Brandi Jackson needs a sponsor. She “has a guy” who might fork over some cash to take up real estate on her golf bag, but right now she’s shopping around. Welcome to the penny-pinching life of the Duramed Futures Tour.
Jackson happens to be the top money earner returning to the LPGA’s developmental circuit this season. The top five from last year received their LPGA cards. No. 6, Liz Janangelo, birdied the last hole at Q-School to earn exempt status in the big leagues, bringing us to Jackson, who finished the year No. 7.
The Futures Tour begins its season March 14-16 at the Bright House Networks Open in Lakeland, Fla. Several of the tour’s top names – including Taylor Leon and Anna Grzebien – are skipping the first event after getting into the LPGA’s MasterCard Classic in Mexico. Most of the attention in Lakeland will be on teenage superstars such as Vicky Hurst and Esther Choe, who skipped school and hope to join Creamer and Co. as soon as possible. But don’t overlook those diploma-toting twentysomethings who have put in their time. Every year at least one of them graduates to the LPGA, and this might be Jackson’s time to shine.
Like many of the names on the Futures Tour, Jackson had a solid college career. She was a first-team All-American at Furman and the Southern Conference Player of the Year her senior season (2003). She has had plenty of strong finishes as a professional, posting nine top 10s in 18 events last season and a trio of top 3s. The most glaring omission on her resume thus far is a Futures Tour title, but she’d trade that for an LPGA card any day of the week.
There really isn’t a whole lot that separates a player like Jackson from her good friend Kristy McPherson. Both grew up playing junior and college golf in South Carolina. They took a recruiting trip to Furman together, but McPherson chose the Gamecocks. They both drink sweet tea and speak with accents as thick as molasses.
“Our games are scary alike,” McPherson said.
The difference? McPherson finished last season 97th on the LPGA money list and likely will get in a full schedule of events. Jackson, however, begins her fouth consecutive season on the Futures Tour. The disparity lies, in large part, between the ears.
“The biggest difference is confidence,” Jackson said.
McPherson says her friend is a “great ballstriker,” and said she’s never seen anyone get on hotter streaks with the putter. But she does “get in her own way a lot.”
It’s strange to think that someone wishes she hadn’t qualified for the LPGA straight out of college, but Jackson wasn’t ready. That fact that she missed the cut in 17 consecutive events in 2004 confirms it.
“I think I completely did it in the wrong order,” said Jackson, comparing her progression to old college friends like McPherson and Meaghan Francella. “On the LPGA, I found myself week in and week out trying to make the cut. You don’t play to your potential when you’re just trying to make the cut.”
Since she’s been toiling on the Futures Tour, Jackson’s position on the money list has steadily improved: 26th (2005), 11th (2006) and seventh (2007).
This year she’s hoping to alleviate the Slow Start Syndrome that plagued her so badly at the end of last season. In the last four Futures events (when it really counted), Jackson’s first-round scores were abysmal: 78-73-76-76. Three of those times she rallied with 5-under 67s on Day 2, but was too far back to really challenge for the title.
At first Jackson thought she was putting too much pressure on herself at the start of every event. So she backed off to the point where she didn’t get mad until she added up her scorecard and realized the extent of the damage.
Somewhere there’s a happy medium.
“I’m looking for it too,” McPherson said with a laugh. “If you find some good advice, call me back.”
Jackson also struggled with some personal issues last season, namely a tough breakup with her longtime boyfriend. The joke on tour was that the more he upset her, the better she played.
“I don’t want to play the rest of my life being mad at things,” Jackson said, “but it tended to work last year.”
Again, it’s a mental battle. One she just might win this time around.
Posted: 3/6/2008
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