Stupples helps Dalhousie honor its junior golfers

Karen Stupples was back in Cape Girardeau last week to help Dalhousie Golf Club honor the top performers in the club's first-year junior program.

Stupples, an LPGA touring pro sponsored by Dalhousie, helped kick off the program in February. Thirty golfers participated this summer.

"It's a nice concept that will allow them to bond and build friendships and life skills," Stupples said. "When we have the clubhouse up and running, the juniors will have their own section and be a club within a club."

Stupples, 31, played junior golf while growing up in England. She was pleased with the presence of four young ladies for Friday evening's awards presentation.

"That was great to see," Stupples said. "I like to think I had something to do with that. In my hometown in England, there was a boom in junior girls golf when I turned pro. People think, 'If someone I know like Karen can do it, maybe I can, too.'

"I think what I do on the course and who I interact with influence girls."

Stupples spent time after the ceremony talking with juniors about their golfing skills, the course and her golfing career.

Stupples career has taken off this year. With two tournaments left -- the Tournament of Champions this week in Alabama and the ADT Championship next week in Florida -- she has racked up $903,852 in earnings this season and stands seventh on the LPGA money list. After winning the tour's season-opening Welch's/Fry's Championship in Arizona for her first career victory, she added the British Women's Open title in August. She tied for 11th last weekend at the LPGA stop in South Korea.

"It's been a dream season for me," Stupples said. "The win in Tucson put in a lot of confidence. And when you win one, you want to win another so you can prove it was not a fluke, even if you just want to prove it to yourself. Winning the British Open was unbelievable. It really was a dream season.

"And I don't see it ending. Hopefully I'll build on it for seasons to come, and I look forward to competing for the top spot."

Stupples said she will spend some time in January working on driving accuracy, her play out of the sand and pitching from 60 yards and out.

"Also, I need to be a little more consistent mentally," she said.

After spending the holidays in England, she will return to Orlando, Fla., to prepare for the 2005 season, which will begin for her in mid-February at the women's Golf World Cup in South Africa.

She is signed with Dalhousie through 2005 but expects to be around to assist the junior program's development for years to come.

"Every time I was here this year, everything has been going on," Stupples said. "There will be plenty of time. I foresee my relationship with Cape and Dalhousie being a long-term relationship."