VILLAGE OF PINEHURST, N.C. – Golf has been in a chaotic state of late. Many believe the very soul of the game is at stake. But not here at the U.S. Adaptive Open. Not at Pinehurst No. 6, where the only talk of money came when friends lined up at the bar to get a drink off Jeremy Bittner after he bagged the championship’s first ace.
Talk of tour golf centered around whether or not this giant leap in the adaptive game could lead to a circuit linked with the PGA Tour. Much like the DP World Tour has with the G4D (Golf for Disabled) Tour, a seven-event series that utilizes the same course during the same tournament week.
Brian Bemis almost missed his first-round tee time on No. 6 because he forgot his parking pass. The fact that the event required a parking pass was a testament to how official everything felt to these 96 players. Bemis, a man who plays golf with crutches because, after 57 surgeries and three amputations, he can no longer wear a prosthetic, took great pride in clipping on the same kind of player badge he’s seen U.S. Open contestants wear for decades.
“This is the greatest thing I have ever received from playing golf,” he beamed.
To witness Bemis hit a golf ball on one leg is nothing short of extraordinary. Jake Olson, a blind golfer who works as a strength and conditioning coach by trade, played alongside Bemis for two rounds.
“That dude, by swinging on one leg,” said Olson, “probably does more athletic movement and more incredible movement than I’d say any athlete bilaterally on any major sports team in the country.”
Respect runs deep at the Adaptive Open. Contestants and their families understand the amount of fortitude and strength it has taken to become part of this historic field. There are 24 players with handicaps that are better than scratch. Pros and amateurs, men and women, compete alongside each other. The oldest player is 80-year-old Judi Brush (leg impairment) and the youngest is 15-year-old Sophia Howard (arm impairment).
“This isn’t about money and contracts,” said USGA CEO Mike Whan, “this is about meaning.”
Ken Green won five times on the PGA Tour before losing his leg in an RV accident. In the final round, Green teed it up with Jordan Thomas, a 33-year-old who lost both legs in a boating accident at age 16. Thomas started a foundation that provides prosthetics to children while he was still in the hospital and plays off a handicap index of +1.6.
Players in this field talk about growing the…
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