The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Sports Oakville Beaver SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 432) Fax 905-337-5571 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · FRIDAY, MAY 8, 2009 43 A diamond in the rough K aitlin Marrin remembers the day -- April 27, 2007 -- but not so much about the tournament. It was at Glen Abbey, but the actual name of the tournament escapes her. It really wasn't that important to her. What was important was that she was about to play the first round of golf in her life. Who does that? Who plays their first round of golf on a course that hosts a national championship and provides a good test to PGA pros? Never mind that, who tees the ball up for the first time in a tournament? "I'm a competitor," Marrin says, looking back on that round. "I thought `No big deal. It can't be that bad.'" Golf -- especially your first time out -- can be a very humbling experience. That's why it's the only sport where a cart drives around to serve you alcohol on the field of play. Being only 16 at the time, Marrin had to rely on blissful ignorance to get her through. If putting up a 14 on the 11th hole didn't discourage her, nothing would. She walked off the course thrilled that he she had just shot a 141. "I thought it was a pretty good score," she says. · · · The fax arrived April 8, 2009, exactly 711 days after Marrin played the game for the first time. It was national signing day for the NCAA. Marrin was so excited she took a picture of the fax. It was from Gary Guyer, the head coach at Mercer University, a Division 1 school in Macoun, Georgia. And it was offering her a scholarship. Marrin had met Guyer for the first time two "What are you months earlier. Marrin and her father, Peter, were on doing here? I've a tour of schools in February, visiting coaches in looked at your hopes of generating some interest. When they called resume. I've Mercer and said they would be coming through the city the next day, "we practically had to beg for an researched you. You haven't even interview," said Peter. They hadn't even sat down when Guyer started. broken 80." "What are you doing here? I've looked at your resume. I've researched you. You haven't even bro- Mercer golf coach ken 80. I could get 50 players ranked higher than Gary Guyer, when you. I don't want anyone who can't shoot in 70s." he first met "Oh, this isn't going to go well," thought Peter. Kaitlin Marrin Before he could jump in to save his daughter, Kaitlin was listing her assets: her quick progression in the sport, her athleticism, her desire to improve. HERB GARBUTT / OAKVILLE BEAVER "She knew she didn't fit the mold of what we're typically looking for," Guyer RAPID IMPROVEMENT: Less than two years after playing her first-ever round of golf, when she carded a 141 said. "She knew she didn't have the right answers in terms of scores, but she See Marrin page 44 at Glen Abbey Golf Club, Kaitlin Marrin received a scholarship from NCAA Division 1 school Mercer University.