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| Yes | 65% | 182 votes | Total: 281 votes | |
| No | 35% | 99 votes |
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Add to FavoritesI was never a really gifted child, but had I been I would have wanted to take that as far as I could go. Some children are gifted at math and others piano. In Alexis Thompson's case, she is gifted at golf. Not just mildly gifted, but she competes in a wide variety of tournaments and often wins. If any 12 year old can qualify for golf's US Open tournament, then they should be allowed to compete.
Skill.
It takes a great deal of skill to make it into the US Open. In fact, it takes a great deal of skill to be a good golfer. Golfing has had a number of stars and is increasing in popularity, but it still isn't an easy game. It takes skill and most of us don't have that skill. Alexis Thompson does. She has been playing golf since she was five and competing since she was seven. She usually does really well when she competes. If she has what it takes to qualify for the open then she should indeed be allowed to play.
Practice.
It takes a lot of practice to become good at golf and to stay good at golf. Alexis Thompson practices for hours each day (after she is done with her homeschool program). She has a family of golf players and a very skilled brother as well. All this practice means she has a great track record and often wins tournaments with players much older then herself.
Support.
The worst thing that could happen is that she could do very badly and feel bad about failing. However, Alexis Thompson and any other twelve year old who has what it takes to qualify is going to have a large and strong support base. This will make it so that if she should do poorly, she still feels accomplished having competed at such a young age in such an important tournament.
History.
A lexis Thompson's history and track record show that she has a great deal of skill. It is true that there are days when she doesn't do so well, but other days have her taking home titles and first place winnings in competitions with others older then herself. With a track record like that there is nothing stopping this girl from a bright future, it is just a matter of how bright and how soon.
The American Dream.
The American dream is that with enough work and enough determination we can do anything that we want to. We can work hard to achieve a bright future. Alexis Thompson has a dream, dedication, and has worked hard for it. Qualifying for a major golf tournament is nothing to laugh at and she should be allowed to participate as she works toward her own American dream.
What Will It Hurt.
It won't hurt anything, but maybe a little pride, letter her compete. She has gotten there fair and square and their is nothing to loose by letting her participate. She isn't asking for handicapped graces or any such non-sense. She just wants to go out there and do her best and see where that takes her. She should be able to do that if that is what she wants to do and she qualifies to do it.
Alexis Thompson is a bright star with a very bright future as a professional golfer (something she long ago decided she wanted to be). This is just one more notch on her belt as she works hard to achieve her goals and become the best that she can be. She has worked hard, proven herself worthy, and qualified, why would anyone say she shouldn't participate?
Learn more about this author, Danelle Karth.
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No
Alexis Thompson, at age 12, may be a prodigy in the game of golf, but that alone cannot qualify her to play golf with adult men.
Why are there two tours? A gentleman's tour, called the Professional Golf Association, and a women's tour, called the Ladies' Professional Golf Association.
At this point, she is neither. She's a kid, an adolescent who, because of someone's idea that maximized potential is best used now, is being deprived of her youth, her high school experiences to come, to play in some tournament albeit the United States Open with men that are three and four times her age.
Let the poor girl grow up.... in a half-dozen years, when she's able to make decisions as a major, (I think the age of majority is still eighteen), and when she's gotten into the LPGA tour and dominated for awhile, then she might be able to play at the US Open.
I hate the fact that people constantly looking for a prodigy in a sport, and this is true especially in sports, they want to make the little ones stars immediately.
The track record for that is at best spotty with such failures as Anna Kournikova in tennis and um, a similar golf prodigy of a few years back - Michelle Wie.
Winston Churchill was right, "History teaches us that history teaches us nothing."
Learn more about this author, Kenneth Boser Ii.
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