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6-foot-8-inch teen chooses golf over basketball and is thriving on the course

Posted at 9:27 PM, Jul 11, 2019
and last updated 2019-07-11 21:27:52-04

FRISCO, Texas – Standing 6 feet, 8 inches tall, you have a pretty good idea 14-year-old Tommy Morrison is destined to play sports.

But you just might be surprised by which sports he’s playing.

“You think, as you get to the 7 foot height you got to start thinking, ‘whoa maybe basketball is what I should be doing’.” Morrison told KTVT.

But Morrison plays golf.

“It’s always been my thing,” he said.

Morrison is about to start his freshman year at Hebron High School. He has already made a name for himself as one of the top 60 junior golfers in the world.

This summer, Morrison tied for third at the Jordan Spieth Championship which was played at Trinity Forrest Golf Club.

Related: Speed & smarts: Chesapeake’s Aaron Shirley will run track at Harvard

He has also rubbed shoulders with golf greats like Ben Crenshaw and Jack Nicklaus.

But what Morrison is most proud of is the $15,000 he raised for Mount Sinai Hospital, a place near and dear to his heart.

“Tommy was born with pulmonary valve stenosis.” according to Alison Morrison, his mother. “Within the first two weeks of his life, Tommy had heart surgery at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York.”

After the surgery, Alison remembers exactly how she was going to approach her infant son’s recovery.

“I held him in my arms, and I knew it was really in God’s hands at that point in time. From then on, he just continued to thrive.”

And grow.

“It just like nothing seems to stand in his way. He has this unbelievable ability to shepherd those around him, with him. He loves to take those junior golfers to say come on let’s do it, and so many look up to him, literally.”

They’ve been looking up to him both in person and on the leaderboard ever since.

Morrison’s next challenge will be teeing up in the the US Junior Amateur Championship in Toledo, Ohio starting July 15.