In last week’s PURE Insurance championship, the PGA TOUR Champions tournament held at Pebble Beach in which First Tee chapters from across the U.S. select young participants to partner with the tour’s star players, Dylan Au of Bellevue, Wash. was chosen to represent First Tee of Greater Seattle. And fortunate for him he was paired with World Golf Hall of Famer – and Seattle native – Fred Couples.
(Click here to watch Dylan being interviewed with Fred Couples on Golf Channel.)
Dylan started with First Tee of Greater Seattle in 2014 when he was seven years old. He has been an active participant in the chapter since then, and has taken even more of a leadership role in the past few years. He worked his way through the certification process of PLAYer level, and now is up to the Ace level. Outside of his weekly classes with First Tee, he joined the junior leadership program and now helps coach and mentor the next group of game-changers.
Along with Dylan, Sophia Tournalom of First Tee of Greater Seattle was also selected to participate in this year’s PGA TOUR Champions event. She was paired with PGA TOUR Champions player Paul Goydos.
Among Dylan’s many accomplishments while serving as a budding leader at First Tee was raising $40,000 for the Greater Seattle chapter, mostly through the chapter’s annual fall sale at which they sell used golf clubs.
“First Tee has practically raised me since I was seven years old,” Dylan says. “The money I, and the chapter’s Junior Advisory Board, have raised still doesn’t compare to what the program has given to me. This is just my way of giving back to the golf community.”
Dylan is also a key member of the chapter’s Junior Advisory Board, having been elected as director of sales in 2023. Among his duties with the board, he helps size, log and cut clubs for participants in the program, and run the seasonal equipment sales.
Outside of First Tee, Dylan plays each year in the PGA Jr. League, his local high school team, and in competitive golf tournaments around the state through the Washington Junior Golf Association.
Not only does Dylan have a natural gift for golf, he is not intimidated by the spotlight of tournaments and high level of competition.
One very impressive thing about Dylan is that he is such a talented golfer, and yet has a significant limitation that you may never notice (including in his ball flight and performance). His left hand is not fully developed, so his fingers are much shorter than on his right hand. For a golfer, the hands are everything. And yet Dylan plays as well as anyone on the course. He learned through this adversity that no physical limitation could hold him back, and has never made a single excuse. This says a lot about Dylan’s mental fortitude and drive, because golf is already a challenging game as it is.
“It’s true of all sports, but particularly in golf,” Dylan says. “What you learn carries over into real life. Every shot in golf different, and that’s how you approach life. As the saying goes, you have to play it as it lies, and that is so true of life.”
In all aspects of his game, Dylan consistently demonstrates his appreciation of the core values and life skills he has learned through First Tee. He is often the first to arrive, and ready to get right to work. He has an incredible natural lefty swing, and continues to put in the work to get better every day as a golfer.
When Dylan puts his mind to something be it in golf, academics or life, there’s nothing he cannot accomplish. “He’s going places,” Couples said. “He grew up playing Jefferson Park GC, the same course I grew up playing. I feel a lot of connection to what he’s been able to accomplish.”
