Bandea boasts grand plans
ATLANTA – A 15-year-old girl wants to play on the LPGA Tour. And, no, it’s not Michelle Wie.
Hoping to capitalize on the influx of talented young golfers, Carmen Bandea sent a letter to the LPGA on Tuesday asking for a waiver of its 18-year-old requirement to become a member of the women’s tour.
Bandea wants to enter LPGA qualifying school this fall, which would give her a chance to earn her tour card for 2006. She has never played in an LPGA event, and failed in her attempts to qualify for both the men’s U.S. Open and the U.S. Women’s Open this year.
Still, Bandea believes she is ready to become a professional, at least on a limited basis.
“Hopefully they will let me in,” she said from her home in suburban Atlanta. “There’s no reason not to. If I can shoot the score, why not let me go play some tournaments?”
Bandea, who just turned 15 on Monday, could play in a maximum of six LPGA events a year using sponsor exemptions – the route Wie has chosen. That doesn’t appeal to Bandea.
“Exemptions are like cheating,” she said. “It’s like they’re giving you something on a silver platter and saying, ‘Here, take it.’ “
Bandea said she’s not interested in a full-fledged pro career. At most, she only wants to play 10 LPGA events a year.
Outgoing LPGA commissioner Ty Votaw can waive the age requirement if a teenager shows she can be competitive, has a strong support system and demonstrates the maturity to be a professional. Aree Song, for instance, was allowed to join the tour at 17.
“Normally, we wouldn’t publicize requests of this nature,” Votaw said from Colorado, where he’s attending this week’s U.S. Women’s Open. “All I can say is that we have received the letter, and we are in the process of reviewing.”
Bandea is also a promising tennis player, with her sights on being a two-sport star.
Tennis is more lenient about teen players, though it limits the number of events they can enter between 14 and 17. Bandea plans to become a tennis pro in the fall.
“I’ve already been doing them both for a long time,” she said. “It may be unique to everyone else, but to me it seems normal.”
Not lacking for confidence, Bandea already can envision head-to-head showdowns with two teen prodigies: tennis star Maria Sharapova and Wie on the golf course.
“I don’t pay attention to anyone but myself,” Bandea said, “but I assume there would be a rivalry with (Wie) and with Sharapova in tennis.”
Wie has not asked for a waiver of the age limit. Song is the only player allowed to turn pro before her 18th birthday, a decision that was justified when she took medalist honors at Q-school and finished as runner-up at the Kraft Nabisco Championship.
“She graduated high school, so she had the same level of education that others had,” Votaw said, explaining his decision. “She made the cut in 11 of 14 LPGA events she had played since she was 13, and all six majors. Her 18th birthday would have been in early April the following year, so we had only six LPGA events prior to her turning 18. Given all those things, she deserved a waiver.”
In her letter to Votaw, Bandea wrote, “The main reason that I want to qualify is because I believe I’m as good as anybody on the LPGA Tour and it would be an awesome experience to play in your tournaments.”