Danielle Ammaccapane

Ammaccapane was born in Babylon, N.Y. The family moved to Arizona and her father owned a restaurant. Her younger sister Dina also played golf on the LPGA Tour between 1993 and 2011. After the family moved to Phoenix in 1976, she became interested in tennis. But at 10 she retired from tennis a few months after taking up the game. So her dad Ralph, a restaurant owner with a 15 handicap, brought home a set of cut-down Hogan clubs and taught his oldest daughter another game. "I have a killer instinct," Ammaccapane says proudly. "Running all over the tennis court with nothing to show for, it wasn't for me."
In golf, Ammaccapane had a successful junior and amateur career but it was hard on her in the beginning. Her male teammates on the Thunderbird High team in Phoenix didn't take kindly to her presence. "It was brutal," Ammaccapane says now. "But I learned to adjust." By her senior year, she was one of the top two players on the squad. "In college," Ammaccapane says, "my game went into high gear."
One of her big wins was the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links in 1985 at age 19 when she earned a 6-and-5 victory over Kristie Kolacny at Flanders Valley Golf Course in Flanders, N.J. She represented the United States in the 1986 Curtis Cup. She played her collegiate golf at Arizona State University, becoming an NCAA Champion in 1985, first-team All-American in 1985 and 1986, and second-team All-American in 1987. She was also All-Conference first team from 1984 to 1987 and won the Pac-10 championship in 1987. She set a school record for winning 10 times, which is the most victories by a female golfer. She became a member of the Arizona State University Athletic Hall of Fame in 1997.
In 1987, she turned pro and was T4 at the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament, earning exempt status for the 1988 LPGA season.
She played on the LPGA between 1988 and 2008, with 450 starts and making the cut 320 times. She was in the Top 10 74 times and had seven wins. Ammaccapane earned $3,669,811 in her career. Her best year on tour was in 1992, when she won three tournaments; successfully defended her title at the Standard Register PING, capturing the Centel Classic title by posting four consecutive rounds in the 60s and winning the Lady Keystone Open. She crossed the $1 million mark in career earnings at the Sega Women's Championship and was a member of the U.S. Solheim Cup Team. With earnings of $513,639, she was 3rd on the LPGA money list.
In 1996 she married stockbroker Rod Kesling and had two children, a daughter Laura Ann Kesling in 2000 and a son Denver Christian Kesling in 2004. Laura was a child actor and in 2008 made her film debut as Bobbi in the Adam Sandler movie 'Bedtime Stories'.
Ammaccapane was forced to play with several injuries, her first came at Thanksgiving of 1992 when she fell from a galloping horse in which she suffered a serious concussion. This led to problems in 1993, which got worst in 1994 when she started tinkering with her swing. In her first start of 1996, when she led the season-opening Ping Welch's Championship by 2 shots going into the final round but she shot 81 and finished T28. Her year ended with a finish of 84th on the money list. In early 1997, she missed her first six cuts. Things did improve and in the Edina Realty Classic, she shot a final-round 68 to come from five shots back and win first the first time since 1992. Ammaccapane went on to have a great 1998 winning twice and it helped cover the cost of buying a family run sports bar in Phoenix.
But after that year Ammaccapane had problems with a torn ACL and after the 2008 season retired from the LPGA Tour.
Danielle took five years off to recover from the torn ACL. In 2013, wanting to play again, she decided to join the Legends Tour. She has played in 17 events, her best finish was T5 at the 2015 Legends Championship. She has also played on the Cactus Tour the last two years, finishing 5th at Las Colinas Golf Club and T4 at Apache Creek Golf Course in Apache Junction, Ariz. in 2017. Last year at the Senior LPGA Championship at French Lick, she was T19 and finished T14 there in 2017.
Ammaccapane is also teaching players who want to improve at the high school, college and professional level. Ammaccapane started her own Short Game Academy, sharing her secrets to her short game success on tour. She is conducting clinics at golf clubs all over the country.

Ammaccapane shot 75-71-71-74=291 (-1) to finish 4th in the inaugural U.S. Senior Women's Open.