This is a view of the 18th fairway and green in front of the clubhouse at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pa., during a practice round for the 2016 US Open golf championship, Monday, June 13, 2016. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
This weekend, a Louisville-area golfer will achieve a feat that even many professionals can only dream of: teeing off at Oakmont Country Club, the site of the 2016 U.S. Open.
South Oldham High School sophomore Molly Bebelaar is taking part in the regional final of the Drive, Chip & Putt Championship, a national youth golf tournament featuring boys and girls between the ages of 7 and 15. The Kentucky regional is taking place on Sunday in Oakmont, Pa., where Bebelaar will face golfers from Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania
On the line for Bebelaar is a trip to Augusta National Golf Club, where the Drive Chip and Putt Championship takes place the Sunday leading up to The Masters Tournament.
“I think it would definitely be really cool because every golfer sees that as the best golf course ever, and they would want to get on it,” Bebelaar said of the possibility of playing at Augusta National in a phone interview.
The Drive, Chip & Putt Championship tests golfers’ abilities in three of the main facets of the sport. Golfers have three shots off the tee with their drivers, and are awarded points for distance as long as the shot remains on the fairway. Then the golfers take three shots from 10-15 yards away, with points awarded for how close a ball is to the hole. Finally, golfers take a 6-foot, 15-foot, and 30-foot putt, with points awarded for how close the ball lands to the hole.
Last Sunday, Bebelaar won her sub-regional at Persimmon Ridge Golf Club in Louisville, scoring a 119 total for her drives, chips, and putts. Along with Bebelaar, five-other Louisville area youth golfers either qualified or finished in the top four of their age group to serve as alternates.
In the 14-15 age group, Emily Warner is an alternate on the girls side while Ballard High School’s Jack Thomas will serve as an alternate after a third-place finish in the boys group.
In the 12-13 age group, Madison Borders of Bardstown qualified for the regional at Oakmont, with Grace Thrasher of Floyds Knobs serving as an alternate on the girls side and Jackson Finney serving as an alternate on the boys side. In the 10-11 age group, Landon Stillwell will serve as an alternate on the boys side.
Those around Bebelaar aren’t surprised that she’s one of the top golfers in the region in her age group.
Bebelaar comes from a golfing family. Her father, Gary Bebelaar, is the longtime PGA professional at Big Spring Country Club. After playing her first tournament as a 6-year old, she became hooked on the game.
“I can remember working golf tournaments for junior golfers and seeing the parents and excited golfers on the range, and I always wondered if that would be me when Molly grew up,” Gary Bebelaar said. “She showed some talent and she’s displayed a very good work ethic over the past six years and a constant appetite to learn new things and get better.
“Literally when I wake up in the morning she’s in the family room watching golf on TV or a video, when I get home during school time she asks if she can play somewhere, and in the summertime, she’s going to work with me in the morning when other kids are sleeping at 7 a.m. to play and work.”
As a freshman at South Oldham, Bebelaar qualified for the state tournament, finishing tied for 37th overall, though she had the fourth highest score for a freshman.
This season, she has continued her success, routinely finishing as the low scorer for the Dragons.
“I think what sets her apart from everyone else is her demeanor,” South Oldham girls golf coach Ethan Moore said. “She’s calm and even-keeled. She doesn’t get too high or too low. It’s impressive for somebody so young.
“I certainly think she has what it takes to win the whole thing,” Moore said of the Drive, Chip & Putt Championship. “She plays daily, she practices hard, her focus is top notch. This is something she wants to achieve and something that means something to her.”
Despite her strong performance at the sub-regional, Bebelaar admitted to feeling nervous during the competition. Due to the format, unlike a regular round when a golfer can make up for a bad first shot with a better second shot, golfers in the competition only have three attempts, all of which count.
“I didn’t do the best that I could,” Bebelaar said. “I didn’t get all of my drives in the fairway, I only hit two good chips and I didn’t make any of my putts, so I didn’t get the maximum points. There’s still a lot I can do to get better for the next level for the finals.”
The nerves were ratcheted up for Bebelaar’s parents Gary and Karen as well, especially as Bebelaar competed earlier in the day and had to wait for the other golfers to finish their rounds before she knew she had qualified for the regional final.
“Karen gave Molly a big hug and said ,‘We’re going to go to Oakmont, can you believe it?’,” Gary said. “I never looked at the scoreboard but when they posted her score but my wife told me she was leading.”
On Sunday, Bebelaar will face nine other golfers for a chance to play at one of the world’s most famous golf courses. Bebelaar is confident that if she plays her best game, she can qualify for the trip to Augusta, Ga.
“Well, I already know the names that I’ll be competing against and I went and looked at their scores and I think my points are pretty good in comparison to them,” Bebelaar said. “I think I definitely have a chance at qualifying to the next level.”
Earlier this summer, Gary promised Molly that if she qualified for Oakmont, a course he had never played at despite his 20-plus years as a golf pro, they’d find a way to play a few holes.
“I haven’t been able to make good on my promise, but I will somehow,” Bebelaar laughed. “But it is still exciting to say you get to go to Oakmont.”
“It’s exciting and it’s soo cool that anybody can go do it and somebody’s dreams are going to come true. When we go to Oakmont, we have a 1-in-10 chance of winning, and we can say we have a chance to go to Augusta.”
Daniel Karell is a high school sports reporter and web producer for The Courier-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @DanKarellpreps.
