Meet Bobby Cole and Laura Baugh: The Golf Legends and Parents of PGA Tour Sensation Eric Cole

The PGA Tour has several talented players onboard who have set unimaginable records and standards for the upcoming generations. However, it is not very surprising to see new professionals turning out to be better than numerous older players. And PGA Tour rookie Eric Cole recently proved it! After almost winning the Honda Classic during the playoff, the golfer left an enormous impact on all golf fans. However, not a lot of people know about the newly emerged star’s parents.

Meet Eric Cole’s parents: Bobby Cole and Laura Baugh

They say one inherits talents from one’s genes. And it wouldn’t harm to say that in PGA Tour’s new superstar Eric Cole’s case. Having begun his professional career in 2009, the golfer always had high hopes for himself in the field. He won the 54th Minor League Golf Tour towards the end of 2021. Ranking 330th on the OWGR leaderboard, Cole has a long way to go to make it to the top. However, his recent finish at the Honda Classic playoffs was commendable enough for him to prove his worth.

The 34-year-old did everything in his power to make it to the title at the tournament. But unfortunately, he couldn’t win! “If you would have given me a chance to win the tournament in a playoff on Wednesday night, I think I would have taken that, obviously,” he said at PGA National. “There’s a lot that I can learn from it.”

Son to Laura Baugh (Mother) and Bobby Cole (Father), Eric has got the coolest parents golf-wise. His mother is an American professional golfer and has played on the LPGA Tour for over 25 years. While his old man made his name as a talented South African professional golfer with over 13 professional victories during his career. Although Cole hasn’t said much about his family, sources suggest that he has six siblings in the family as well.

During her time as a professional golfer, between 1973 and 2001, Cole’s mother Laura unfortunately wasn’t able to grab a single victory, despite her incredibly successful amateur career. Born in 1955, the California-based woman golfer became passionate about the sport at a pretty early age, thanks to her father, Hale Baugh. Notably, success for not hard to find for the lady as she became a five-time winner at the National PeeWee Golf Championships. Moreover, after turning 14, she also claimed the title for the Los Angeles City Golf Championships twice.

Being a role model to millions of women in the game, Laura became the youngest U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship winner back in 1971. Clearly, there was never a lack of on-course skills in her, which even got her a whopping $465,306 as her career earnings. But to everyone’s surprise, golfing isn’t the only talent she has! Laura also worked as the television announcer for the world’s leading broadcasting agency, The Golf Channel. Along with that, she is also a published writer.

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Not just Cole’s mother, but even his old man, Bobby Cole, had a pretty impressive career. Although he could only win one tournament as a pro, he was able to make 28 top-10 finishes during his time on the course. In fact, he nearly missed winning PGA Tour titles twice and finished as runner-up. Nonetheless, he easily made nearly $535,130 as his career winnings.

When asked about his parent’s role in his life, Cole expressed how much he wanted to be like them. However, he always doubted his ability to match their levels of talent. According to the golfer, his parents helped him a lot to improve his golf skills. But he was slightly more intrigued by her mother’s game than his dad’s. “Spent a little more time playing with her growing up,” he said. “I played more with my mom and we kind of hit it similar distances.”

Despite being amazing parents to Eric, Bobby, and Laura are not together anymore according to sources. The two got divorced in 1985 but then remarried two years later. However, things couldn’t work well between them, so they decided to separate their ways again. Details about their wedding and divorce remain confidential, but during their time together, the couple welcomed seven kids, including Eric Cole.

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Eric Cole has been on the tour for years now but hasn’t tasted success in a long time. But at the same time, he is best friends with Sam Saunders, grandson to legend Arnold Palmer. He even coached Saunders until 2020 and taught him a few of his skills. The golf world sees a bright future for the PGA Tour star. Do you think the golfer would be able to avenge his loss at the recent Honda Classic anytime soon? Let us know in the comments section!