Kenny Dobson came out of a work meeting on the morning of April 28 and pulled up live scoring for the U.S. Women’s Open qualifier at Meadowbrook Country Club in St. Louis. He’d – briefly – forgotten that daughter Addie was even playing. When he saw her name in the top 5 after nine holes, he took a screenshot to commemorate the moment.
There were no great expectations for the day, though that quickly changed after Addie’s opening 66. By midday, half the town of Jacksonville, Illinois, was on golfgenuis.com checking scores. Even when she’d finished the second 18 and was tied for the lead, Kenny still hesitated to celebrate, fearing there might be a scoring error.
Then the phone rang: “Dad, I’m going to the U.S. Open.”
Even now, 22-year-old Addie can hardly believe it’s true. For weeks, she has stared at the USGA invitation, marveling at the idea that a small-town girl from Illinois who only took up the game as a high school freshman, would be one of 156 players competing in the first U.S. Women’s Open ever held in Los Angeles County at historic Riviera Country Club.
“I feel like the people around me were more excited for me than I was because it was hard for me to even believe that I could – that someone like me could just go to St. Louis and play 36 holes and now I’m going to the U.S. Open,” said Addie.
The USGA prides itself on the openness of the Open. That someone like Addie, who was hoping to break 100 at age 15, can tee it up against the game’s blue bloods who have trained their whole lives to win majors.
“It’s the one tournament that you don’t need the resume,” said Kenny.
Addie is one of 28 amateurs in the field at Riviera, including nine of the top 10 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings. This Missouri grad is currently No. 2,075.
Jacksonville, Missouri, population 18,000, got its first Starbucks last summer. Addie was one of 25 kids in her high school class at Routt Catholic. With only five boys in that class, she had to go to the public school to find a date for prom.
A prolific scorer on the basketball team, she played first base on the softball team and ultimately gave up volleyball to pursue golf. Back then, they didn’t have enough players to field a team, even after she recruited her basketball friends.
During her sophomore year, Addie found a beat-up ball on the range at her local public course that had a University of Missouri logo. Though she was trying to break 90 that season, she set a goal of one day playing golf for the Tigers.
That ball has been in her bag ever since – from the moment she walked onto the team at Missouri, to the moment she played in her first NCAA Championship last month as a senior, to the moment she qualified for her first U.S. Women’s Open.
“It sparked a dream,” she said.
And now Addie’s golf career has sparked a dream for many other girls in Jacksonville, where both the public high school and junior high have girls teams. When Addie comes home for winter break, she’ll do a clinic on the simulator for the junior players in town.
“That’s the coolest thing to come out of it all, really,” said Kenny. “She just built girls golf in Jacksonville, Illinois.”
Before Missouri competed at Stanford at NCAA regionals last month, Addie had never stepped foot in California. After the program qualified for its second NCAA Championship appearance (and first since 2005), she made a second trip to the Golden State for the finals near San Diego.
As a freshman, Addie averaged 76.67 for the Tigers and played in three events. By the time the NCAA postseason rolled around senior year, she’d dropped four strokes off that average.
Turning professional was never even a thought until this year.
“You know, you have those moments where your life feels like it changes just a little bit,” said Addie of the days after her qualifying triumph, “and this is definitely one of those. I feel like people, they look at me just a little bit differently.”
Early in her high school career, Kenny took Addie for a lesson with Craig Onsrud, head women’s coach at Illinois Wesleyan University and the longtime pro at Ironwood Golf Course in Normal.
In April, Onsrud went to the Masters with U.S. Mid-Am champ Brandon Holtz. Now he has a student in the biggest championship in the women’s game.
Onsrud’s first impression of the athletic Addie all those years ago was that she had a natural swing and the potential to get good pretty fast. A long-ball hitter with effortless speed, Addie’s struggle in the past has been keeping the ball in the fairway.
Now, with improved accuracy and confidence, she has broken through to a new level.
Even so, when she reaches out to Onsrud about once a month with a swing video, he generally tells her the same thing, “Girl, you gotta keep them hips back.”
The beauty of starting late is that Addie still has a great deal of wonder in her voice. A natural-born leader who likes to be loud, she has thrived in a team environment and maintained a strong desire to get better.
Addie will have an “entourage” in Pacific Palisades this week, including a young junior player from Jacksonville. The Dobsons have rented a four-bedroom house for the occasion.
“There will be a lot of hillbillies at Riviera,” Kenny cracked.
It’s already bigger than anyone dared to dream.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Meet the amateur who took up golf at 15 and is in the U.S. Open
About the Author
