Mary Lopuszynski in the USGA merchandising tent at Brookline
Mary Lopuszynski well remembers when she became interested in golf. “I was a kid taking swimming lessons at the Rye Golf Club,” said the native of that Westchester County community some 30 miles north of New York City. “The driving range was by the pool, and I looked over there one time and thought that the game looked like a lot of fun.”
The next thing Lopuszynski knew, she was signing up for golf clinics. One of four siblings, she never came to play as well as her brother Mike, who went on to make a career as a PGA club professional. But Lopuszynski nonetheless found a way also to earn a living in the game. She started by working in the golf shop of legendary Winged Foot head professional Tom Nieporte during her high school and college years. After graduating from Rollins College in 1985 with a bachelor’s degree in economics, she took a full-time position as a buyer for another PGA professional of note, Jim McLean, first when he held the top job at nearby Quaker Ridg...