April 23, 2006

Dowd, 12, given LPGA exemption for sick mom: A great story on SportsCenter this morning. I hope she does well.

posted by dbt302 to golf at 11:14 AM - 14 comments

Its a beautiful thing for the sports world. I hope she makes enough.

posted by defrag3x at 11:18 AM on April 23, 2006

what a great dream come true for both mother and daughter! i wish the mother well and hope she becomes a cancer survivor

posted by michael g at 12:41 PM on April 23, 2006

absolutly mike g so do i as a cancer widower

posted by FrankySP at 04:00 PM on April 23, 2006

I heard her on a radio interview a week or so ago. Very mature for her age, great girl.

posted by wingnut4life at 06:47 PM on April 23, 2006

I heard that interview as well, and like y'all, hope that God offers up a little change in luck. But we ALL know what's coming...ain't NO illness that can't be fodder for the right group... Sorry, just being real...

posted by wolfdad at 10:47 PM on April 23, 2006

class act and move by the lpga......it's absolutely the right thing to do. memories are all we have...and at the least...that's what dakoda will have from this. hopefully more, when her mom pulls through...but if not...at least the great memories of this and sharing it with her mom.

posted by tommybiden at 12:36 AM on April 24, 2006

Did anyone actually read the article? Or does "advanced incurably" have a different meaning I'm not picking up on?

posted by JJ at 04:12 AM on April 24, 2006

It is refreshing to hear some good news ! In the face of circumstances far beyond our control, people actually do respond with compassion, and that is the kind of thing we need to hear more of. And maybe, just maybe, this eample and PROPER COVERAGE will encourage others to follow suit.

posted by CRAB at 07:39 AM on April 24, 2006

I would hope that behaviour like this needs no encouragment. It's a reward in itself. How'd she do? (Can't look it up at work.)

posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 08:34 AM on April 24, 2006

Her practice round is tomorrow with Paula Creamer and the first round is Thursday.

posted by dbt302 at 11:10 AM on April 24, 2006

So when an unqualified person gets a spot in a golf tournament, some people have a cow about it. ...but not all the time. Interesting.

posted by grum@work at 12:09 PM on April 24, 2006

grum, the way I see it, the protest against Wie is that the LPGA is so desperate to crown her as the new Queen of Golf, their very own Tiger Woods with ovaries, a photogenic, minority champion that will thrill the masses and make the tour more relevant than it's been in years, that they're greasing the skids for her. People see that as unfair. In the Dowd case, they see a cute 12-year old kid whose mother is probably going to be dead within the next six months, and the LPGA giving mother and daughter a chance to share in something beautiful before the mother passes, a la the Make A Wish Foundation. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, fair or unfair, and I could be completely off base as far as my interpretaion is concerned; that's just the way I read it. Nobody ever said you humans were logical.

posted by The_Black_Hand at 12:32 PM on April 24, 2006

T_B_H: I was just being a bit of a sh*t disturber with that comment. One of the complaints people make about these exemptions is that players that deserve to be in the tournament are being shut out for these "media friendly" options. I'm pretty sure that if they went to a Q-school-level pro who is scraping by on the tour and told her that she was going to lose her spot to this 12 year-old, she might not be so happy with the idea. That said, I'm perfectly fine with this (and almost every other) golf exemption that tournaments hand out. It's their decision and they can do whatever they want with it.

posted by grum@work at 06:23 PM on April 24, 2006

One of the complaints people make about these exemptions is that players that deserve to be in the tournament are being shut out for these "media friendly" options. It makes my blood boil when people come out with that shit. It is not, never has been and never will be the case that a sponsor's exemption is "bumping" anyone else out of the tournament, least of all the struggling, borderline pro. The field is set up to have the top X players from the rankings plus Y number of invites. The only thing likely to bump the last placed pro in group X is if Tiger suddenly decides he has had enough of bungee jumping for this week and he wants to play in the tournament after all. The sponsors inviting Michelle Wie, Dakoda Dowd or Mickey fucking Mouse doesn't have the least impact on the number X, only the number Y. I've said it before, but I'll say it again: if people getting bumped out of tournaments by Wie (or anyone else) getting an invite were really an issue, why has no journalist found the disgruntled bumpee?

posted by JJ at 04:07 AM on April 25, 2006

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