Touching story reaches a tragic end
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- May
- 25
Even that day last year when a 13-year-old Dakoda Dowd flirted with making the cut in the LPGA’s Ginn Open, this wasn’t far off.
Dowd had played in that event to fulfill her mother’s dying wish of seeing her play against the world’s best players. Kelly Jo Dowd was able to see just that, but yesterday, she succumbed to a several-year long battle with breast, bone, and liver cancer. She was 42
“She’ll die knowing that she was loved,” Dakoda said in an interview last year with The Associated Press.
It’s already beyond impressive when a girl not far out of grade school can compete at such a high level, as Dakoda did when she shot 74 and 82 in last year’s Ginn. But when you throw in the duress of seeing her own mother fight for her life, you wonder how Dowd even pulled back the club.
We as golf writers are not in the business of rooting for players. But I sure hope for the day when I can write about Dakoda Dowd under happier circumstances.
