Alex Cejka winning in Puerto Rico this weekend was a really nice story for one of golf's ultimate grinders, a vagabond who shows up like the ever ready bunny all over the world, always believing in himself, always searching for that PGA Tour win and the cards fell his way yesterday, finally... good story..
Another for me was on Saturday, when 45-year-old Chris Smith had a -4 68 and joined Scott Brown in a tie for the lead at the same event. He ended up 69 73 68 73.. T10
In case you don't know his story, he last had a full PGA Tour card in 2005 and was playing what is now the Web.com Tour when his wife Beth was killed. He has since remarried. His two children are doing well but Smith has trouble getting into tournaments without status on any Tour. He has played no more than 10 tournaments a season since 2009. He has limited status as a past champion, winning the Buick Classic at Westchester in 2002.
Smith’s life changed on Father's Day, June 21, 2009. He played in a golf outing that morning in Chicago after missing the cut at the Nationwide Tour’s Fort Smith Classic in Arkansas.
When Smith turned his cell phone on, he had a message from the hospital.
His wife and kids were headed home to Peru, Ind., from a visit with Beth’s family in Toledo, Ohio. Abigail was driving, Beth sat in the passenger seat and Cameron in the back seat of their Ford Expedition.
At approximately 11:35 a.m., Smith said his daughter passed a car in the left lane driving southbound on Interstate 69 at 70 mph. She lost control when she drove onto the rumble strips, overcorrected and veered across the median near the 151-mile marker in Angola, Ind.
The SUV collided with a Greyhound bus carrying the London Silverbacks, a Canadian semi-pro football team. Smith’s children were hospitalized for 16 days. Abigail shattered her right hip; Cameron broke his right arm and leg and suffered third-degree burns. The collision killed his beautiful wife of 10 years, Beth.
In the days and months to come, Smith like so many other pro athletes discovered just what a huge role she played in raising their family, He said at the time " Let's call it what it was. Beth was a stay at home single mother, everything revolved around her and the children while I was away chasing my dreams"
Riddled with guilt, he threw himself into her role, now basketball practice and grocery shopping were what was important, whether he made another cut or not simply didn't matter.
Finally with the help of 2 older brothers, and parents, but most important the kids he was encouraged to pick up his career again. He entered the Mayakoka Classic in Mexico in 2010 and found a note from Abigail and Cameron saying " you are a golfer, that's what you do, that's what we want you to do"...
That's what he will continue to do, relying on sponsor exemptions, playing where he can, accumulating as much prize money as possible so he can play the Champions Tour in 5 years.
The T10 finish this week will help a little, the win would have helped a lot more...
Bryan Angus ( files from PGA Tour...)
No comments:
Post a Comment