It's hard to fathom that Daffodil Sanchez is really only 14 years old.

She speaks like a scholar -- not a person who struggled with English eight years.

She golfs like a pro -- once shooting a 64 at Arizona State University -- not a young lady who never swung a club till four years ago.

"I suppose I could have taken her skateboarding and it might have been the same," her father, Troy Koon said. "Who knows what the result is? That's what you wonder sometimes -- Is golf her thing? Maybe it's something else. I don't know. Right now that's what she seems to (like)."

If Sanchez wants to become a member of the LPGA Tour, she will. She has the talent, displaying it at this week's Little People's Golf Championships by winning Division 6G.

But there's also a chance golf isn't going to allow her to do what she really wants. And if that's the case, she won't be afraid to overhaul that goal.

"She said, 'How can I help people out the most? Boy, I could be a doctor -- I could really help people out,'" Koon said. "And I said, 'Well the PGA and the LPGA, they give wonderful, huge amounts of money to charity. You could do that too. And then people come pay money to see you play, you could help raise millions for charity. One surgeon or doctor can fix one life at a time and help out.

"But if you get involved with a group of people who are helping, you can help out a bunch of people. And that's why I think she's focusing so much on golf."

Koon has a theory why his daughter is more mature than people twice her age.

"There's numerous studies that say you act like those that you hang with," Koon said. "They've had people in mental homes and they found out that there wasn't anything wrong with them at all. They thought that was how you have to act. ... During the day, she spends with adults and the people that are out on the golf course during the day are old men.

"And so, yeah she kind of acts like an old man," Koon said with a laugh. "... And of course she spends a lot of time with me."

Koon isn't the golfing father that is trying to live vicariously through his daughter. He rarely walks the course and doesn't put any pressure on Sanchez.

When people ask Sanchez whether she likes golf, she replies she loves it.

"As long as she continues to get me up in the morning and I don't have to get her up in the morning," Koon said.

-- mgoldberg@whig.com/221-3367