When Sydney Purdon stepped up to hit balls at a new Topgolf facility near her home in Aledo, Texas, she had no idea she was about to find her sport. She was 8 years old, and her parents had signed her up for summer camp, mostly to see if golf would stick. By the end of her very first day, she had hit more than 300 balls and was hooked.
“I had tried dance, cheer, basketball and soccer when I was younger, but golf turned out to be my favorite sport to play,” Sydney said. That same fall, her parents discovered First Tee – Fort Worth, and she has been an active participant every season since.
Eight years later, Sydney is a junior coach at her chapter, and she’s pursuing Ace, First Tee’s capstone program for teens. She was also selected to attend the 2026 First Tee Game Changers Academy, a national opportunity presented in partnership with AWS, the 3M Open and Topgolf, fittingly the same brand that first put a club in her hands.
“Stories like Sydney’s exemplify why we’re so proud to be a gateway to golf for countless young people,” said Tiffany Brush, senior director of marketing and charitable initiatives at Topgolf. “Whether it’s through our summer academy programs, partnership with First Tee or simply providing a fun, no pressure environment to try something new for family day out, we’re committed to introducing the world to the sport we love. Sydney’s remarkable journey from discovering her passion at Topgolf as an 8-year-old to becoming a Game Changers Academy member and leader in her community is exactly the kind of impact we hope to create every single day.”
Leading by example, on and off the course
Game Changers Academy focuses on inclusive leadership, something Sydney has already demonstrated at her chapter. As a volunteer coach on Saturday mornings, she works directly with younger players, many of them girls just starting their First Tee journey. Since pursuing Ace, Coach Chuck said Sydney “has shown up regularly and faithfully, investing in younger participants and modeling leadership through action.” She’s also volunteered at the PGA TOUR’s Charles Schwab Challenge and with LPGA Girls Golf.
Sydney’s commitment to inclusion is not abstract. She lives with primary ciliary dyskinesia, a rare genetic condition that affects her lungs and requires frequent medical care, including a hospital stay last year. Rather than let it sideline her, Sydney channeled her experiences into advocacy, raising concerns with her school counselors about attendance policies that unintentionally penalized students managing chronic health needs. Leaning on First Tee’s CARE framework – communicate, actively listen, review options, end with a win-win solution – she worked toward a solution that let her stay eligible for academic rewards while managing her care.
That same resilience carried her back to golf. Starting with putting and short game before working up to full swings again, Sydney returned to competition and continues to improve, currently competing for Aledo High School’s varsity team while maintaining a 4.43 GPA.
Looking ahead
Sydney hopes to graduate near the top of her class, lower her handicap and pursue a career in graphic design, all while continuing to grow First Tee’s reach in her community. As she heads to Minneapolis this July for Game Changers Academy, she carries with her the same curiosity that brought her to that first Topgolf bay nearly a decade ago, now matched with a clear sense of purpose: using her own experience to make sure no one feels left out.
