TAMPA BAY, Florida -- When you see a 2-year old pushing around a broom, you might think they are sweeping the floor, but for Latanna Stone it was a broom that helped propel her to be the youngest person ever to compete in a USGA event.
Next week at the Country Club in Cleveland, Stone will compete against women two and three times her age in the U.S. Women's Amateur Championship.
Latanna stands at 5'4" and she's only 10 years old. Many golf critics see her as the sport's next prodigy.
"It's just so exciting. I'm glad I'm going to Ohio. I'm a little nervous. I'm going to be around all these girls and they are going to be, like, 'What is she doing here?'" said Stone.
Stone earned her way into the amateur championship by winning the qualifying tournament, shooting a two under par seventy. Which really doesn't come as a surprise, since she has over one hundred junior victories.
Her former coach, Charlotta Sorenstam, believes all the hype surrounding Latanna is well worth it, and the sister of Annika Sorenstam should know.
"She has the will, she has the drive, the talent, and those three concepts build a prodigy. She'll just have to keep stimulating herself with tournaments, and practice and, of course, the most important thing -- a personal life," said Sorenstam.
Latanna's success at such a young age has come with its share of critics, yet it's something she doesn't focus on.
"I don't care what people say. If your doing the wrong thing or your too young, I don't let anyone stand in my way. I just ignore them and play my game," said Stone.
It's a game her parents say she could walk away from tomorrow if she wanted to and they'd fully support her. But they also realize she's a competitor, one of 156 golfers who'll be competing for the title of U.S. Amateur Champion.
"She doesn't compete against older women, she competes against the golf course. The golf course, to her, it has no age," said Latanna's father, Mike Stone.
And it's since the age of two, when her father handed her that broomstick, that she's been sweeping up the competition ever since.