Dakoda Dowd

Last updated

Dakoda Flowie Dowd (born April 3, 1993), also known as "Koda", is an American amateur golfer. On April 27, 2006, 24 days after her 13th birthday, she became the youngest player to compete in an LPGA tournament. This record was broken a year later when 12-year-old Alexis Thompson qualified for and played in the 2007 U.S. Women's Open.

Contents

Career

Dowd, who lives in Palm Harbor, Florida, has won more than 185 junior trophies. In 2006, she was ranked number one among United States sixth graders. [1] As of June 2008, Golfweek ranked her 231st among all junior U.S. girls golfers. [2]

In March 2006, Dowd received a sponsor's exemption to play in the inaugural LPGA Ginn Open [3] after Bobby Ginn was made aware of a story in The Tampa Tribune about Kelly Jo Dowd, Dakoda's mother. Kelly Jo was fighting cancer and her dream was to see her daughter play in an LPGA event. [4] Once the exemption was granted, Dakoda and Kelly Jo's story attracted considerable media attention and she was followed by a large gallery during the tournament. After a birdie at the first hole she went on to finish the first round with a 2-over par score of 74. She completed her first two rounds 12 strokes over par, missed the cut, and finished near the bottom, tied for 156th place out of 162 competitors.

In 2007, she attempted to qualify for the U.S. Women's Open but did not make it to the second round of qualifying. [5]

Family

Dowd's mother, Kelly Jo, was diagnosed with breast cancer in the fall of 2002. [1] [6] Kelly Jo underwent a double mastectomy and chemotherapy treatments. Doctors believed the cancer had gone into remission, but several years later, Kelly Jo was discovered to have metastatic cancer which had spread to her bones and liver. Dakoda scaled back her golf activities in order to spend more time with her mother, who doctors said could have only months to live. The Dowds were moved into a studio apartment due to medical costs and the loss of Kelly Jo's income, [7] despite fundraising efforts by Kelly Jo's former employer, Hooters. Hooters also became active in the Susan G. Komen Foundation. [6]

Kelly Jo died of cancer on May 24, 2007. [6] [8] She was named among the Top HOOTERS girls of all time in 2008 as part of the restaurant's chain 25th anniversary. [9] Lorena Ochoa, the winner of the Ginn Open in 2008 was awarded the Kelly Jo Dowd trophy in her honor. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Annika Sörenstam</span> Swedish professional golfer

Annika Charlotta Sörenstam is a Swedish professional golfer. She is regarded as one of the best female golfers in history. Before stepping away from competitive golf at the end of the 2008 season, she had won 96 international professional tournaments, making her the female golfer with the most wins to her name. She has won 72 official LPGA tournaments including ten majors and 24 other tournaments internationally. After turning 50, she came back from her retirement and added a win in the 2021 U.S. Senior Women's Open.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michelle Wie West</span> American professional golfer

Michelle Sung Wie West is an American professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour. At age 10, she became the youngest player to qualify for a USGA amateur championship. Wie also became the youngest winner of the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links and the youngest to qualify for an LPGA Tour event. She turned professional shortly before her 16th birthday in 2005, accompanied by an enormous amount of publicity and endorsements. She won the Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year in 2004 and her first and only major at the 2014 U.S. Women's Open.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hooters</span> American restaurant chain

Hooters is the registered trademark used by two American restaurant chains: Hooters, Inc., based in Clearwater, Florida, and Hooters of America, Inc. based in Atlanta, Georgia, and owned by the private investment firm Nord Bay Capital. The Hooters name is a double entendre referring to both a North American slang term for women's breasts and the logo.

Hilary Laura Lunke is a retired American professional golfer best known for winning the 2003 U.S. Women's Open.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paula Creamer</span> American golfer

Paula Creamer is an American professional golfer on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour. As a professional, she has won 12 tournaments, including 10 LPGA Tour events. Creamer has been as high as number 2 in the Women's World Golf Rankings. She was the 2010 U.S. Women's Open champion. As of the end of the 2023 season, Creamer was 19th on the all-time LPGA career money list with earnings of $12,161,187.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cristie Kerr</span> American professional golfer

Cristie Kerr is an American professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour. She has 20 wins on the LPGA Tour, including two major championships, and over $19 million in career earnings. Kerr was the number one-ranked golfer in the Women's World Golf Rankings for three time periods in 2010. She is naturally left handed but plays golf right handed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morgan Pressel</span> American professional golfer

Morgan Pressel is an American professional golfer and golf commentator who played on the LPGA Tour. In 2001, as a 12-year-old, she became the youngest player to qualify for the U.S. Women's Open. She was the 2005 American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) Player of the Year, and won the 2006 AJGA Nancy Lopez Award. She turned pro at age 17, and is the youngest-ever winner of a modern LPGA major championship, when at age 18 she won the 2007 Kraft Nabisco Championship and vaulted to a career-high fourth in the world rankings. In early March 2021, she announced she had joined the Golf Channel and NBC Sports to be an analyst and on-course reporter in the 2021 season, while continuing to compete.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catriona Matthew</span> Scottish professional golfer

Catriona Isobel Matthew is a Scottish professional golfer who plays mainly on the US-based LPGA Tour and is also a member of the Ladies European Tour.

Pat Hurst is an American professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brittany Lincicome</span> American golfer

Brittany Grace Lincicome is an American professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour. She currently resides in Gulfport, Florida.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julieta Granada</span> Paraguayan golfer

Julieta Granada is a Paraguayan professional golfer on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour and the Ladies European Tour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lexi Thompson</span> American professional golfer

Alexis Noel Thompson is an American professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour. At age 12 in 2007, she was the youngest golfer ever to qualify to play in the U.S. Women's Open, since broken by Lucy Li who was 11 in 2014. She turned professional in June 2010 at age 15. On September 18, 2011, Thompson set a then new record as the youngest-ever winner of an LPGA tournament, at age 16 years, seven months, and eight days, when she won the Navistar LPGA Classic. Three months later she became the second-youngest winner of a Ladies European Tour event, capturing the Dubai Ladies Masters by four strokes on December 17, 2011. She won her first and only major championship at the 2014 Kraft Nabisco Championship at the age of 19 years, 1 month and 27 days, making her the second youngest LPGA golfer to win a major.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yani Tseng</span> Taiwanese professional golfer

Yani Tseng is a Taiwanese professional golfer playing on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour. She is the youngest player ever, male or female, to win five major championships and was ranked number 1 in the Women's World Golf Rankings for 109 consecutive weeks from 2011 to 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vicky Hurst</span> American professional golfer

Vicky Hurst is an American professional golfer currently playing on the LPGA Tour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jane Park</span> American professional golfer (born 1986)

Jane Park is an American professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour. Before turning professional, Park reached the finals of the 2003 U.S. Women's Amateur and 2004 U.S. Girls' Junior, and won the 2004 U.S. Women's Amateur. She also tied for low amateur at the 2006 U.S. Women's Open. Since joining the LPGA in 2007, she has earned over $2.8 million and recorded 16 top-10 finishes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paige Mackenzie</span> American professional golfer (born 1983)

Paige Mackenzie is an American professional golfer who played on the LPGA Tour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anna Nordqvist</span> Swedish professional golfer

Anna Maria Nordqvist is a Swedish professional golfer who plays on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour and the Ladies European Tour. She has won three major championships: the 2009 LPGA Championship, the 2017 Evian Championship, and the 2021 Women's British Open. She is the only non-American woman to have won major championships in three different decades.

Emma Ruth Talley is an American professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour. While playing as an amateur at the University of Alabama, she won the 2013 U.S. Women's Amateur by defeating Yueer Cindy Feng in the 36-hole final match, 2 & 1.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laetitia Beck</span> Israeli professional golfer

Laetitia Beck is an Israeli professional golfer. She made her professional debut at the 2014 Women's British Open.

Kim Kaufman is an American professional golfer and LPGA Tour player. She was runner-up at the 2015 Blue Bay LPGA.

References

  1. 1 2 "A daughter's devotion" Archived September 18, 2010, at the Wayback Machine , Bob Putnam, St. Petersburg Times , October 4, 2005
  2. ↑ Golfweek online rankings search
  3. ↑ Press release from Ginn Clubs & Resorts (pdf), March 20, 2006
  4. ↑ "Kelly Jo Dowd", Anthony Cotton, The Denver Post , May 21, 2006
  5. ↑ "Teen sensation Dowd falters in U.S. Women's Open qualifying attempt", The Associated Press, May 14, 2007
  6. 1 2 3 "HOOTERS Celebrating 25 Years". HOOTERS Magazine. February/March 2008.pp. 70, 74.
  7. ↑ "Dakoda Dowd, 13, fulfills her mother's dream", Erin Sullivan, The Orlando Sentinel , April 27, 2006
  8. ↑ "Kelly Jo Dowd dies after long battle with cancer", Associated Press, May 25, 2007
  9. ↑ "The Top HOOTERS Girls of all time". HOOTERS Magazine. July/August 2008. p. 104.
  10. ↑ "Ginn trophy named after Kelly Jo Dowd" Archived May 14, 2008, at the Wayback Machine , Tim Reynolds, The Associated Press, March 8, 2008
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.