Keeping Up With 1988 Women's Mid-Amateur Champ Martha Lang


April 7, 2005

Golf - at least playing golf - was not high on Martha Lang's to-do list last summer. Lang, the 1988 Women's Mid-Amateur champion, had other matters to attend to. First, there were her responsibilities as chairwoman of both the USGA's Girls' Junior Championship Committee and Women's International Team Selection Committee.

Then there were her two grandsons in Seattle, who Lang and her husband Ken spent time visiting. Finally, there were the marshes near her home in Mandeville, La., where she and Ken enjoy taking out their boat and fishing.

But don't be fooled: her golf game didn't suffer much. Last October, playing in her second USGA Women's Senior Amateur, Lang advanced all the way to the semifinals, where she fell to Elizabeth Haines, 2 and 1, at Pasatiempo Golf Club in Santa Cruz, Calif. It's a title Lang, 51, would one day love to win, she says, although her Women's Mid-Amateur victory has been rewarding enough.

In 1988 at Amelia Island Plantation in Amelia Island, Fla., Lang needed 19 holes to defeat Patricia Cornett-Iker in the quarterfinals before edging Pam Holcombe, 1 up, to reach the championship match against Mary Hanyak of Boca Raton, Fla. Despite the home-state advantage, Lang defeated the Floridian, 4 and 3.

"After winning one of the USGA championships, you're always recognized as a USGA champion," says Lang, who also played on the 1992 USA Curtis Cup team. "It's just an honor."

Story written by Alan Bastable of Golf Magazine Properties.