"One Of America's Top 10 Greatest Teachers."
- Golf Digest
Mike Bender Golf Academy
|
Back to News |
|
 |
|
|
MASON, Ohio, June 21, 2009 - Second-year professional Whitney Wade gave her father a pretty memorable Father's Day gift today. With Dad on the bag, the pint-size Kentuckian rallied from six shots back to fire a 5-under-par 66 to win the $125,000 Duramed Championship at 204 (-9).
The nearly 5-foot-3 Kentucky firecracker was itching to prove to herself that she could win here against the some of the world's best young women professionals.
Winning today probably sunk in a little when fellow players doused her with buckets of beer. Or when she held up a hand-blown custom-designed art "trophy," or when somebody handed her an oversize cardboard check for $17,500, or when someone else handed her an Apple iTouch for carding the day's lowest round. And maybe it registered when fellow Kentuckians from just across the Ohio River drove to this Cincinnati suburb to root her on and stopped by to congratulate her as she tugged at her soggy beer-soaked clothing.
Or maybe it finally sunk in when her dad, Mark Wade, adjusted his sunglasses and apologized that he "might get choked up" while trying to talk about walking every step of the week with his daughter, carrying her bag, and watching her win her first title on the LPGA's developmental tour.
Now, she had won on a professional tour, beating 143 other competitors, so close to home. And she had taken a big step toward her goal of earning 2010 LPGA status, leaping from 42nd to No. 7 on the Duramed FUTURES Tour's season money list. It was a father's dream to see his child take another giant step in a game he had taught her to love.
Photo courtesy of Duramed Futures Tour.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Email this to a friend
|
;)
