Photos: (L) Alessandro Bianchi Picture/ (c) Action Images
(R) Kaminsky Productions

 

Toby Dawson isn’t scared of heights.

He reached the peak of competitive freestyle skiing in February 2006, when his performance in the mountains of Torino, Italy, earned him an Olympic bronze medal in moguls. Not intended for the weak-stomached athlete, moguls is a freestyle skiing event where competitors weave through bumps of hard snow, hit two jumps and launch more than 30 feet into the air while being scored on turning style, speed and the jump itself.

Shortly after stepping off the medal podium, Dawson gained even more notoriety, but for more personal reasons. Once an abandoned toddler from Pusan, South Korea, he was adopted by Vail ski instructors Mike and Deb Dawson at age 3. The star athlete hoped his Olympic success might help him track down his biological parents. Instead, almost immediately after the media buzz began, a slew of imposters contacted Dawson, which complicated and frustrated his well-intentioned search.Today, the 28-year-old Dawson no longer skis professionally, but he has found a new passion: golf. “Awesome Dawson,” a moniker he earned for his original style and fearless attitude toward freestyle skiing, is just as serious about the links as he once was about the slopes—even moving from the snowy mountains of Vail to the plush greens of Palm Springs, Calif. In 2006 alone, his handicap shriveled from the high teens to a 6.5. Look for Dawson to compete in each of the three major celebrity professional-amateur tournaments in 2007: the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic and the Kraft Nabisco Championship. 

AAGolf caught up with Dawson as he was stepping off the course...

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