Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 3, 1994 TAG: 9404030163
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-13 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Since walking down the aisle Nov. 13, Andrews has run over the rest of the LPGA Tour, winning twice in her first six tournaments of 1994.
The Lynchburg native's extended honeymoon continued March 27 in Rancho Mirage, Calif., where she birdied the 72nd hole to win the Dinah Shore title in dramatic fashion.
Andrews said her first major championship was sweetened by the fact that her husband, John Reeves, was toting her golf bag.
"John has caddied for me before, but that's the first time he's carried the bag when I've won," Andrews said. "That, and the fact it was my first major, made it very special."
Since announcing her engagement last summer, Andrews has shed her LPGA bridesmaid tag, winning the first three titles of her pro career amid 10 top 10 finishes in 17 starts. She's been a pretty fair breadwinner,too, earning more than $400,000 on the tour during that span.
"Marriage has worked well for me," said Andrews, who met Reeves in Pinehurst,N.C., where he worked as a golf pro.
"It's nice to have John out there [on tour] with me when he's not in Kentucky [where he runs a golf school]. He carries my bag whenever he can. He's a big help reading greens, with club selection and so forth. He's someone I can rely on."
While the husband has been a settling force, the wife still has to hit the shots. Since June that has been no problem for Andrews, who was selected by her peers as the tour's most improved player in 1993.
"I've been playing really solid golf since the middle of last summer," said Andrews, who won five Virginia State Amateur titles from 1985-89.
"I wouldn't say it's become any easier to win [since her first triumph in September in Portland, Ore.]. I just think it's the fact that all facets of my game have come together at one time. Right now, I seem to be doing everything well."
In the process, Andrews has become one of the LPGA's emerging stars.
"I always thought my time would come," said Andrews, who will turn 27 on April 12.
Andrews, a three-shot winner in Tucson, Ariz., two weeks earlier, made her first major a Shore thing with some precision shot-making. Despite giving up some 50 yards off the tee, Andrews outdueled Britain's Laura Davies - the LPGA's answer to John Daly - down the stretch.
When Davies three-putted from 70 feet for a bogey-6 on the final hole, Andrews was staring at an eight-foot birdie putt, her first major and a $105,000 check. She drilled it dead-center.
"No way was I going to leave it short," said Andrews, who will be in Roanoke on April 20 to speak at the monthly Roanoke Valley Sports Club meeting.
A few minutes later, after much prodding from the gallery, Andrews took a running start and went head-first into the pond adjacent to the 18th green at Mission Hills Country Club.
"The fans kept asking me to go in the water . . . yelling at me to jump," she said. "I had actually told some people earlier that if I won, I was going in the water, so I did it. It certainly was something that I'll never forget."
Andrews made sure Reeves got wet, too, using her husband as a towel shortly after her foray into the pond.
"I wanted to make sure John got it, too," she said, laughing.
Andrews' future appears to be no laughing matter. In her fifth season on tour, she needs only $37,874 in winnings to join the LPGA millionaire's club.
The putter, the one club that kept her from winning early in her pro career, no longer betrays Andrews quite as often.
"My putting has improved tremendously," she said. "I'm a lot more confident with it than I used to be."
Andrews makes up for her lack of distance off the tee (her driving average of 223.55 yards ranks 92nd on tour) by keeping the ball in the short grass. She ranks fifth in fairways hit (274-of-312) and eighth in greens hit in regulation (285-of-396).
"I wouldn't say my game has peaked," Andrews said. "I just want to keep working hard and keep trying to get better."
by CNB