A Warm and Fuzzy
Dakoda Dowd, a 13 year old who has won numerous amateur golf tournaments, teed off this morning against the best of the LPGA in the Ginn Open. Dakoda birdied her first hole and went on to shot a 2 over par, 74.
But her score isn't the reason this story is making headlines. It's the reason she received an exception to play in the tournament that makes this story special.
Her mother, who beat breast cancer in the past, recently learned that she has terminal bone and liver cancer and her dream has always been to see her daughter play in an LPGA event. She got her wish this morning.
REUNION, Fla. (AP) -- Kelly Jo Dowd didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so she did a little of both. With one swing of her 13-year-old daughter's driver, a mother's dream came true.
Dakoda Dowd opened play Thursday with a birdie in the LPGA Ginn Open, doing so while her terminally ill mother looked on, surrounded by friends and family. Wearing a pink shirt and black skirt, the teen teed off at 9:32 a.m., her first ball sailing down the left-center of the fairway. She finished the day with a 2-over 74.
Kelly Jo Dowd is fighting cancer for the second time in four years. She was given a clean bill of health after doctors believed she beat breast cancer, but she learned last year that she has terminal bone and liver cancer -- and, conceivably, only months to live.
"This is one of the best weeks of my life," Kelly Jo said Thursday before heading to the course. "It's such a warm feeling. It's almost like I'm walking and it's not really happening. I feel like a kid at Christmastime."
When Ginn officials learned Kelly Jo's wish was to see her daughter, who has won dozens of amateur tournaments, play against the LPGA's best, they made it possible with an exemption into the field.
