Coffing, 25, won Golf Channel’s Big Break: Sandals Resorts golf reality show last summer. As part of her win, she received exemptions to play in the 2010 LPGA Omega Dubai Ladies Masters and Lorena Ochoa Invitational tournaments. She said she’s been using that experience to her benefit.
“I picked up on a lot of the things that the top pros do before a tournament — when to take practice rounds, how to take good notes about a course — just learning how the LPGA players practice and how they approach tournaments has really helped me a lot,” the Middletown High School graduate said.
For several years, Coffing’s father, Tom, did the caddying for her. But now, a professional caddy is on board for 2011. She recently hired veteran LPGA caddy Billy Pratt to carry her bags.
Tom Coffing, a notable figure in the data warehousing industry, didn’t mind at all.
“I always looked forward to the day that she took ownership so she could choose her own team. ... It could not have worked out better,” he said in an e-mailed statement. “I am proud I could take a back seat for family, but she has made it, and I can now go back to full-time work in my career and still support
Carling in other ways.”
Her celebrity status from her Big Break appearance had her in an online poll for Sexiest Female Golfer earlier this year (she finished second). Coffing announced on her Facebook fan page on Tuesday that she’s one of 32 female athletes listed in the menshealth.com 2011 Babes Bracket competition.
“It’s all been very flattering, for sure,” she said of all the online attention. “I like that people know that I can be a girly girl and still be a top athlete.
“I like to have that balance in my life.”
Coffing will next compete in the Futures Tour’s season opening event, the Florida’s Natural Charity Classic, which begins March 25 in Winter Haven, Fla.
A type-1 diabetic, Coffing has established the Carling Coffing Foundation to help raise funds for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
Coffing plans to donate 5 percent of her tournament earnings to the charity this year.
Contact this reporter at (513)
705-2851
or
jbombatch@coxohio.com
.
About the Author