Dakoda Dowd

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Dakoda Flowie Dowd (born April 3, 1993), also known as "Koda", is an American amateur golfer. On April 27, 2006, 24 days after her 13th birthday, she became the youngest player to compete in an LPGA tournament.

Dowd, who lives in Palm Harbor, Florida, is known as a top-ranked junior golfer who has won more than 185 junior tournaments and in 2006 was ranked number one among United States sixth graders.^[1]

Her mother, Kelly Jo Dowd, was diagnosed with breast cancer in the fall of 2002.^[1] Kelly Jo underwent a double mastectomy and chemotherapy treatments. Doctors believed the cancer had gone into remission, but several years later, Kelly Jo was discovered to have metastatic cancer which had spread to her bones and liver. The family was devastated and Dowd scaled back her golf activities in order to spend more time with her mother, who doctors said could have only months to live. The Dowds were moved into a studio apartment due to medical costs and the loss of Kelly Jo's income^[2], despite fundraising efforts by Kelly Jo's former employer, Hooters. At times, Dakoda even considered quitting golf, but her father, Michael, and Kelly Jo encouraged her to keep playing.

In March of 2006, Dakoda received a sponsor's exemption to play in the inaugural LPGA Ginn Clubs & Resorts Open^[3] after the CEO of Ginn Clubs & Resorts, Bobby Ginn, was made aware of a story in the The Tampa Tribune about Kelly Jo's plight and her dream to see her daughter play in an LPGA event.^[4] Dakoda's story attracted considerable media attention and she was followed by a large gallery during the tournament. She birdied the first hole she played and went on to finish the first round with a 2-over par score of 74. Although Dakoda ended up missing the cut, the experience was nevertheless described as "fantabulous" by Kelly Jo and "super surreal" by Dakoda.^[5]