Sargent enters shrine

Mesa Verde Country Club head golf professional Tom Sargent, a

prominent member of the PGA of America and a three-time Southern

California PGA Teacher of the Year, will be inducted into the PGA of

America Hall of Fame today at the PGA Education and Historical Center

in Port. St. Lucie, Fla.

Sargent, 58, is a former PGA of America Golf Professional of the

Year (1997), the highest honor bestowed on a club pro, and served as

president of the Southern California PGA from 1993 through ’95.

Sargent will be one of 122 inducted into the inaugural PGA of America

Hall of Fame, 69 posthumously. All former PGA of America presidents

and golf professionals of the year will be inducted into the PGA of

America Hall of Fame.

After more than 18 years as the head golf pro at Yorba Linda

Country Club, Sargent moved to Mesa Verde in 1995.

Born in San Diego and a former San Diego State baseball player,

Sargent came to golf later in life than most, when he finished

college. Initially he pursued a career as a tournament golfer,

playing in mini-tours with only a modicum of success. One mini-tour

went backrupt and “took a bunch of my money with it,” Sargent once

said. “It represented my net worth.”

He began his club professional career as an assistant at Carlton

Oaks Country Club in Santee, then moved to Yorba Linda as an

assistant pro in 1977. A year later, he became the head pro.

Sargent was selected the Southern California PGA’s Junior Golf

Leader on four occasions and was the National PGA Junior Golf Leader

Award winner in 1989. He was named SCPGA Teacher of the Year in 1986,

1993 and 1995.

He was also the SCPGA Golf Professional of the Year in 1991.

Eventually, teaching became Sargent’s specialty; today, he is

widely recognized as one of the finest teachers in California.