Fremd golfer to tee up in Junior Solheim pro-am
Less than three months ago, Kelly Voigt was playing third base for Fremd High in the state softball finals.
Next week, she will be back on the green grass again but this time, instead of swinging a bat, she'll be swinging a golf club.
Voigt has been chosen to play in a special event hosted by the Kids Golf Foundation. She'll take part in a Junior-Am tournament that will team young golfers like Voigt with top amateurs from the United States and Europe who will be competing in the PING Junior Solheim Cup competition at Aurora Country Club.
The pro-am event takes place on Monday to tie in with the Solheim Cup also starting that week with the 12 top pros from Europe and the United States competing at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove.
More than 100 players were nominated and Kelly was one of only nine selected from the Kid's Golf Foundation, which draws a great deal of support from Jerry Rich of Rich Harvest Farms.
"I've been working on my putting and playing in weekly tournaments to improve my game in preparation for the Solheim Junior-Am," said Voigt, who fired a 1-under score of 70 in an Illinois Junior Golf Association event on Aug. 6 at the Green Garden Country Club in Frankfort, Ill. "It's such an honor to be nominated and I want to do my best to make my team, the Fremd Vikings, and the Kids Golf Foundation and IHSA proud."
Voigt has been on Fremd's varsity golf team for the past three years.
Her coach is Christine Vlaming, who is also the assistant coach on Voigt's varsity softball team at Fremd.
Voight has been playing golf since she was 5 years old.
Commitment to the community was also taken into consideration by the Kids Golf Foundation when selecting golfers for the event.
And that's an area Voigt certainly knows about.
When she was 7 years old, Kelly was seriously injured when a neighborhood dog attacked her. She received about 100 stitches in her face and throat and required treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.
As she recovered, Voigt started doing research to learn the most she could about the problem of dog bites.
"My mom (Kathy) and I went to the library and online," Kelly said. " After that we began giving safety presentations at my school, then other schools in the area."
Soon, Kelly was making presentations at animal shelters, YMCA and scouting events, health fairs, children's museums and other places.
In 2004, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and the U.S. Postal Service sponsored a trip for Voigt to travel to Washington D.C. to be the spokesperson for National Dog Bite Prevention Week.
PTB has co-sponsored the week every year since then, and thousands of children have benefited from Prevent The Bite presentations.
"I have personally presented to thousands of children and have spoken in Illinois, Wisconsin, Washington D.C. and New York," Voigt said.
National media attention for Voigt's work has helped raise awareness of dog bite prevention, and Voigt also has appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and "The Today Show" with Katie Couric.