People wondering where PGA of America Golf Professional Sabrina Bonanno got her resolute work ethic need look no further than her family tree. Sabrina’s parents, Giuseppe and Marianna, are Italian immigrants who settled in the Chicago area and considered a 60-hour work week routine. Both were dedicated blue-collar workers who instilled the value of hard work on Sabrina.
As Sabrina admits, family vacations were not to Disney World or Yellowstone National Park. They were to junior golf tournaments.
Now the Director of Instruction at Sahalee Country Club in Sammamish, Washington – site of a PGA Championship and two KPMG Women’s PGA Championships – Bonanno shares the story of her father being forced to sell a family car to fund a trip to a junior event.
“I was 16 and had just qualified for the U.S. Girls Junior out in California,” recalls Bonanno. “My dad had just got me my first car, a used Jeep. But a week after he bought it, he had to sell it so we could afford the trip to California. My dad worked really hard and made so many sacrifices. My parents sacrificed their personal lives so I could play golf.”
When Bonanno competed in the 2013 U.S. Girls Championship at Sycamore Hills Golf Club in Indiana, she didn’t realize she was auditioning for a job years later with Tim Frazier, PGA. That week, Bonanno caught the eyes of many college coaches while advancing to the quarterfinals.
Suddenly, several college coaches were calling, but Arkansas-Little Rock Coach Bridgett Norwood had already offered Bonanno a full scholarship and the previously unheralded player from Norridge, Illinois, upheld her commitment.
“Arkansas was the first to offer that to me, I went to Little Rock and enjoyed every minute of it,” explains Bonanno, who was the 2015 Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Year who went on to earn a master’s degree in business administration. “Coach Norwood was like a second mom to me.”
Bonanno was working as a shop attendant at Pleasant Valley Country Club in Little Rock when PGA Professional Jim Sykes encouraged her to explore the golf business. He told Sabrina about an opening at Sycamore Hills – the same course where Bonanno had made her mark in 2013. When Frazier, the longtime Sycamore Hills PGA Head Professional, was interviewing Sabrina in 2020 for an assistant position, she mentioned that she was familiar with Sycamore Hills from the national cham pionship and Frazier immediately remembered her. Bonanno was hired and Frazier quickly discovered that she owned a work ethic like no one else.
“From the minute Sabrina stepped into the job, she wanted to learn everything about the operation – and I mean everything from A to Z,” recalls Frazier, who convinced her to pursue PGA Membership.
Frazier was well aware of Bonanno’s talent as a player and encouraged her to compete in Indiana PGA Section events after she was elected to PGA Membership. Last August (2024), Frazier told Sabrina she needed to join him in competing in the Indiana Section PGA Championship at Woodland Country Club in Carmel, Indiana. Bonanno was a bit reluctant because she had only played three 18-hole rounds the entire summer.
“I told Tim while we were driving to the course that I had very low expectations,” admits Bonanno. “He told me to just enjoy the experience.”
She really enjoyed playing well enough to advance to a three-player playoff, and become the first wo man to win the Indiana PGA Section Champion ship.
“It was a great atmosphere,” Bonanno recalls. “I figured I would just hit fairways and greens and let the other players make the mistakes.”
Bonanno’s victory in the Indiana Section Championship earned a ticket for her to compete in the 2025 PGA Professional Championship at PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Florida, in April. With boyfriend Jack Whealdon, PGA, of Tacoma (Washington) Country Club, serving as her caddie, she failed to make the cut with a 72-80 finish.
But after reveling in the Championship experience, Bonanno was anxious to return to her new job at Sahalee Country Club, where she had already put together a series of instructional programs for the club’s members and organized her calendar for much of 2025. Of course, she was simply continuing the resolute work ethic passed on by her parents, the Italian immigrants who believed a day without work was a day wasted. —Roger Graves