63-year-old college student is 'getting to live the dream' by playing on golf team

A woman puts down a golf ball.
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At 62 years old, Debbie Blount decided it was time to pick her clubs back up and join the women's golf team at Reinhardt University.

That was a year ago, and now Blount is 63, a sophomore, and a vital member of the team — this fall, she played in the TWU Fall Invitational, and was one of three Reinhardt golfers who made all-tournament. "I'm getting to live the dream," she told CNN. "I look around here and I can't believe I get to do it."

Blount first started playing golf at 33, a sport her husband Ben enjoyed as well. He was her caddy in 2011 at the U.S. Senior Am, and always one of her biggest supporters. When he died a few years ago, Blount lost her passion for golf, and felt adrift. After finding an old yearbook from Reinhardt and meeting a young caddy who attended the school, Blount decided these were signs it was time for her to enroll so she could not only become the first person in her family to go to college, but also start playing golf again.

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She joined the Reinhardt team as a walk-on, and player Lauren Welte told CNN Blount has been "incredible" and "hits it the straightest out of all of us." Blount, an interdisciplinary studies major, plans on playing at least one more year, which her team is happy about — she brings "good energy," Coach Evans Nichols said, and is proof that "golf is a lifelong sport."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.