Allan Kournikova

Allan Kournikova (born September 2004)^[1] is a youth golfer who is the half-brother of Anna Kournikova and son of Alla Kournikova. He has won the 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 U. S. Kids Golf European Championships and 2011, 2012 and 2013 U. S. Kids Golf World Championships. He was also featured in the 2013 documentary film The Short Game.

Life

Kournikova's earliest notoriety was as the five-year-old subject of a January 2010 third-degree felony child neglect case when his mother left him at home without supervision while she ran errands. He jumped from a second floor balcony and was found bruised and bleeding before being taken to the hospital. Alla was arrested. At that age, he was taking lessons in horseback riding, tennis and golf.^[2][3]

Allan began playing golf at 18 months old.^[4] By the age of four, his skills had caught the attention of several golf professionals. At age five he began to play competitively. By the age of six, he was a regular winner against other youth. At that time, he attended Palm Beach Day Academy and trained at The Breakers with Valarie LaPapa and Kevin Compare.^[5] Kournikova won his first U. S. Kids World championship in August 2011 by capturing the 6-and-under division.^[6] That month, Universal Studios followed him and Alexa Pano for six days to shoot footage for a prospective documentary film.^[7] By 2012, his repeat world championships were mentioned in The Wall Street Journal.^[8] This defense of his title at the 2012 U. S. Kids Golf World Championship was chronicled in the 2013 documentary film The Short Game.^[9][10] In June and August 2013, Kournikova gained third consecutive titles in both the European and World championships, winning the division for 8 year olds.^[11] Kournikova won the May 27–29, 2014 Age 9 European Championship by 22 strokes.^[12]

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