Kenny Dobson left a work meeting on the morning of April 28th to live score the U.S. Women’s Open qualifying round at Meadowbrook Country Club in St. Louis. He even forgot for a moment that his daughter Addi was playing with him. When he saw her name in the top five after nine holes, he took a screenshot to commemorate the moment.
There were no high expectations going into the day, but that quickly changed with Addy’s opening 66. By noon, half the town of Jacksonville, Illinois, was checking scores on golfgenuis.com. Even when he was tied for the lead after his second 18, Kenny was hesitant to celebrate, fearing he had made a scoring mistake.
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At that moment, the phone rang. “Dad, I’m going to the U.S. Open.”
Addie, 22, still can’t believe it’s true. For weeks, she stared at the USGA invitation, marveling at the idea that a girl from a small town in Illinois who had just started playing as a high school freshman would be one of 156 players to play in the first-ever U.S. Women’s Open, to be held at the historic Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles County.
“I feel like the people around me were more excited for me than I was because it was hard for me to believe that someone like me could go to St. Louis and play 36 holes and qualify for the U.S. Open,” Addy said.
Addie Dobson, a recent graduate of Missouri State, qualified for her first U.S. Women’s Open at Riviera Country Club.
The USGA prides itself on its openness. That a player like Addy, who wanted to break 100 at age 15, can go up against the blue bloods of this game who have trained their whole lives to win majors.
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“This is the only tournament that doesn’t require a resume,” Kenny said.
Adi is one of 28 Riviera amateurs, including nine of the top 10 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. The Missouri graduate is currently ranked No. 2,075.
Jacksonville, Missouri, population 18,000, opened its first Starbucks last summer. Addie was one of 25 students in her high school class at Root Catholic. There were only five boys in the class, so she had to go to a public school to find a prom date.
A prolific scorer on the basketball team, she played first base on the softball team and eventually gave up volleyball to pursue golf. At that time, even after she recruited her basketball friends, there were not enough players to form a team.
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During his sophomore year, Addy found a beaten-up ball with the University of Missouri logo on the practice field at a local public course. That season, she was trying to break 90 points and set a goal of one day playing golf for the Tigers.
The ball has been in her bag ever since. From the moment she joined the University of Missouri team, to the moment she played in her first NCAA Championship as a senior last month, 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 inspired dreams for many other girls in Jacksonville, where both the public high school and middle school have girls teams. When Addie returns for winter break, she plans to give a clinic in the simulator to junior athletes in town.
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“Really, this is the coolest thing,” Kenny said. “She just built a women’s golf course in Jacksonville, Illinois.”
Addy had never set foot in California until Missouri played Stanford in the NCAA regional final last month. After earning the program’s second NCAA championship berth (and first since 2005), she made her second trip to Golden State for the finals near San Diego.
As a freshman, Addy averaged 76.67 points and competed in three events for the Tigers. By the time the NCAA postseason hit her senior year, she was four strokes below average.
I never thought about turning pro until this year.
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“There are moments when you feel like your life has changed a little bit,” Addy said of the days after his qualifying win, “and this is definitely one of them. I feel like people look at me a little bit differently.”
Early in her high school career, Kenny took Addie to lessons with Craig Onsrud, the head women’s coach at Illinois Wesleyan University and a longtime pro at Ironwood Golf Course in Normal.
In April, Onsrud competed in the Masters with US Mid-Am Champion Brandon Holtz. Now he has a pupil in the women’s game’s biggest championship.
Years ago, Onsrud’s first impression of athlete Addie was that she had a natural swing and could improve fairly quickly. A long-ball hitter with effortless speed, Adi has struggled to get the ball into the fairway in the past.
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Now, with improved accuracy and confidence, she has reached a new level.
Still, when she contacts Onsrud once a month by sending videos of her swings, he usually tells her the same thing: “Girl, you need to keep your hips back.”
The advantage of starting late is that there is still a lot of wonder in Addie’s voice. She is a natural leader, loves to be loud, thrives in team environments, and has always had a strong desire to get better.
Addy will have an “entourage” in Pacific Palisades this week, including a young junior player from Jacksonville. The Dobson family rented a four-bedroom house for the occasion.
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“There’s probably a lot of hillbillies on the Riviera,” Kenny chimed in.
It is already beyond what anyone dares to dream of.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek. Introducing an amateur who started playing golf at the age of 15 and played in the US Open
