The Futures Tournament is the avenue to success for so many female golfers. It’s also a very interesting tournament to watch. Last year, the Futures was played at the Kankakee Elks Country Club. Kankakee is my hometown and it was indeed big news. The Elks spent a lot of time and money prepping their course during a drought for the high-media event. People in our community sponsored players, allowing them to stay in their house. This is common in amateur events, due to the expense of qualifying and being on tour. Volunteers came out of the woodwork to work at the event, and some of them even got an opportunity to golf with these players - my golf league partner was one of them.

I was lucky enough to get tickets to attend and watch some of these ladies in action. They may be amateurs, but even the highest scoring players were impressive. Now, I hear that the LPGA has lowered the age requirement for participating from 18 to 17. There are some limitations: the player must turn 18 in that year, and they do have to meet qualification standards. The LPGA has not neglected the importance of education and requires that these 17 year old girls have a high school diploma or equivalent.

But let’s face it, in the PGA, LPGA, and other sports, youngsters are succeeding and reaching a professional level of athletic ability at a faster rate. Tiger Woods started this craze as the youngest player to capture the world’s attention in the PGA. With more girls playing golf than ever before, we’re bound to see more 15 year olds, such as Michele Wie, earn the right to compete with more mature players. And that may just be the key, the maturity level of the player amidst the attention and pressures of competing. Needless to say, it will be very interesting to watch these younger players and see how many newcomers arrive on the scene with the lower age requirement.