break 100 on that course.

Ference, 51, a five-handicapper who received more than 37 percent of the vote in the contest, fell short of that goal as she shot a 118 in a swirling wind which turned the 7,040-yard lay-out into a beast.

While Ference was disappointed by her score, her spirit and pluck lit up the telecast of the event which was broadcast last Sunday before the last round of the U.S. Open.

Coming into the round, Ference was determined to be a good sport no matter what happened on the course.

“I felt from the beginning that there was no way to expect to win the contest except to think that it was destiny,” said Ference, one of nearly 25,000 original applicants who submitted a 60-word essay stating their case for inclusion in the special foursome.

“Whatever is going to happen is going to happen, a lot of it is out of my control. I thought I will work on controlling the things that I can, like having a good time.”

Things started out well for Ference as she blasted her first drive down the middle of the fairway.

“I hit a great shot on first tee; it was 220 yards down the middle and I was the only one on the fairway,” said Ference, who had her longtime club pro Allan Bowman and some 15 friends and family members on hand for support. “The second shot ball was below my feet and it squirted right. The rough was brutal.”

It got pretty rough for Ference in a hurry as she took a triple bogey on No. 1 and a quadruple bogey on No. 2.

Buoyed by the support of celebrity caddie Corey Pavin, the 1995 U.S. Open winner and the captain of the 2010 U.S. Ryder Cup team, Ference pressed on with good humor.

“The real transition came after the first couple of holes; I wasn’t playing the way I wanted but the worst thing in a foursome is when someone is upset and having a bad day and makes everyone uncomfortable,” said Ference, who arrived at Pebble Beach the weekend before the event and enjoyed a chance meeting with Phil Mickelson during one of her practice rounds and dinner with all the celebrity players and caddies.

“I said to myself, I am going to have fun. Corey kept saying ‘are you OK? are you OK?’ and I told him I was.”

Ference was more than OK on No. 12 when she carded her only par of the day.

“The par on 12 was clearly a highlight,” said Ference. “I had finished the 11th and Corey had this golf ball in his hand and he said ‘it is time for a new ball; it is time for a new Titleist. He said I have a 5, this is my number.’ I hit a good drive. Corey said chip it out and get your par and that’s what I did. I said ‘at last! and I went around and hugged everybody.”

In negotiating her way around Pebble Beach under the glare of TV cameras, Ference gained a new respect for the pro golfers who deal with that scenario on a weekly basis.

“Just to have this opportunity is great,” said Ference. “When you watch golf on TV, it looks so easy. To play the course under these conditions, you realize that to play pro golf and perform at that level, that it’s not just physical, but mental. They have the ability to clear their minds.”

In the final analysis, the experience reaffirmed Ference’s love of the game.

“At the end of the day, it is a game,” said Ference. “It is supposed to be fun. If a legitimate 5-handicapper can go out and shoot a 118 and have a great time, that shows it is a great game.”

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