The Loop

10-year-old golf prodigy ordered by court to...stop playing tournaments?

July 04, 2016

A Virginia court has ordered a 10-year-old girl to stop playing competitive golf for a year as her parents continue a seven-year custody battle, reports Deadspin and ABC News.

“She’s won I think 23 out of 33 tournaments in the last two years,” Michael Vechery, the girl's father, told ABC News. Added PGA pro George Danielson, “She is ready to obtain a scholarship to college and here she is only 10 years old."

Virginia Judge Jeanette Irby ruled that "[Child] shall not be permitted to play competitive golf for one year. Competitive golf is defined by the court as no tournament and no lessons with any golf pro with the exception of the father. The father and [child] may play no more than one round of golf per week for five hours with putting and practice whichever is greater."

As Deadspin notes, this is not Vechery's first run-in with public legal affairs. He battled the Washington Nationals for three years regarding a publicity stunt pulled in a 2005 spring training game. Moreover, a judge deciding a child's schedule is not rare when it comes to custody battles.

Still, punishing a kid because her parents are acting like children? And you thought the USGA made a questionable ruling.