Kelly Rudney never imagined an afternoon at the 2019 Toronto Golf & Travel Show would turn into a life changing experience, but for the reigning World Long Drive (WLD) Women’s champion, Canada’s largest consumer golf showcase is where she got her first taste of a sport that has come to define her.
All it cost was $5.
“Chris McLean and Ken Long, two long drive guys, were there running a Canada Long Drive booth,” smiled Rudney, thinking back to meeting the two long drive veterans at Mississauga’s International Centre. “I thought, well, this looks kind of cool. I hand over my five bucks, got three balls and one registered 275 yards on the (launch) monitor. They were like, ‘Whoa.’ Chris handed me a pamphlet on amateur long drive and said, ‘You really should check this out.’ Been quite a journey since then.”
Rudney, 50, brought six years of long drive to a crescendo last fall.
Turning back the clock, the Canadian ‚ nicknamed ‘Mom’ by her fellow competitors — smashed a 413-yard blast in the preliminary round at Bigfoot Turf Farm in LaSalle, Colo., to tie New Zealander Phillis Meti for the world record. In the finals, a 409-yard drive helped her defeat World No. 1 Monica Lieving and become the oldest woman to claim the crown. In doing so, she joined Jason Zuback (six times) and Jamie Sadlowski (twice) as Canadian WLD champions.
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