Facing a Rough Decision : Golf Pro or Housewife? Promising Martin-Cobb Hopes to Be Both

Self-proclaimed homebody Stephanie Martin-Cobb is back on the LPGA tour this week, providing the latest installment of her ongoing internal debate titled: “Is this life for me?”

The answer seems obvious to outsiders. The 23-year-old former Rio Mesa High golfer is enjoying a promising rookie season. She has finished in the money in three of nine tournaments, earning nearly $7,000, and last week she qualified for the women’s U.S. Open.

Seems like an open-and-shut case. The daughter of the pro at Saticoy Country Club, Martin-Cobb has an impeccable golf pedigree: a prodigy in area youth tournaments, No. 1 player at Rio Mesa as a junior and senior, 1989 Southern California high school girls’ champion, and two-time All-American and three-time Academic All-American at Oklahoma State. And in her first try after a season on the women’s mini-tour, she earned a spot in the top ranks.

But does she want it? She asks herself that every time she leaves her husband and new home in Colorado Springs, Colo., for another tour stop.

“On the mini-tour last year, I was a wimp,” she said with characteristic self-deprecation. “I’d play the tour for a couple weeks, then cry and go home.

“I’d like to get up, have a cup of coffee and not worry about the side effects of caffeine on my putting. Part of me wants to be home all the time.”

So, she brings a little bit of home with her. Husband Tom, a contractor in Colorado, has served as her caddy. The job is now manned by her brother Lee, a graduate student at Kansas State who has the perfect summer job. Lee, 26, is working on his master’s degree in landscape architecture in preparation for a career in golf-course design.

While Lee studies course layouts around the country, his sister has designs on the leader board. After winning $3,196 in Rochester two weeks ago, Martin-Cobb has qualified for this week’s tour stop in Youngstown, Ohio.

“I’ve been kind of startled,” she said. “My goal was to make the LPGA tour and now that I’ve made it, I’m saying, ‘What’s my goal now?’

“You’re out there to win tournaments, but like all rookies I’m still just trying to make the cut. I’m so thrilled to make the cut that the next week I’m still saying, ‘Oh wow, I made it.’ ”

Her father Lee, the professional at Saticoy, also is wowed by his daughter’s showing, calling her rookie season “fantastic.”

Ann Pitts, Oklahoma State’s coach for 19 years, takes a similar if more restrained view of her former player. During Martin-Cobb’s four years in Stillwater, Pitts marveled at the smoothness of her swing and her temperament. Consistency and quiet confidence will be Martin-Cobb’s blueprint for success, Pitts said.

“She feels OK enough about herself that she can handle the ruthlessness out there,” Pitts said. “People are out there for a reason, to be the best and not care who gets in their way. To get out there and not believe in yourself can be devastating. I don’t think Stephanie is going to question if she’s OK. She has the temperament to play out there.”

Her colleagues have noticed. Just a few months on the tour and already Martin-Cobb is called “Hakuna Matata” in honor of the hang-loose philosophy espoused in the Disney movie “The Lion King.” No matter the circumstances, Martin-Cobb hits the same note: unassuming cheerfulness.

“She had a triple bogey on one hole and not 30 seconds later she had a smile for the volunteers as if she just birdied the hole,” her brother said. “She’s on an even keel. She doesn’t dwell on the last shot, which is why she can play out there without driving herself crazy.”

But Martin-Cobb is hardly sleepwalking through her career. She has been a hard-working athlete since her days in youth swimming and spent her share of time in the weight room in high school to improve her distance off the tee. Tom Radford, the Rio Mesa coach, remembers a freshman who won a spot on the varsity and the respect of her teammates in part because of her work ethic.

Right now, Martin-Cobb’s primary desire is to survive her rookie year. Her chances are greatly enhanced by her experience last season on the mini-tour, professional golf’s minor leagues. She visited such garden spots as York, Pa., Pace, Fla., and Salisbury, N.C., playing courses with rough-like fairways and chewed-up greens. And the paychecks were golf’s equivalent to minimum wage.

“I was just getting my feet wet to see if I liked the lifestyle,” she said. “My brother and I often stayed with host families and that was fun. I started getting confidence and found that I liked it.”

She also liked the results at qualifying school. After friends and colleagues prodded her to attend, she played her best tournaments of the year and earned a conditional card. This year, she often must qualify for events on the Monday before each tournament.

Her most-important qualifier was last week at Broadmoor Golf Club, Martin-Cobb’s home course in Colorado Springs. With only four spots available for the U.S. Open among a field of 61, she shot a four-over par 74 and tied for second place, one stroke off the lead.

After playing in this week’s tournament in Youngstown and again next week in Toledo, Ohio, Martin-Cobb will play in the Open, set for July 13-16 at Broadmoor, the perfect spot for an avowed homebody.

“That will be great,” she said. “I can play each day and just go home.”

After playing in three consecutive tournaments, she might stay put for a while. She will need the R&R.;

“I don’t know how many events I can play in a row,” she said. “After about three, I lose concentration and start floating through the week.”

Nobody said a pro golf career called for nonstop action. In fact, Martin-Cobb hopes to emulate her childhood hero, Nancy Lopez, who has combined motherhood with a Hall of Fame career.

For Martin-Cobb, who wants to start a family in a few years, that sounds like the right formula: home life and the tour, all at the same time.

“The good thing about golf is you don’t have to do it all by the time you’re 35,” she said. “There are so many moms out there, I could see that for me.”