Camila Guzman - golf

Camila Guzman is mad about golf and she’s reporting on the women’s golf at the Olympic Games. Camila comes from sunny California - we’re so grateful to Camila for being part of our team.

Hi everyone, it’s Camila here reporting to you about the golf Olympic Games.  

I started playing golf for fun when I was four years old with my dad at the golf course close to our house.  Two years ago, I started taking lessons and playing with my league.  Many times I was the only girl.  Many times I had to play with the boys.  Most of the time, I get comments like “she’s really good for a girl” or “it’s great to see more young girls play.”  I love the game of golf.  I love spending time with my dad on the course and I love watching myself improve with every swing I get.  I spent time this summer looking up facts about women’s golf in the Olympics.  I found out that having women’s golf in the Olympics isn’t as easy as I thought.  With so many awesome female golfers out there I was surprised of it’s history.   Only 22% of golfers are females and even less get to play in the Olympics.  I learned that Olympian athlete Nobuko Hirayama couldn’t play at her own country club when ever she wanted.  

Even with all the challenges that female golfers face it’s fast becoming one of the popular sports in the Olympics.  As a golfer I know that my clubs are important.  On my bad days I look at each club and I give it a personality I say  “my driver was not cooperating with me today.” On my good days “my putter gave me lots of love today.”  As golfers, our clubs represent us.  Nelly Korda, US female Olympian knows this all to well.  Girls like me, look to see what athletes are playing with or wearing.  As an American golfer, I was excited to see that Nelly won by -17.  Nelly was the first female  golfer to win since 1900!  And not even a little storm could stop these athletes.  Golf is a sport best played in good weather so seeing the storm suspend the match with only two holes left was nerve racking.  

I’m excited about the future of golf, and events like the Olympics help to show people that there are a lot of talent in female golfers.  Money is a factor keeping more women from playing so I hope in the future, governments and programs will invest more in getting girls like me to play golf.