12 CALIFORNIA GOLF NEWS • JUNE 2010 TOUR Round-Up Futures Golf Classic on the Duramed Futures Tour thanks to a tour-record 62 in one round, and earned her LPGA Tour card for 2005 by finishing in the top 10 four times in eight events on the triple-A circuit. However, the projected stardom never came and she finished no high- er than 94th on the LPGA Tour money list in 2008, when she posted her best finish on the circuit, a tie for eighth in the SBS Open at Turtle Bay Resort in Hawaii. Last year, she made the cut only five times in 17 events and lost her card, then dropped out after two rounds of she was an instant sensation, winning six tournaments in two seasons. As a freshman, she was selected NCAA Freshman of the Year, Pacific 10 Conference Player of the Year and national Player of the Year by Golfweek magazine, finishing the sea- son ranked No. 1 in the nation. Blasberg made All-American for the second consecutive year and helped the U.S. team capture the 2004 Curtis Cup before turning pro. Following her brilliant amateur career, great things were expected from Blasberg as a pro, and she captured the Laconia Savings Bank the first two holes of the back nine, which he finished with four consecu- tive pars. “The weather came and that changed a lot of things,” said Forsman, whose other Champions Tour victory came in the 2009 AT&T Champions Classic. “My momentum had been cooled off big time. There was a little more stress and strain with each shot.” Forsman finished at 68-62-66--196, 20-under-par, and collected the win- ner’s purse of $255,000. Ozaki, who has won 53 times in his career but was seeking his first Champions Tour title, finished at 68-65-66--199, while Senior, also seeking his first victory on the senior circuit after winning 26 times around the world, wound up at 65-66-68--199. Bobby Clampett, the 36-hole leader from Carmel Valley and BYU, tied for fifth at 65- 64-73--202, and Jay Don Blake of St. George, Utah, and Utah State shot 68-68-67--203 to tie for sev- enth with Corey Pavin of Oxnard and UCLA, who came in at 67-68-68--203. The 50-year-old Clampett, best- known as a TV commentator these days and seeking his first title since the 1982 Southern Open, birdied three of the first six holes in the final round, but made a double-bogey on No. 7 and added bogeys on the 10th and 11th holes. “The [double-bogey] at No. 7 really shocked me,” Clampett said. “I prob- ably lost my patience a little bit after that.” It probably didn’t matter much because nobody could keep up with Forsman. Erica Blasberg, R.I.P E rica Blasberg is gone and nobody seems to know exactly why. The 25-year-old Blasberg, a former junior star from Corona, was found dead at her home in Henderson, Nevada, the day before she was sup- posed to play a Monday qualifier for the Bell Micro LPGA Classic in Mobile, Alabama. “At first glance it looks like she might have taken her own life, but at second glance, something is very, very strange about it,” Mel Blasberg, her father and instructor, was quoted as saying the following day in the Riverside Press-Enterprise, which has chronicled her career from an early age. “ . . . Either way, I’ve lost her and it’s impossible to deal with.” Mel Blasberg, director of instruc- tion at Eagle Glen Golf Club in Corona, later denied making that statement and said his daughter was in good spirits when he visited with her a few days before she died. Adding to the mystery was a report that Erica appeared to be sleeping when she was found, with no marks of visible trauma on the body. “It’s a death investigation,” Keith Paul of the Henderson Police Department said when asked if the department was conducting a suicide of homicide investigation. “Someone died and we’re trying to determine what happened.” Police officials have said it might to take up to 12 weeks to conclude their investigation and study toxicology tests conducted by the Clark County Coroner before determining the cause of death. Blasberg’s agent, Chase Callahan, said she had her bags packed for the trip to Alabama and was scheduled to catch a flight on the day she died. She had lined up Missy Pederson, who is the caddy for Irene Cho and Blasberg’s best friend on the LPGA Tour, to carry her bag during the Monday qualifier. However, Pederson awoke on Sunday morning to find a text message sent by Blasberg in the middle of the night saying that she was not going to Alabama after all. Concerned because of the hour the message was sent, Pederson texted back to Blasberg asking if everything was okay, but never received an answer. Paul said police were dispatched to Blasberg’s home at about 3 p.m. following a 911 call from inside the residence. He would not reveal who made the call because it is part of the investigation, but Mel Blasberg has been quoted as saying it was a male golf pro who lives in the area. All of it only adds to the mystery. “I don’t know if it was a suicide or homicide, but I can never imag- ine her being a person to take her own life or someone wanting to hurt her,” Laura Ianello, who was a team- mate of Blasberg’s at the University of Arizona, told abcnews.com. The LPGA Tour held a memorial service at Magnolia Grove Golf Club at The Crossings the day before the Bell Micro LPGA Classic, and another was conducted on May 19 at the Eagle Glen Golf Club. Blasberg’s peers were having a hard time digesting what had hap- pened. “We just saw her two weeks ago in Morelia [in Mexico for the Tres Marias Championship],” Juli Inkster said. “It think everybody’s [feeling] like it’s a dream. It’s not really happening.” After a brilliant junior career, Blasberg played on the boys’ team at Corona High before graduating in 2002 and heading for Arizona, where LPGA Pro Erica Blasberg passed away at the age of 25.
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