Cru Sullivan’s first swings with a golf club came around the same time he took his first steps, and there has been no stopping him since — even if his parents tried.

“When he’d get in trouble we’d take the club away from him,” his father Danny Sullivan said. “He’d just get a pencil or a pen and continue to hit the ball around the house with hit. That’s when I thought, ‘Wow, this kid is hooked.’”

Now 6, the Ripon resident and Parkview Elementary student is gearing up for the U.S. Kids Golf Foundation World Championship set for Aug. 4-6 at Pinehurst in North Carolina. He is one of just 75 6-under players worldwide to qualify. Cru has competed and placed in all 40-plus tournaments he has competed and is the spring season champion for the Bay Area and Central Valley tours.

Sullivan most recently clinched his Bay Area Tour title by winning the Tour Championship tournament at San Ramon Golf Club on May 22, shooting a 5-over 41. His best score in a nine-hole tournament is a 3-under 33.

Sullivan also earned an invite for the U.S. European Championship in Scotland, which took place May 31-June 2, but did not compete in it. He’ll next enter the 6th annual California State Invitational on June 27-28 at Rio Hondo Golf Club in Downey.

PGA professional Shane Balfour of Turlock is Sullivan’s coach. In addition to the U.S. Kids Golf Foundation, Sullivan is a member of First Tee and Youth on Course.

 “He has had to work really hard to get to where he’s at,” Danny Sullivan said. “When we started going out to the ranges some of the teachers and coaches would see him and say, ‘You may have something here.’ Next thing I know he starts working a little more with it and now he has multiple rounds shooting under par.”