The inaugural U.S. Adaptive Open played this past week in the sultry summer heat at Pinehurst No. 6 was like no other national championship in the game’s long history.
And, at the same time, it was just like those other USGA championships.
It was about golf and the people who played it.
What separated this one and touched places that most other tournaments could never reach was the spirit that ran through the event, not just among competitors but among anyone who took a moment to watch what was happening.
There were 96 players in this championship, spread among eight impairment categories, and each had its own story.
Some were famous:
• Dennis Walters is a 73-year-old member of the World Golf Hall of Fame for his work as a teacher and golf ambassador after being paralyzed nearly 50 years ago.
• Ken Green won five PGA Tour events but lost a leg in an RV accident several years ago and now suffers from a debilitating nerve disorder.
• Amy Bockerstette, who has Down syndrome, became an instant celebrity in 2019 when she made a par while playing a hole with Gary Woodland in the Waste Management Phoenix Open.
Others aren’t so famous:
• Chris Biggins has cerebral palsy that makes walking difficult, but hasn’t stopped him from becoming a popular instructor at the Country Club of Birmingham.
• Jake Olson became the first blind person to play in an NCAA football game five years ago at Southern Cal, and he later won the U.S. Blind Golfers Association national championship.
• Alex Fourie was born with one arm and a cleft lip and palate, believed to be the result of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster about 70 miles from his home in Ukraine.
In Pinehurst, they were golfers.
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