A young Manitoban golfer is up for a big prize.

Eight-year-old Avery Meilleur is in the running to be Sports Illustrated Youth Athlete of the Year.

Falling in love with golf

The Ste. Geneviève native remembers seeing her dad play. "I was watching my dad hit balls into our field, and he brought me out on the course one day, and I asked if I could join." 

The next day, he took her to get her own set of golf clubs.

Meilleur has been golfing for half of her life, since she was four years old, and says her favourite part is getting better. "Beating my own score and my mid-game and short game."

Memorable moments

She has played and won three tournaments in 2026, and had a memorable moment in one of them. "All three went really well, and in my third one, I got a hole-in-one."

The young athlete describes the feeling of getting a hole-in-one as "really good."

Meilleur says other highlights are "getting better and better with my golf coach, Steve, who works for Smart Golf and the number of rounds of golf I've been playing, thanks to Terry at Oakwood, andI'm also sponsored by Oakwood."

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Keeping the sport fun

She describes the feeling of playing golf as "really fun."

The winner of Athlete of the Year, will also win a grand prize of $25,000.

In the future, Meilleur says she has big dreams. "Being in the LPGA [Ladies Professional Golf Association] golf tour when I'm older."

Voting is free. The first cut of the competition is August 27. You can vote for Avery to win here.