Kellee Booth, the star that never was
as a pro, decides it's time to step away

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
(based on an article in this week's US Duramed Futures Tour Newsletter)
It's the time of year when top-flight and even not-so-top-flight female amateurs the world over are turning their thoughts to taking the first steps towards - they hope - fame and fortune as tour professionals.
Unfortunately for them, headline success as an amateur does not guarantee they will make the grade as pros.
There are a few lines in "Do you know the way to San Jose?" that are just as applicable to pro golf as they are to would-be movie stars:
"In a week, maybe two, they'll make you a star
"Weeks turn into years, how quick they pass
"And all the stars that never were
"Are parking cars and pumping gas."
The latest example of pride before a fall, or more a steady decline, is Kellee Booth, who won five of her seven ties for the United States in the 1996-1998 Curtis Cup matches. She was one of the most decorated amateurs and collegians in US women’s golf. Daughter of a Curtis Cup player, she had the bloodline to become an LPGA Legend. It never happened.
When she made the transfer to the pro ranks nine years ago, Kellee's golfing talent was left behind like a suitcase at an airport, but one that never turned up.
She was the last amateur to beat a field of professionals and win a Futures Tour event. That was the 1999 Pacific Bell Classic in her native California.
Booth, now 32 and a resident of McKinney, Texas, has decided that the time has come to accept that she is never going to be as good a tour pro as she was an amateur.
In her rookie season (1999), she finished 46th on the LPGA’s money list and posted three top-10 finishes, including a tie for 10th at the Women’s British Open and a tie for seventh at the Safeway LPGA Golf Championship.
The next season, Booth began to experience nagging injuries and she was eventually diagnosed with tendonitis in her left shoulder.
With her self-confidence level on the golf course, ebbing away, Booth eventually lost her LPGA status.
“I was devastated, but I was more worried about what they would find when I had surgery,” said Booth.
Booth underwent surgery in November 2003. Doctors found scar tissue on the bicep tendon. The scar tissue would inflame and the tissue would hit the nerve, causing discomfort. That was the physical part of the problem. The residual effect was the mental effect the injury had on her – a fear that she had never known as an amateur.
She did not advance past the sectional stage of later LPGA Q Schools and turned to the Futures Tour in 2006 with little or no success.
Booth began working in the off-season, selling houses in Dallas. Even entering the 2008 season, she didn’t feel fully prepared for competition. Making only one cut in 14 events this year, Booth walked away from the scoring tent at the last regular-season event earlier this month with a heavy heart.
She had finished the year ranked 113th on the money list. Her scoring average hovered around 76.6 strokes per round. Deep in her champion’s heart, she knew what she needed to do.
“Now it’s time for me to step away,” she said, her dark eyes full of tears.
“It’s been a big struggle. I found that this year even my good shots weren’t working anymore.”
Booth doesn’t know what happened to the game that once seemed destined for professional greatness. She admits the injury “put a lot of doubt” into her mind. Suddenly, she was seeing places on the golf course that she’d never seen. Suddenly, she was shooting scores she had not shot since the early days of junior golf.
“It’s not that I stopped believing – I just lost my desire to compete,” she added. “The fun was taken out of the game.”
And while Booth was never able to match her professional career against her amateur years, she has no regrets.
“I’d still do it the same way,” she said. “I’d tell young people to go to college. I’d tell them professional golf is not for everybody. Right now, I need to step away. I feel too fizzled out.”
Booth says she is now in the “exploring” stage of her career. She is interested in staying in the golf industry, perhaps as a sales rep, or working in junior or amateur golf.
She might even seek reinstatement as an amateur.
While it’s hard for Booth to hide her disappointment, there is no shame. And even through tears, she admits having a sense of “excitement to do something new.”