Welcome To Classic CU

Erin Kerr was CU's first ever women's golfer to participate in an NCAA Regional event.

May 7, 2002

by Joseph Sanchez
Denver Post Sports Writer

BOULDER - Even before she became the only University of Colorado women’s golfer to qualify for this weekend’s NCAA regional tournament at Stanford, Erin Kerr proudly carried a singular distinction in her golf bag.

According to CU’s sports information department, Kerr and her father, Steve, are the first father-daughter duo in school history to play the same sport for the Buffs.

Steve Kerr played for the Buffs in the late 1970s on a roster that included ’96 U.S. Open champion Steve Jones.

He also played with fellow CU alumni Tom Woodard, a former PGA Tour player who is the director of golf for the City of Denver, and Mark Crabtree, a former Colorado State coach now at the University of Louisville.

That was cool, Kerr said in a recent telephone interview from his home in Phoenix. But… “this is way cool. I can’t tell you how proud I am of that.”

What makes it so special, he said, is that it all came together on a second chance. Erin Kerr started her career at the University of California, but when she was slow to recover from a back in jury suffered in a minor automobile accident, she decided to transfer to CU.

“Being a CU alum, I wanted her to go to CU, but I didn’t force the issue,” said Steve Kerr, who works in corporate finance in the Phoenix area. “Then she hurt her back and it wouldn’t heal, and things kind of went sour, so she decided to transfer, and I couldn’t have been happier. We finally got it rehabbed and qualified for the U.S. Amateur for the last couple of years, was the low amateur at the Colorado Women’s Open last year…and shot a 68 in the final round at Valley (Country Club), and that kind of convinced her that she could play against some tough competition on some tough courses.”

At CU, Erin quickly became the Buffs’ No. 1 player during the past two seasons, carrying a 76.1-stroke average into the regional tournament that begins Thursday.

“No, sir, I don’t take any credit for that,” Steve Kerr said. “I’ve been her only teacher, but that kid has terrific skills she developed herself and she’s turned into a really hard worker.”

If her dad doesn’t deserve all the credit, he deserves most of it.

“My dad built my game,” Erin Kerr said. “I was just 6 years old when I started going to the driving range at Overland Park (in Denver) with him. It was the way we spent most of our time together. We went every weekend, but I really didn’t get into it until I got to high school (Xavier Prep in Phoenix) when I realized that I was probably good enough to start thinking about doing it for a living.”

But for now, she said, her goals are to make it to the NCAA finals later this month, and to beat her dad sometime between now and then.
“He’s coming to Palo Alto (Calif.), so maybe we can play a practice round together,” she said. “But he’s still a great player, so that doesn’t happen very often. He doesn’t let it happen very often.”

The first time it happened is forever etched in Steve Kerr’s memory.

“I’ll never forget it,” he said. “We were are Whisper Rock, an extremely difficult course in Phoenix, and I was 3-over going into the last hole, a 515-yard par 5. I had to lay up and she had 218 to the middle of green. She knocked it up there and made the putt for eagle. I missed my putt for birdie. She shot 74, I shot 75. That meant a lot to her because it was the first time she kicked my butt. It meant a lot to me, too.”

That’s the way it looks to CU coach Anne Kelly, too. Not only does she think Kerr will make it to the finals, she said the Rams and Pioneers can advance.

“This is Erin’s first experience in NCAA postseason play, but she has a lot of experience in tournament golf,” Kelly said. “So if she just goes and plays her game, I think she has an excellent chance to make the finals. She’s a very strong player. She can hit driver 280, so her power definitely helps her, but the biggest thing is that she’s really become a much better manager of her game over the last two seasons.

“With CSU and DU going, I wish we were taking the whole team, too, but we didn’t play well at the conference tournament. That’s too bad because I really think both CSU and DU have a chance to finish in that top eight.”