Far Hills, N.J. — Roberta Bolduc of Longmeadow, Mass., has been appointed to serve a second one-year term in 2008 as chairman of the United States Golf Association’s Women’s Committee. Barbara Douglas of Scottsdale, Ariz., has been appointed to a second one-year term as vice chairman.
Ten other members were re-appointed to another one-year term on the Women’s Committee. They are: Christi Dickinson of Paradise Valley, Ariz.; Cece Durbin of Winnetka, Ill.; Carolyn Hooper of Hockessin, Del.; Martha Kirouac of Norcross, Ga.; Martha Lang of Birmingham, Ala.; Dot Paluck of Bernardsville, N.J.; Ede Rice of Edina, Minn.; Gail Rogers of Santa Cruz, Calif.; Peggy Runnette of Pittsburgh, Pa.; and Laura Saf of Lincoln, Neb.
Three new members were also appointed to the Women’s Committee. They are: Barbara Barrow of San Diego, Calif.; Stasia Collins of Cockeysville, Md.; and Linda Lester of Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich.
Two members of the 2007 Women’s Committee – Pat Kaufman of Fort Washington, Md., and Brigid Shanley Lamb of Mendham, N.J. – have been nominated for the USGA Executive Committee. They, along with Kathryn Oven of Dunmore, Pa., and Tinker Sanger of Hydes, Md., have retired from the Women’s Committee.
The Women’s Committee, which is appointed annually by the USGA Executive Committee, represents the Association in matters relating to women’s golf. Its principal responsibilities include overseeing the administration of the women’s championships conducted by the USGA, making recommendations to the Executive Committee regarding key policies and strategies to enhance the game, and supporting the development and promotion of women’s golf.
Bolduc has been a member of the Women’s Committee since 1997. She served as first vice chairman of the Committee for two years before being named chairman in 2007.
She was chairman of the Senior Women’s Championship Committee in 2003 and 2004 and has served on the USGA Handicap and Handicap Procedure Committees. She served as chairman of the 1995 U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship held at Longmeadow Country Club, where she is a former member of the Board of Governors and where she served as the club’s first woman president from 1998-2001. She has served on the Women’s TRANS National Golf Association Executive Committee and the Women’s Golf Association of Massachusetts (WGAM), and is a past president of the Women’s Eastern Golf Association.
She played in the inaugural U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship in 1987 and has played in nine USGA Senior Women’s Amateurs. In addition, she was the 1999 and 2000 WGAM Senior champion and the 1995 Women’s Eastern Senior champion.
Bolduc and her husband, Bob, have one daughter, Kathleen, and three grandchildren. In addition to her numerous golf activities, she serves on the board of trustees for Bay Path College and the Baystate Health Foundation and is a founding director of the Ronald McDonald House of Springfield (Mass.). She is a 1965 graduate of Marymount College in Salina, Kansas.
Douglas has been a member of the Women’s Committee since 1993. Prior to joining the Women’s Committee, she served on the Women’s Amateur Public Links Committee. She has served on the Sectional Qualifying Committee and has been chairman of the Women’s Regional Affairs and the Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship Committees of the USGA. She is a member of the USGA’s Women’s Strategic Planning Committee, International Team Selection Committee and the Future Sites Committee.
She continues to be involved in minority golf, and served as president of the National Minority Golf Foundation (NMGF) from 1999 to 2005. Prior to joining the NMGF, Douglas was an executive with the IBM Corporation.
Douglas is a member of the board of directors of the National Minority College Golf Scholarship Fund and the Executive Women’s Golf Association. She also is a board member of the Arizona Golf Foundation and president of the board of directors of the Junior Golf Association of Arizona. In addition, she is an advisory board member for Golf for Women magazine and is a board member of the Banner Health Golf Council, the fundraising arm of the LPGA Safeway Classic.
Barrow, Collins and Lester are new to the Committee.
Barrow has been a member of the Association’s U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship Committee since 1997. She also has been on the LPGA-USGA Girls’ Golf steering committee since 2004 and is a board member of the Women’s TRANS National Golf Association.
The current executive director of the American Heart Association of the Inland Empire Division in Colton, Calif., Barrow is a graduate of San Diego State University where she is a member of the school’s athletic Hall of Fame. She is a former LPGA player who, prior to turning professional, was named to the 1976 USA Curtis Cup team and was the 1975 individual AIAW National Collegiate champion. She also won the 1974 TRANS Amateur.
Collins has been involved with the USGA since 2001, when she became a member of the Regional Associations Committee. She joined the USGA Senior Women’s Championship Committee in 2004.
A business manager for BioSphere Medical, an innovative medical technology firm, Collins also is a past president of the women’s division of the Maryland State Golf Association and a director of the Middle Atlantic Golf Association.
Lester has been a member of the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship Committee for the past seven years. She has a knowledge and passion for the Rules of Golf, and she has worked as a Rules official at more than 20 USGA championships since 2000, including three U.S. Senior Opens.
In her home state, Lester has been on the board of governors for the Golf Association of Michigan and has served as president of the Women’s District Golf Association of Detroit.
The USGA is the national governing body of golf in this country and Mexico, a combined territory that includes more than half the game’s golfers and golf courses.
The Association’s most visible role is played out each season in conducting 13 national championships, including the U.S. Open, U.S. Women’s Open and U.S. Senior Open. Ten additional USGA national championships are exclusively for amateurs, and include the U.S. Amateur and the U.S. Women’s Amateur.
The USGA also writes the Rules of Golf, conducts equipment testing, provides expert course maintenance consultations, funds research for better turf and a better environment, maintains a Handicap System and administers an ongoing "For the Good of the Game" grants program, which has allocated more than $58 million over 11 years to programs that seek to grow the game. For more information about the USGA, visit www.usga.org.
Contact:
Pete Kowalski (pkowalski@usga.org)
Web address: www.usga.org
USGA phone: (908) 234-2300
