THERE WAS NEVER a question that Amanda Balionis was going to eventually fall in love with golf. It was just a matter of when. Her maternal grandparents in Pittsburgh met on a golf course,and her parents, Tony and Dana, were avid players. They, of course, wanted their only child to also enjoy the game.In the early years, that wasn’t easy. Amanda dutifully took lessons, played in junior golf tournaments and accompanied her dad to the course late in the afternoons to engage in putting games.“They’d play for quarters and she liked that,” Dana Balionis recalled with a laugh.Amanda mildly enjoyed golf, but it was far from her passion.“She’d say, ‘I like it, but volleyball is more exciting,’” Dana said. “She was just so active. Golf was never active enough for her.”It’s funny how life works out. Today, golf keeps Balionis on the run for a good chunk of her waking hours.“She’s never loved golf more than she does now,” Dana said.In the span of a mere two years, the 33-year-old Balionis, who liv...
