The clink of glasses during a New Mexico sunset punctuated my new layer of understanding and appreciation for World Golf Hall of Famer Kathy Whitworth.
During an assignment to write a feature about her in 1999 for Golf World magazine, I was invited by Whitworth to drive out with her to see the property she had purchased. She had sold her home in Texas and bought 43 acres 12 miles south of Santa Fe, New Mexico. This was where she planned to build her desert dream home.
Whitworth loved the wide-open sky in a place where she felt as if she could see forever. We walked around the acreage, crunching on cacti and desert plants as she pointed in different directions, telling me what was where and why she wanted to settle here.
“Listen,” she said, as we stood on the vacant lot. “There’s nothing here but crickets.”
Then, as the sun began its descent, the golfer produced a bottle of vintage and we stood there on the land of her future dreams and toasted to tomorrow, to the setting sun, to the natural beauty of her home state and, pretty much, to Whitworth’s happy place.
Sure, I was there to interview the player who had amassed 88 tournament wins – more than any other male or female golfer on the planet – and who had spent 32 years on the LPGA Tour establishing milestones, while helping garner attention for the women’s tour.
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