(WSBT Photo) Kari Bellville tees off at the WWGA Junior Championship at Knollwood. Just 12 years old, Bellville is more than holding her own on the golf course.
Story Created:
Jul 17, 2008 at 9:58 PM EDT
Story Updated:
Jul 18, 2008 at 6:54 PM EDT
GRANGER — Age is just a number. Nobody believes that more than Kari Bellville, an excellent golfer showing that she can hang with the big girls.
Bellville has a four handicap. Multiply that by three, and you've got the youngster's age.
"I'm 12. I just turned 12 three months ago and I started playing when I was about 9. My dad kind of got me into it since my brother plays on the golf team at IU," said Bellville to WSBT Sports.
"I knew from the first swing that I saw that Kari -- her brother's very good, he plays at IU, but no offense Ben -- but I knew that she was probably going to be the best player in the family," beamed swing coach Mark Hamilton.
"He can definitely drive a lot farther that me ... we are a couple years apart, so there's a pretty big difference in the way we shoot ... but I'm almost there," Bellville said.
Kari is the youngest of 92 contestants playing in the WWGA's 82nd National Junior Championships at Knollwood Country Club in Granger. Though she's only a seventh grader, she can hang with the tournament's best!
"She took it to the 18th hole today and I'm sure she was disappointed in losing, but down the road that's gonna be unbelievable experience for her. It's just gonna be awesome ... she's going to be able to turn that into wins much later down the line," said Hamilton.
"I love the experience to play with the older girls, it gives me a challenge to play," Bellville added.
Kari will have plenty of chances to show off her skills when she goes to Penn in a few years.
"She's already got the Penn High School bag — I wish I could give her a Saint Mary's bag but it would be against the NCAA rules!" exclaimed Hamilton.
"It will be exciting because we will have a really good team and Coach Garrett is an awesome coach and we're gonna go far," Bellville said.
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