A skillful and talented golfer from The First Tee of South Los Angeles, Kasey Torres is a shining star of the Southern California Western States Association. The very soft spoken 15-year old, 10th grader attends Torrance High School, in Torrance, California, and plays on the school’s golf team. She was very proud to share that she currently carries a 3.1 GPA, and a 1.7 golf handicap, and regularly hits, on any given day, in the low to mid 70’s.
This remarkable young lady started her athletic journey when she was 7-years old, playing softball, which she enjoyed, however when she started following along to watch her cousin practice and play golf, she favored her true passion, and her attention and focus immediately turned to golf. With the encouragement of her father, and The Southern California Western State Association, Kasey’s visibility and opportunities in the “World” of golf has increased.
In 2012, at 14-years old, Kasey participated in the PGA’s Junior Championship Tournament at the Donald Trump Golf Course, in Virginia, and won a position in the top fifty.
In 2013, Kasey Torres participated in the Junior PGA West, at the Jack Nicholson golf course, in Palm Springs California, where she took 2nd place with a score of 74.
In 2013 and 2014, Kasey Torres won first place in the Los Angeles Junior Golf Tournament.
June 9-16, 2014, Kasey attended The Player Advanced Academy, along with 23 other junior golfers, at the WakeForest College Academy in North Carolina. This 8-day academy experience is intended for advanced players and to provides an experience that will improve the chances to compete at a higher level. Kasey adds that it also taught her the mental aspects of the game, and how she enjoyed the opportunity of staying on the college campus for eight 8 days.
Kasey shared with me that she teed off in a twosome with pro golfer Jordan Spieth, and 17 other junior golfers, at the 2013 congressional Pro-Am event that was sponsored by Quick-In-Loan in June 2013 in Washington D.C. She stated that this experience was very exciting for her because it was her first East Coast Golf tournament.
On October 22, 2014 Kasey shot a 70 to win the individual championship, in the Ocean League finals at the Lakewood Country Club in Lakewood, California.
Kasey was invited, and will play in the Bridgestone tournament, at the Arrowhead Golf Course, in California on December 6-7, 2014.
Kasey Has qualified, and will play in the upcoming 2014 (December 13-14 ) SCPGA Junior Toyota Tour Cup.
Kasey Torres concluded our talk by sharing with me that “Golf is my life”, and that naturally she wants to be a pro golfer, however she is realistic. She feels, first and far most, she needs to focus on her education. History is her favorite subject, and believe it or not she does have time for hobbies; such as reading, drawing, and wouldn’t you know, also art.
I applaud the Southern California Western States Golf Association, for their continued impact on the lives of youth, and for their dedication to promote a strong Southern California Junior Golf program, by supporting and nurturing junior golfers, such as Kasey Torres, Bakari Bolden and many others.
Barbara Taylor is a freelance writer who enjoys golf and is living the golf lifestyle! She is based in Los Angeles, California. | Email
