A few weeks ago, I was privileged to attend the Michelob Ultra Duramed Futures Tour Championship at Hickory Point in Decatur, Ill., and was impressed with the way the tournament makes professional golf so accessible to the local community, especially kids.

I also wrote about the Team WLF.org Golf Classic event in Kankakee, Ill., and made the following comment by way of a prediction for that tournament:

“A player with a ton of promise is Taylor Leon, a recent University of Georgia graduate whose father followed her shot-by-shot at the Players Championship. That event was her first of the year, and she finished a respectable 12th.”

Well, it turns out Leon didn’t even enter the Kankakee event. Her next tournament would in fact be the CIGNA Golf Classic in Bloomfield, Conn.

But timing aside, my comment proved prescient: Leon emerged victorious in the event, carding a -1 for the tournament that included a final round played in 30-mph winds. Leon required one playoff hole to vanquish her opponent, Mollie Fankhauser.

Leon left the University of Georgia after just two years to turn pro, but if her 12th and 1st place finishes in two tournaments – and the resultant 21st place on the Futures Tour money list – are any indication, it would seem to be a good decision.

Taylor Leon, at just 20 years old, has the potential to move on to the LPGA – like nearly 300 Futures Tour players before her.

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