Meet Blaire Cox, the first 'junior director' of the John Deere Classic

Blaire Cox didn't win the Kids Club badge-design contest ahead of the John Deere Classic, but the Bettendorf 7-year-old probably got a better deal.

She submitted three designs to a John Deere Classic youth badge design competition with red-white-and-blue, Fourth of July themes. She came in a virtual tie with another designer. But, liking Blaire's enthusiasm, John Deere Classic leaders decided to forgo selecting both designs and offer her a job instead.

Blaire was introduced Wednesday as the first-ever John Deere Classic junior director. She shadowed director Andrew Lehman for the day, meeting golf star Sepp Straka and Green Bay Packers running back AJ Dillon.

Donning a hat with Straka's autograph, Blaire sat down for media interviews — taking a chair just vacated by two-time John Deere Classic champ Jordan Spieth.

She handled tough questions with grace.

Did you try the sweet corn ice cream from Whitey's?

"Yeah."

Did you like it?

"No," shaking her head to emphasize her point.

She did, though, like the lime sherbet and lemon custard swirl that is a hallmark at Whitey's around the time of the Classic.

Blaire takes weekly golf lessons at Oakwood Country Club in Coal Valley, Illinois, the course that previously hosted the tour event from 1975 until 1999, when John Deere became its title sponsor.

Her dad, Chet Cox, an avid amateur golfer himself, enrolled her in golf lessons three years ago. This year is her first at the John Deere Classic, and she was all smiles around the course.

Her favorite part about golf?

"Probably spending time with my family," she said.

Blaire attends Cody Elementary in LeClaire and hopes one day, when she's older, to play golf for a school team.

Later on Wednesday, Blaire participated in a youth clinic with NBA player and former Hawkeye basketball star Keegan Murray, and golf pros Wesley Bryan and Harry Higgs.

And on Sunday, she'll come back to the course to help present the trophy to the winning golfer.

Blaire's parents, Chet and Courtney Cox, found out she'd been selected as John Deere Classic's first junior tournament director in an email that ended with something along the lines of that everyone was looking forward to meeting the "new boss."

"For the first time in tournament history we have a John Deere Classic junior tournament director," Lehman said. "She's got an all-access badge. She wants all of my paycheck."

Davenport, Scott County, local politics