Cathy Johnston-Forbes

Started playing golf at the age of 7. She won the 1980 Orange Bowl International Junior Championship and the 1981 PGA National Junior Championship while being a top-ranked junior player. During her college years, Johnston-Forbes played on the women's golf team at the University of North Carolina. During her collegiate career, she won the Memphis State Intercollegiate and placed third at the 1981 and 1983 Eastern Amateur.
Turned pro in 1984, and in 1985 competed on the Futures Tour; qualified for the Tour by finishing T10 at the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament to earn exempt status for the 1986 LPGA season. She played full-time on the LPGA between 1986 and 2006 playing in 489 events and making 250 cuts. Was in the top-ten 19 times, won once at the 1990 Du Maurier Classic. 1990 was her best year with four top-tens and earnings of $161,240. In her 20-year career on the LPGA Tour, she earned $1,114,381. She married Foster Forbes in 1993 and they had a daughter Ashley Elizabeth in 2001 and another daughter Shannon Sylvia in 2003.
"With (two) kids, I found it very difficult to travel and play the way I wanted to play and not feel like I was neglecting them or neglecting my golf," she told the Virginian-Pilot in 2007. "That whole lifestyle was a big challenge, and when I came home from the golf course after working all day, I was tired. The kids might want to go to the park, and I hated saying that I was too tired or that mommy didn't feel like doing that. I wanted to be fair to them." She tried splitting time between the tour and home, but that was hardly the compromise she sought.
But what may have driven her over the edge was an auto accident in 2006 after the first round of the Safeway Classic in Portland. "I was in the back seat talking to one of the kids, and we were rear-ended," she said. "After it happened, I just felt like, 'Why are we out here messing with all of this?'
She and Foster moved into a new home on the Outerbanks (Kitty Hawk, N.C.) shortly after that, and that's where Johnston-Forbes made her stand. "I feel like I have a lot to offer as a teacher because I've had so much experience with so many great teachers," she said. "I took a little bit from each one. I also have a lot to offer because I competed for a long time with the best players in the world. I think someone who wants to learn how to play the game, not just hit the ball, would benefit from working with me." She got to know Bryan Sullivan who was the director of golf at The Kimarlic club which is across the bridge from Kitty Hawk. He offered her a chance to teach and run clinics, she took it and has been there ever since.

Johnston-Forbes shot 79-72-76-72=299 (+7) to finish T12 in the inaugural U.S. Senior Women's Open.