Every athlete faces conflicting adages:
On the one hand, “they don’t ask how, they ask how many.”
On the other hand, “it’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game.”
Pekin, Illinois’ native son, D. A. Points answers these challenges with grace and determination.
Points led the central Illinois Pekin High School Dragons to the 1994 IHSA championship as Illinois player-of-the-year, and was three times named third-team All-American while playing for the University of Illinois.
D.A. has 3 PGA Tour, and 4 Web.com Tour wins since joining the PGA tour in 2005, has never ranked higher than 48th in the world, yet earned more than $11 million dollars of prize money.
If you ask “how many?” D. A. Points is an average working professional golfer. If you ask “how D. A. plays the game,” his real strengths emerge.
Starting in 2018, Pekin Insurance and Unity Point Health sponsor the D.A. Points Junior Open on his home course at the Pekin Country Club. The tournament is part of the American Junior Golf Association Tour and in Points’ words “is one of the really bright spots in all of golf. It’s basically the PGA Tour for junior golf.” D.A. adds:
“From touching a club the first time, when I was 18 months old, to playing every Friday morning for junior golf and practicing, even after I became a professional . . . It means a lot to me to bring this event here and showcase what a wonderful place this is.”
For D.A. Points, giving back to his community counts like tour wins and that’s how he plays the game of life.
Until next time, for Stories Beyond the Scores, I’m Chris Reynolds.
Resources:
Photo: University of Illinois Athletics
“PGA’s D.A. Points brings AJGA tour event home to Pekin.” Kirk Wessler, Peoria Journal StarMay 22, 2018.
