11. The finish. The still-cheering gallery assembles along the 18th fairway, and John, long past the 100 mark, nears the green, doffing his cap, saluting his supporters. John's brother is now on his bag, having taken over from Bob Rotella on the 18th tee. (John and Kevin walked the first few steps of the hole hand-in-hand.) As they approach the green, Romo, Lauer, the caddies, the crowd, everyone is clapping for John. "We were all crying," says Lauer. It has been the perfect day, regardless of what anyone shot. Our winner, John Atkinson, gave it his all, despite the conditions, despite his condition; his playing companions and supporters gave it right back to him.
12. The idea. We borrow so many of our golf traditions from Ireland, England and Scotland that I wonder how this one would fit in there. I imagine flying over to the Open Championship next month and a having English friend say, "Glad you came early, we can go out and watch the Little Open". "What's that?" one would ask. "That's when a weekend golfer gets to play the course under Championship conditions and we all go and root him on. The pros toast amateurs and amateurs toast pros and we all remind ourselves that the game is bigger than any one of us, no matter how well or poorly we play." Wouldn't we think that was a wonderful tradition? A tradition worth a toast, an idea worth repeating.
- Text Size:
- Small Text
- Medium Text
- Large Text
