Lori Atsedes

Lori Atsedes is a cast member on the Golf Channel series "Big Break: Kaanapali." The shaded text below is the "official" "Big Break: Kaanapali" profile of this golfer provided by the Golf Channel.
• Lori Atsedes pictures

Residence: Winter Park, Fla.
Hometown: Ithaca, N.Y.
Date of birth: March 29, 1964
Home course: Rio Pinar Country Club, Orlando, Fla.
Interests: Cooking, fishing, mentoring
Family: Single

About Lori Atsedes:
A longtime member of the Futures Tour - she is No. 2 on the career money list - Atsedes has always fared well on that circuit. And in several seasons, she's been good enough that she moved up to the LPGA Tour. Atsedes was an LPGA Tour member in 1998 through 2001, and again in 2003.

She has won seven Futures Tour tournaments since turning pro in 1987, and also has 17 wins on the Florida Sunshine Tour and two victories on the Central Florida Challenge Tour. Atsedes has finished in the Top 10 on the Futures Tour money list three times, including a second-place finish in 1996. In 2007, she made the cut in 18 of 19 Futures Tour events, had one win, and finished 18th on money list.

The Golf Channel says:

Lori Atsedes is on the back-nine of her career and she knows it. She also knows that her career, and life, could have ended well before having the chance to succeed.

Where the enemy is now age, early in her life Atsedes battled self-imposed demons. At age 13, her drinking and drug addiction eventually led to a suicide attempt. Later, at 25, she tried cocaine for the first time and was hooked.

During her destructive early twenties when she was caught in a vicious circle of drugs and alcohol, she worked at the TPC at Eagle Trace in Coral Gables, Fla. At 27, in an attempt to help Atsedes straighten out her life, her grandmother gave her the money to go play golf in Europe. Having never lived anywhere but Ithaca, N.Y., and Coral Springs, Fla., the idea of going to Europe was scary.

"I had never played a professional tournament," said Atsedes, whose brother accompanied her on the trip. "Our first night in Rome was so scary. I felt lost. The whole experience was too much."

The time away, though, was a turning point. Upon their return, she moved to Orlando to escape the lifestyle that plagued her.

"I wanted a fresh change. I got away from drugs and my party lifestyle. In Orlando, I played golf all day and worked at Outback at night," Atsedes recalls.

On the suggestion, and $500 from four friends, she set out to play the Duramed Futures Tour. From the outset, Atsedes was one of the best players on the fledging circuit. Ultimately, she won four times in her first five-year stint that ended in 1997, the year she earned conditional status to play on the LPGA.

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