Wait, she’s how old? Fourteen-year-old golfer leads Prairie Invitational

It all started when she was 5. That’s the first time Reagan Zibilski picked up a golf club.

Fast forward nine years. She’s now leading the Prairie Invitational at Indian Hills Country Club in Mission Hills, Kan., after the first day of competition against some of the Midwest’s top women’s golfers. The 54-hole tournament continues through Wednesday.

Getting into golf was easy for Zibilski. All she had to do was his a few courses with her dad, Brad, and watch him play.

“I played golf and she started following me around ever since she was basically old enough to walk,” Brad said. “She tried to be like me. She tried to hit it, and then started going after the dream really early.”

Even then, Reagan knew what she wanted to do with her life: become a professional golfer. After her opening-round 1-over 71 in a field of 96, one stroke ahead of Marisa Marquez of Amarillo, Texas, and two in front of Wichita’s Emma Whitaker, one wouldn’t bet against it.

The dynamic father-daughter duo who hail from Nixa, Mo., regularly stake out the course at Hickory Hills Country Club in Springfield. But no nine holes for these two. They play the full course and then some, golfing up to five hours per session.

Like most golfers, Reagan sometimes beats herself up over bad shots or a poor round.

“My biggest challenge has probably been getting too down,” she said. “Last summer wasn’t my best summer, and toward the beginning, I really was letting it get to me. But this summer if I have a bad hole or day in general, I just know I have to keep going.”

Reagan is Brad and Angie Zibilski’s only child. Brad, 44, looks forward to seeing everything Reagan can accomplish in golf as she gets older. Golfing hasn’t just been a great experience and teacher for Reagan. It has been rewarding for Brad, too.

“Its built a bond,” he said. “And it makes our relationship a little stronger.

“Golfing with her is fantastic. There’s also a lot of head-butting and things that come with teenage girls. So it’s a balance … It’s a blast for her mom and I. She’ll grow out of the other part.”

Reagan will be a freshman at Springfield Catholic High this fall. Already, she has been crowned the Springfield City Junior champion and Missouri Junior Amateur champion.

She acknowledges that she wouldn’t be golfing today if not for her dad.

“I’ve always looked up to my dad,” she said. “He’s been a really good golfer and he’s been my rock. My dad has helped me out more than i can ever thank him for everything he has done. ... If you put in the work, good things will happen. He showed me that.”

Reagan, who has qualified for several national events this summer and plans to play in high school, already has her eye on Duke.

“I’m still really young, so that really motivates me to practice more,” Reagan said. “In four years, I don’t really know how good I will be. Hopefully I’ll be at the level of the top junior-level players.”

Her ambition doesn’t surprise arguably the best women’s golfer to come out of the region: seven-time USGA champion Ellen Port, 56, who now calls St. Louis home but went to school in Kansas City.

Port, who earlier this month competed in the inaugural U.S. Women’s Senior Open in Chicago and until May of this year was the women’s golf coach at Washington University, is pleased that kids Reagan’s age still enjoy the game.

“I play with kids all the time. The golf ball doesn’t know how old she is,” said Port, who opened with a 76 and was tied for 13th. “She has lots of opportunities to play. She’s probably very talented. That doesn’t faze me at all — I’ve seen all the young ones and old ones you could think of.”

As for Monday’s round, Reagan was pragmatic about her performance.

“I made a lot of birdies, but also a lot of bogeys,” she said. “It’s probably an 8 or a 9 on a scale of 1 to 10. It’s not perfect, but its not bad.”

Her father is just thrilled that his daughter would rather be out golfing than sitting on the couch.

“Seeing your kid want to do this instead of nothing gives us much more incentive to take her to where she wants to go and do what she wants to do,” he said.

“I have too many good memories to tell you. We’ve gotten to play at amazing golf courses together, and watching her compete against some of the best juniors in the world ... It’s all fantastic. When you have kids and they play sports, this is what you envision it to be like.”