The new Bishop Dwenger girls golf coach is a major champion.<\/p>\n
Kim Moore, herself a former Saints golfer, has in fact won two major titles, raising the trophy at the U.S. Adaptive Open in 2023 at Pinehurst No. 6 in North Carolina and again last year at Woodmont Country Club in Maryland.<\/p>\n
In the fall, she\u2019ll lead the golf program at her alma mater, a 17-time sectional champion.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very special,\u201d Moore said of taking over at Dwenger. \u201cTo be able to go back and coach a team I played for, be a big part of that community and support those girls and give those girls the experiences and the lessons that I\u2019ve learned … I just wanted to jump on the opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before her first season at the helm begins, however, Moore will try to win the Adaptive Open for the third time in the five years the event has been held. That quest starts today, again at Woodmont, with the first of three rounds.<\/p>\n
Moore is the No. 1 female adaptive golfer in the United States and last year roared back from a three-shot deficit after 36 holes with a 75 on the final day to finish at 16-over 232, three shots clear of Bailey Bish.<\/p>\n
That makes her the favorite to repeat this year and she feels confident as the tournament dawns. She\u2019s played Woodmont close to 10 times and feels comfortable with a course that demands straight drives and consistent execution, lest the player land in the track\u2019s thick rough or deep bunkers.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy expectations are to do well and to hopefully win again,\u201d Moore said. \u201cI think I have great knowledge of what I can do there and the scores I can shoot if I put a good round together.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I can do really well again and hopefully come out on top and repeat as champion and hopefully put my name on that trophy for the third time.\u201d<\/p>\n
The U.S. Adaptive Open is a USGA event that brings together the best players in the adaptive golf community \u2013 those who play the sport with a disability.<\/p>\n
Moore is a lower-leg amputee who was born without a right foot. She grew up in a sports-oriented family with parents whom she said never held her back from pursuing athletics. Her first love was basketball, but as she grew she realized the game was too fast for her and she decided to find a sport in which she could be more competitive.<\/p>\n
Golf was the answer. She joined the Dwenger team as a freshman, helped the Saints to the State Finals in 1996 and \u201898 and in the latter year shot 88-88\u2013176 as Dwenger earned one of two runner-up finishes in program history.<\/p>\n
Moore then played four years of golf at the University of Indianapolis, helping the Greyounds win four consecutive conference titles and setting the program records for career scoring average and 18-hole score.<\/p>\n
She accomplished those feats despite playing with a prosthetic that forces her to spend extra effort remaining balanced on each shot.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a right-handed golfer with a right prosthetic leg, so finishing and getting through impact, getting my right hip through and finishing toward the target is something I really have to focus on,\u201d she said. \u201cIf I get a little lazy or a little bit tired, I don\u2019t finish as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
During her high school and college years, Moore was playing in fields full of able-bodied players. When she learned about adaptive golf after college, however, she found a family she has embraced for more than two decades.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was my first time being able to participate in tournaments where everyone was kind of like me,\u201d Moore said. \u201cYou see a lot of the same people and you really get to know them and their family and their caddies. That\u2019s one of the best parts about it \u2013 everyone supports each other while also trying to be competitive.\u201d<\/p>\n
The U.S. Adaptive Open is the pinnacle of the sport. Two hundred and fifty players entered qualifiers at eight sites around the country and were pared down to a mixed-gender field of 96, aged 15 to 76, that will compete over the next three days.<\/p>\n
The final round Wednesday will be broadcast live on the Golf Channel.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s our major for the adaptive golf community,\u201d said Moore, who tees off at 8:06 a.m. today. \u201cThat\u2019s one of the biggest reasons I love playing in it, because of the competition and because of the prestige.<\/p>\n
\u201cWinning it two times, I\u2019m part of USGA and golf history and that\u2019s exciting to be able to put my name on something like that. If that doesn\u2019t motivate you to compete and play, I don\u2019t know what really would.\u201d<\/p>\n
Regardless of whether she hoists the trophy this week, Moore will return to the Summit City later this month to get started on her first season leading Dwenger.<\/p>\n
She has previously been the head coach at Saint Mary\u2019s College for seven years and Western Michigan for five years, is a PGA Class A teaching professional and has a passion for passing along the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis game has given me so much,\u201d she said. \u201cThis sport is a lifelong sport and it\u2019s something you can do regardless of your ability and being able to teach that and give people that experience is just what drives me. It\u2019s why I do what I do.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s many different ways to swing a golf club. If you have the dedication and the will, you can do whatever you set your mind to.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The new Bishop Dwenger girls golf coach is a major champion. Kim Moore, herself a former Saints golfer,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32160,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[13192,44,13191,827,13193,10350,13194,164],"class_list":["post-32159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-bishop-dwenger","tag-golf","tag-kim-moore","tag-pga","tag-saints","tag-u-s-adaptive-open","tag-university-of-indianapolis","tag-usga"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}