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
I can truly say that I am a supporter and an advocate of students that are studying the arts, and I assist in providing awards to those students who have clearly, more than once, demonstrated excellence in their creative fields.
Full of excitement from beginning to end, the ladies were greeted with a bag drop at the entrance; there was a formal welcome and demo by Ira McGraw Jr., General Manager of Cedar Crest Golf Course and Maulana Dotch, Director of Instruction at Cedar Crest Golf Course on the driving range. There was great golf on the course with lots of activities and surprises.
It was a wonderful sight to see all of the lady professional golfers, participants and sponsors. All were joined in one room for the awards and luncheon where they were welcomed by the Emcee, Donna Richardson Joyner.
brought women together from all over the country to encourage and empower the game of golf. Golf professionals Oneda Castille and Avis Brown Riley traveled to Texas to support this historic event.
Johnson’s eldest son, Van said, “The life of our father has impacted us as men in many different ways. Growing up we were fortunate enough to experience a very respectful and loving relationship between a man and a woman for 30+ years. My father is the kind of man who would speak few words, but would lead by example. He had the ability with just a simple look to convey something very meaningful. He grew up in a different time and was presented with limited opportunities. Whether it was track, wrestling, golf camps in the summer, advanced tutoring, and vacations to non-traditional places, we had more exposure than most. He and my late mother (Linda Johnson) removed many roadblocks and valued education which attributed to many of our future successes. The expectation we were presented with as children was to achieve our potential, anything less would not be acceptable. That expectation will be passed down to our families as well.”
Sons Ryan and Van Jr., present their father with a special trophy recognizing his hole-in-one that was made a few months prior to the induction ceremony.
The LED light turns on automatically when connected to devices and will stay on while charging. You’ll also not have to worry about the balance of power, as the Kodiak Power Bank’s last LED light will flash when the battery status is low. Take it anywhere.
Above L-R: Chris Fils, Lilllian Okapaleke, Bianca Berry, Belinthia Berry, Clemmie Perry, Dr. Anderson Prewitt (Event Coordinators)
In spring 2015, WOCG will launch their Girls on the Green Tee (GOTGT) program. GOTGT is designed to encourage and promote young girls and college bound students, to learn and play the sport of golf and to integrate various mentoring programs that will focus on initiatives to prepare girls to live and work in a diverse, rapidly changing world.
Clemmie Perry, Director and Founder, Women of Color Golf
This year the proceeds will be donated to Long Island Cares, a food bank founded by late singer and songwriter Harry Chapin, which serves 590 agencies across Long Island.
Participants enjoyed a full round of golf followed by dinner and an awards ceremony emceed by Arise News Anchor Julian Phillips. Those in attendance included Richard Caster, former New York Jet; Gary Anthony Ramsey, Director of Arise News; Debert Cook, Founder of African American Golfer’s Digest and others.
