Should you be in search of further proof that golf, as we are fond of saying, attracts great people, here is a suggestion you study a woman named Liz Fradkin.

To those who sigh forlornly that times change, my sentiment is to answer, “yes and sometimes for the better,” then use as an example Fradkin. Oh, and Heather Daly-Donofrio and Scott Langley, too. As individuals, they each are passionate about golf. Collectively, they work as a team in a U.S. Golf Association department that is devoted to player relations and if that’s a smirk on your face, perhaps you might want to change with the times.

“We do care what players think,” said Langley, a former PGA Tour competitor who played his share of elite USGA championships. “Players have a lot of good ideas.”

Fradkin and Daly-Donofrio would echo their teammate’s sentiments and we’ll return to how they look at their jobs shortly.

But to return to the suggestion that sometimes change is good, my theory is that golf is better than it has ever been – more people playing, a deeper pool of talent at all levels, a buoyant enthusiasm for eclectic courses and golf travel – and it’s no coincidence that women are more involved in the game as leaders and combined forge a voice that is greater than ever before.

Is there room for more? No question. Let’s table that discussion for another day, however, and return to where we started. Liz Fradkin.

Liz Fradkin played collegiately at Rutgers and has been with the USGA since graduation. (USGA photo.)

Hers is a story that intrigues, because unlike Daly-Donofrio (two-time LPGA winner) and Langley (Korn Ferry Tour winner, five seasons on PGA Tour), the young woman from Mendota Heights, Minn., doesn’t have any pro golf experience. In fact, after playing four seasons for Rutgers, Fradkin concedes “I didn’t say to myself that I wanted to work in golf.”

Yet here she is 11 years into her USGA career and as the Senior Director of Player Relations, Fradkin is helping shape a department that is a crucial bridge to the tens of thousands of golfers who want to get into 15 national championships. “She’s a strong leader, an excellent collaborator,” said Daly-Donofrio and Langley adds, “Liz is gifted, really sharp, and has priceless institutional knowledge of the USGA.”

To know how Fradkin entered the USGA upon graduation from Rutgers in 2012 is to admire her even more. “I started in rules,” she said.

Now if you’re thinking, Rules? Who wants to start in Rules? keep it to yourself because Fradkin took all the tests and embraced it all. “For two years I was in Rules and I absolutely loved it,” she said.

The move to USGA Championships brought her up close to Curtis Cup and World Team Amateur competitions, then into the circle of the U.S. Women’s Amateur. In 2018 when the USGA began its Player Relations department, Fradkin was its first staff member.

Now to debate whether such an advancement for a woman would have taken place like this anywhere in the world of golf 20-to-25 years ago is a waste of energy (though likely it wouldn’t have); instead, let’s applaud the fact that Fradkin earned this great opportunity and that Daly-Donofrio has been added to the department with her emphasis expected to be on developing a National Program.

“It’s critically important,” said Daly-Donofrio of the need for Player Relations. “We want to ensure that every athlete who plays in our championships have the best experience of their year . . . and for some, maybe it will be of their life.”

For now, the concept of a National Program is a work in progress. “We started strategizing and I’m learning that piece (as we go along),” said Daly-Donofrio. “But I can tell you, I’ve been energized.”

Langley calls the National Program concept a “big project, no small undertaking” and hails the choice of Daly-Donofrio. “Heather’s the right person for this. She’s a visionary and will help develop this clear pathway in the game.”

Coming off a season in which the USGA introduced its latest national championship, but one that is unlike any of the other 14 (the U.S. Adaptive Open), Langley agrees that it is notable how two women have leading roles within the Players Relations department and he applauds those who put Fradkin and Daly-Donofrio in place.

“I do believe the USGA is on the right side with the need to maintain tradition, heritage, and history,” said Langley. “But at the same time, we are on the right side (to know) the game needs change and diversity.”

Unlike Langley who had bookend USGA highlights in 2010 – low amateur with Russell Henley at the Pebble Beach U.S. Open; quarter-finalist in the U.S. Amateur at Chambers Bay – Daly-Donofrio played in USGA championships without much success. But she competed enough times in the U.S. Women’s Open to appreciate the magnitude of these national championships and to get a sense of what the USGA needs to do to be in unison with competitors.

Fradkin did have success in high school golf back in Minnesota and she never hesitated to take on those USGA qualifiers. Trouble is, Minnesota “would only get one spot and I joke with Amy Olson (North Dakota native) that she always got it,” laughed Fradkin, who was Liz Carl in those days. (She married Jacob Fradkin, a Rutgers lacrosse star.)

“I was never fortunate enough to play in a USGA event. I think I might have set a record for being first alternate the most times, but I still would like to check that off my list. The U.S. Women’s Mid-Am is on my bucket list.”

Don’t put it past her. She’s already achieved impressively in a golf role as an administrator, a valuable women’s voice in a sport that could probably use more of them.

The good news is, of course, that should Fradkin ever make it into a national championship, she has great connections within the Players Relations department.