Zufan Girard, an Oro Valley, Arizona native, is an active member of the First Tee of Tucson. Girard takes lessons and competes in tournaments through the Ricki Rarick Junior Golf Program. These tournaments develop her skills as a young golfer and teach her valuable lessons.
First Tee offers leadership, golf lessons and tournaments through the Ricki Rarick series every month during the year and every week during the summer.
The First Tee program is an initiative to develop young, aspiring golfers. The program works to teach juniors about the game of golf, leadership skills on and off the course and how to grow in a competitive setting.
With many wins under her belt, Girard is a strong competitor in the Tucson area. With four wins through the Tucson Junior Golf Association, Girard is continually looking to raise her game. “I still really want to improve. Improving is my favorite part.”
About the AJGA's Day in a Life Shadow Program
The Day in A Life Shadow program was first introduced in 2019. The AJGA felt there was an opportunity to introduce the younger generation to a career path in golf outside of playing the game. The AJGA wanted to showcase the business side of golf and introduce participants to careers in areas like Tournament Administration, Tournament Operations and Communications. With the AJGA’s Internship being a catalyst for so many careers in golf (and in sports), the idea came about to offer First Tee participants the opportunity to come out to an AJGA event in their area and shadow an AJGA intern for the day. The participants help with course set up, starting players, ride alongside a rules official for nine holes, assist in scoring and with breakdown. The AJGA’s hope with this program is that we can showcase the many opportunities in golf, especially to a minority demographic who may be unfamiliar with all there is to offer.
Girard's personal goals don't stop with her success on the course. With aspirations of starting a career in golf one day, Girard got a behind the scenes look at what goes into running an AJGA event during the The Jim Click Automotive / HSL Properties Championship presented by the Tucson Conquistadores.
While on the course, Girard was able to witness every operational aspect of a national golf tournament. The 15 year-old was able to assist with rulings, enforce the importance of pace of play and learned how to record times for each group during their round of play. "[I was most surprised by] how everything is coordinated by time. I realized that every minute, almost every second is tracked and reported," Girard said.
After spending the day on the course as a shadow, Girard shared how the experience has motivated her to pursue a career in junior golf.
This was a great learning experience. It opened a new world of something that I hadn’t really realized even though I play golf.