Erica Blasberg 1984 - 2010

It was a sad day in the golf world yesterday as new broke that the LPGA had lost one of it's more photogenic and popular young stars.   Erica Blasberg died of unknown causes in her Las Vegas suburban home, at the young age of 25. 

Being a golfer and a huge golf fan I recall catching a glimpse of Erica on TV during an event in Mexico.  Having never heard of her, I looked her up and found it interesting that she was in her first or second year on tour and was relatively unknown. Thinking it might be interesting to follow an up-and-comer's progress, I made a point to occasionally check for her name on leaderboards.   I even followed her on Twitter.  She did pretty well for a few years and achieved exempt status through Q school.  Even took a lead into the final round of the 2008 SBS Open at Turtle Bay - a course I had the privilege of playing while on my honeymoon 6 months earlier.   She finished tied for 8th; her career best finish.  

Then this year began and Erica failed to make exempt status and was playing in little to no tournaments, one to be exact.   I also noticed that her twitter account was mysteriously shut down a few months ago amid some cryptic blog reports that she was getting heavy into the Vegas party scene.

I can only hope that her sudden death and the reports of her lifestyle are unrelated, but one can't help but fear the worst.   It's not often that a talented and attractive 25 year old leaves us suddenly without some level of foul play involved. 

My heart goes out to the friends of family of Erica and to the rest of the girls on the LPGA, who are no doubt deeply sorrowed by the news.