A 10-year-old golfer from Fayetteville-Manlius has wrapped up a standout run in a national junior golf competition that can lead all the way to Augusta National.<\/p>\n
Alison DeBlois, a fifth-grader, competed in the Drive, Chip and Putt contest, a nationwide junior golf development competition for boys and girls ages 7 to 15. The tournament has four stages, with the final held annually at Augusta National on the Sunday before the Masters.<\/p>\n
For DeBlois, the sport has been about more than results. \u201cI started when I was like 6,\u201d she said. \u201cIt doesn’t have to be competitive, and that’s also the reason why I like to play this sport.\u201d<\/p>\n
DeBlois earned first place at the local Drive, Chip and Putt qualifier at Green Lakes, then finished first again at Turning Stone. \u201cWhen I was doing really well, I was surprised, and I was happy. I was like, this is amazing, how am I doing this,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Her father, Mike DeBlois, said watching her succeed has been especially meaningful. \u201cWhen we went down to Turning Stone, and she got first place in the girls’ 10-11, it was just the thrill of a lifetime, and I couldn’t be more proud of her,\u201d he said. He added that her swing stands out. \u201cShe’s blessed to have a really nice, smooth swing, and it’s not something that we practice; it’s a natural gift. She has a really nice, smooth tempo.\u201d<\/p>\n
This past weekend, DeBlois played in regionals at Quaker Ridge in Scarsdale, where she finished eighth, ending her run toward Augusta National this season. She said she\u2019s learned to value the experience no matter the outcome. \u201cIf I don’t win, I’m still going to be happy that I made it this far into the competition,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Even with the Central New York weather turning, DeBlois said she plans to keep working on her game. \u201cI have like a putting green mat inside. I go to my grandparents’ house a lot, and I like to play. Just take some shots. Maybe outside if the weather is not too cold. I’ll just chip some shots or do something,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
For her dad, the time together matters more than any hardware. \u201cThe great thing about Allie is I never ask her to go to the course. She always just asks to go,\u201d Mike DeBlois said. \u201cShe just loves the game.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 10-year-old golfer from Fayetteville-Manlius has wrapped up a standout run in a national junior golf competition that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":883041,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,99],"class_list":["post-883040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=883040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883040\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/883041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=883040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=883040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=883040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}