For First-Time Winner Blackwelder, It’s All In the Family
Attention, Golf Channel. If you’re looking for a new reality golf series with seemingly endless plot lines, look no further than the family of Mallory Blackwelder. Call it “All in The Family, 2.0.”
The Kentucky native won the Epson Classic last week in Charlotte, N.C., for her first professional title. The victory at Raintree Country Club moved the 26-year-old to sixth on the Epson Tour money list, nearer to her dream of making the LPGA, and brought to light oodles of longtime and newfound golf connections that center around an instructor and three caddies.
Start with her parents. Myra Blackwelder was the first female to receive a full athletic scholarship to the University of Kentucky, played 13 years on the LPGA and earned the 1980 Rookie of the Year honor. She was Mallory’s golf coach at Kentucky (necessitating Mallory to transfer from the University of Florida), runs a Kentucky golf academy and serves as Mallory’s current instructor. Worth Blackwelder is a veteran caddie on the LPGA, first working with Myra until they decided that marriage won over golf and continuing as the bagman for Dottie Pepper, Juli Inkster, Natalie Gulbis, Cristie Kerr and now rising star Kim Kauffman. He has occasionally caddied for Mallory.
“I can’t even explain enough how much of an influence they have been on me,” Mallory said. “I grew up on the tour. My mom played until my brother and I started school. Tour life is all I’ve known. When I finally got serious about golf, they were there every step of the way.”
Now consider the other players in this golf gene pool.
Mallory’s younger brother, Myles, works with mom at the golf academy and totes for England’s Jodi Ewart Shadoff on the LPGA. At last year’s Solheim Cup, he was working on the European side opposite his father on Kerr’s American bag in the Euros’ victory.
Mallory’s fiancée, Julien Trudeau, came into the fold when the two met while starring on Golf Channel’s “Big Break” series. Dating since 2011, he caddied for her on the Epson Tour in 2011. Now, he works for fellow Canadian Graham DeLaet on the PGA Tour.
The impact of family was very real last week in Charlotte. The week before, in Asheville, N.C., Myra drove from Kentucky to watch Mallory play for the first time since last August. She noticed some faults in Mallory’s short game and Mallory self-corrected a putting flaw. Moving on to Charlotte, they stayed with Alice Blackwelder, Mallory’s 86-year-old grandmother. It was the first time she had seen Mallory play, and then she won.
“From now on, Mom is going to try and come out once a month because it worked,” Mallory said. “My grandmother joked that I was good luck for her. On off weeks, I don’t necessarily do the normal thing and go home. Julien’s on the PGA Tour, so I spend my off weeks on the PGA Tour. I better love golf, right?”
That passion was nearly derailed two years ago. Suffering from a sore right elbow, Mallory underwent surgery in 2012, but the pain persisted. It was determined that she had rheumatoid arthritis. The necessary medication had the potential for negative side effects, so Mallory studied alternatives to medicine. She completely changed to a gluten and dairy-free diet and has been off medication since December. She also started working with noted golf trainer Joey Diovisalvi and picked up additional yardage in her game.
“It’s been an awesome transition,” said Mallory, who donates $5 for every birdie and $10 for every eagle to the Arthritis Foundation. “I had no choice but to embrace the diagnoses and stay positive. I am looking forward to becoming a role model for other young people with this disease to prove that you can still pursue your dreams while living with RA.”
The pace quickens this summer. The Blackwelders will finally get together in the same place when they are honored by the Metropolitan Golf Writers Association as the “Family of the Year” on June 23 in New York. “It’s hard for me to remember the last time all of us were together,” Mallory said. A requested photo for the program required some photo-shop work to get everyone in the same image. On Sept. 26, the family will gather again as Julien and Mallory are married in Kentucky.
As for the honeymoon? This week, it was announced that the Big Break Invitational, a live 72-hole tournament involving Big Break alums, will be held Sept. 30-Oct. 3 at Reynolds Plantation in Greensboro, Ga. Mallory is in the 40-player field for the Golf Channel event.
“That’s a perfectly appropriate place for our honeymoon,” Mallory said.
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