BILLINGS — Golf has always been in the blood of Billings West senior Mielle Kavran.
Her father Eddie has been a longtime pro at Hilands Golf Club in Billings, where Mielle spent ample time growing up.
"She'd come out and she just likes to beat balls," Eddie Kavran said. "She works for me in the bag room and everything, so they've got free range and all that so she can come out and play as much as she wants. She takes advantage of it when she can."
"I never really took it that seriously when I was younger, but when I started playing counties and kind of winning them, it felt good to win those. And I've always looked up to my dad because when he was younger he played," said Mielle.
Mielle did take a little time away from the game a couple years back and still occasionally fights swing habits from travel softball. But she's certainly not going to take dad's advice.
"One day she was struggling and she says, 'Dad, what do you know?' I tell her what's going on, but she doesn't think that I know what I'm talking about," Eddie Kavrang said. "She'll ask one of our assistants and they'll tell her the same thing and then it's, 'Oh, that makes sense.' But I don't know what I'm doing. Dad doesn't know what he's talking about."
The two admittedly don't play a lot together, both citing a short fuse that Mielle likely gets from Eddie. And though Eddie has the Hilands course record with a 61, it might not be long before his daughter is getting the better of him.
"When I'm out here on the range, some of the members I have close relationships will say, 'Your swing looks just like your dads.' It just makes me feel good, because I know what he's accomplished," Mielle Kavran said. "I think it's going to happen this summer. He's struggling, honestly. I'm getting better and he's getting worse. It's destined to happen."
"Not yet. Not yet, but the way it's going it's going to happen," Eddie Kavran said.
For now, though, Mielle will focus on her final high school tournament as the State AA meet is at Northern Pines in Kalispell on Thursday and Friday.
