JUNIOR GOLFER DRIVEN TO WIN : SPORT HOLDS LIFETIME LURE FOR 10-YEAR-OLD.Byline: Vincent Bonsignore Daily News Staff Writer When Kyle Thurston was 8 years old, he'd often join his football-coach father, Will, on the sidelines On the sidelines An investor who decides not to invest due to market uncertainty. on the sidelines Of or relating to investors who, having assessed the market, have decided to avoid committing their funds. during Moorpark College Moorpark College is a California-state funded community college located on a 134 acre (542,000 m²) property reclining on a hill in Moorpark, a town in Ventura County, California. football games. Watching the players collide col·lide intr.v. col·lid·ed, col·lid·ing, col·lides 1. To come together with violent, direct impact. 2. into one another time and time again, Kyle came to the conclusion that football just wasn't for him. And basketball and baseball, well, Kyle enjoyed playing them for fun, but he didn't see much of a future for himself in the long term. On the other hand, he decided, golf is forever. ``You can play golf your whole life if you want to,'' said the Moorpark 10-year-old. ``In basketball, baseball and football you'll have to give it up at a certain age. But in golf, you can play as long as you can still swing a club.'' Based on that line of thinking, Thurston has embarked on what he hopes will be a lifelong passion for golf. He's already made quite an impact in his short period of time playing. In two recent Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, PGA (1) (Professional Graphics Adapter) An early IBM PC display standard for 3D processing with 640x480x256 resolution. It was not widely used. (2) (Programmable Gate Array) See gate array and FPGA. Junior Golf Association tournaments, Thurston has nabbed third-place finishes Noun 1. third-place finish - a finish in third place (as in a race) finish - designated event that concludes a contest (especially a race); "excitement grew as the finish neared"; "my horse was several lengths behind at the finish"; "the winner is the team with the . He typically plays 27 PGA tournaments throughout the year and generally places within the top five most times. And after a brief period earlier this year in which he struggled a bit, Thurston feels he's back on track after changing drivers. ``I was a little off there for a while,'' Thurston said. ``But after I switched drivers I've started to play a little better. I'm hitting the ball right down the middle on my drives and I'm definitely getting more yardage yard·age 1 n. 1. An amount or length measured in yards. 2. Cloth sold by the yard. Noun 1. .'' Thurston has played golf since he was 6 years old. The impetus was his father, who plays at Sunset Hills Country Club, and watching lots of golf on television. ``I just started to fall in love with it,'' Thurston said. His father noticed early on that Kyle's passion for golf was serious. ``Golf is considered a glamour sport for adults, but there's a lot of etiquette etiquette, name for the codes of rules governing social or diplomatic intercourse. These codes vary from the more or less flexible laws of social usage (differing according to local customs or taboos) to the rigid conventions of court and military circles, and they and structure and I don't think most kids enjoy that too much,'' Thurston said. ``But Kyle really loves that aspect. He appreciates the structure.'' Once Thurston realized that Kyle's love for golf was no passing fancy, he decided to find as many playing outlets as possible for him. They soon joined the Sunset Hills Country Club and Kyle was enrolled in some local clinics. Two years ago they joined the Southern California PGA Junior Golf Association, which offers tournaments from February through the end of August. He's committed. Most junior tournaments start at 6:30 a.m., which means Kyle and his family have to wake up before 5 a.m. in order to make tee times. ``For most 10 year olds that's pretty tough to do,'' said Thurston. ``But Kyle appreciates that challenge and he enjoys playing against the better kids in Southern California.'' Kyle feels the areas of his game that need the most work are his putting and chipping. He struggled recently with his chipping, but some extra practice time seems to have cured the woes. ``I just have to keep working hard,'' said the 10-year-old, who practices three days a week at Sunset Hills Country Club. Kyle shoots in the high 30s and low 40s on the nine-hole junior courses. Most average 3,000 yards in distance. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: Kyle Thurston, 10, practices three times a week at S unset un·set adj. 1. Not yet firm or solidified: unset gelatin; unset cement. 2. Not mounted in a setting: an unset gem. Hills Country Club in Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. . Bob Halvorsen/Daily News |
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