11-year-old Argentine golf whiz hopes sport can help family leave shantytown

World Today

Dylan Reales is quickly becoming a golf phenom at only 11 years old. In just two years, the Buenos Aires resident has already won several junior golf tournaments in Argentina and he’s hoping for a career as a professional player. CCTV America’s Joel Richards has his story from Buenos Aires.

“I want to play at the Augusta Masters,” Dylan said. “It would be amazing.”

Though soccer is Argentina’s most popular sport, Dylan’s story has captured many hearts.

He lives in a shantytown in the center of the country and first learned to play golf with a broken broomstick.

Dylan’s grandfather, Julio Reales, accompanies him every day to practice and said that the boy learned to play golf using fruits and vegetables from the market in place of balls.

“In the neighborhood, there is a market that sells vegetables and other food. When they close, there was fruit and vegetables on the street, and he started playing with that,” Julio Reales said.

Dylan’s grandfather said that his grandson was once turned away from a free golf class because of where they live, but they were eventually able to find a teacher willing to hlep.

“They told me he had a talent, that if he developed, he could be a great player,” Julio Reales said. “I said, ‘Don’t say that to me. We are from the shanty town. We’re always beaten down. This is a dream.”

Dylan said he and his family make golf a priority.

“It’s hard for me to leave my home, to travel to tournaments, to play. I don’t have money to go everywhere. My family makes a big sacrifice,” Dylan said.

Dylan hopes golf may offer him and his family a way out of the shantytown.

“There are lots of robberies. It’s not nice. I want to leave,” Dylan said. “With the first prize I win, I want to get my family out of there.”