This past week was a first for me, with Hurricane Matthew battering the east coast of Florida.
This was a serious hurricane that caused immense damage to Haiti and Eastern Cuba as he moved north and west. The Bahamas was directly in its path and Nassau was hit pretty hard and I believe Freeport was directly in its path, too, and suffered a lot of damage. For us the forecast was pretty grim on Wednesday evening and into Thursday morning, as it looked to be tracking right for us. At times like this you understand the impact that hurricanes can have, with everyone scampering around trying to get essential supplies – water, food, gas, money, etc. and most of the places having huge lines and running out of supplies. Also needing to board up windows and remove anything that isn’t tied down, because with winds in the region of 140mph you see how something innocuous could turn into a very dangerous instrument! Thankfully for us, Hurricane Matthew moved a little east and stayed out to sea, which meant very strong winds and lashing rain, but essentially we escaped lightly. St. Augustine and Jacksonville areas were not so lucky and they experienced huge flooding.
The start of the week was also quite busy as we made the trip on Tuesday to Latrobe, PA, to pay tribute to Mr. Palmer and his family at the memorial service, which was attended by friends, Ryder Cup players, major champions…and fans, some 4000 of them who couldn’t get into the Basilica but gathered around on the campus of St. Vincent College, not far from where Arnold grew up. Arnie’s Army marches on!
Of course it was bound to be an emotional event…and it really was. But it was also an event full of smiles and laughter, a moment to reflect and remember a great man and to celebrate his achievements in golf and in the wider context. The service lasted more than two hours and included some incredibly moving speeches, notably by Jack Nicklaus and Arnold’s grandson Sam Saunders, himself a PGA TOUR pro. Jack closed with the words, “remember when Arnold Palmer touched your life and touched your heart. Please don’t forget why.” Truly, none of us ever will.
On Wednesday I was honored when my good friend and mentor, Nick Price, chose me as one of his Captain’s Assistants, alongside Tony Johnstone and Geoff Ogilvy, for the 2017 Presidents Cup. The competitor in me wants to qualify by right to play on the team, for what would be my ninth appearance for the Internationals, but that doesn’t mean I’m not hugely proud to be chosen as part of Nick’s leadership team. It’s going to be a wonderful experience. We go back a long time. He was my mentor on TOUR, and I played a lot of practice rounds with him, got a lot of advice from Nick. We have become really great friends since then and I can’t wait to help him. It’s going to be an unreal Presidents Cup. To be at Liberty National looking at the financial district and the rest of Manhattan, it’s going to be incredible. The energy that comes out of that place is just crazy, and I think – I couldn’t see anything else beating that venue. I think it’s just going to be terrific.
As you will recall, I did not make the trip to Scotland for the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship this year. It was frustrating not being able to compete in one of my favourite events of the year, but I did manage to follow the action on TV over the weekend. Congrats to the tournament’s new champion Tyrrell Hatton; that’s got to be a pretty sweet feeling securing your first victory on Tour at the Home of Golf. All in all, it looked like another standout week for everyone involved, including the many charities that benefit every year from this event through the excellent Alfred Dunhill Links Foundation.
So, what’s happening this week? Well, after posting this report I’ll be en-route to Asia for a couple of weeks, firstly to Beijing, China, for some events with one of my sponsors, Pacific Links International. My relationship as a brand ambassador for Pacific Links International began at the 2015 US Open and at the end of that year we were fortunate to spend a few days touring Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. We were touched by the warmth of the hospitality that week and hugely appreciative of the effort that had gone into hosting us. I’m sure that’ll be the case again during our visit to Beijing this week.
From Beijing we’ll then fly onwards to Malaysia to prepare for next week’s CIMB Classic in Kuala Lumpur, my first event of the new PGA TOUR schedule. As I said in my previous report, we then follow that by teeing up in the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas, which ties-in nicely with the hosting there of The Els for Autism 2016 Golf Challenge Grand Finale. Just in the past week or so we’ve played the final two events on this year’s schedule, at Old Palm in Florida and at Troon North in Arizona, and we’re closing-in fast on our annual $2.5 million fundraising target.
This is the sixth year of The Golf Challenge and honestly the support has been incredible, as it has been in all the previous years, too. That’s the reason we were able to start construction and progress so quickly towards opening the doors at The Els Center of Excellence in August 2015 and then begin operations at the Lower School and Auditorium buildings. This Grand Finale in Las Vegas, a two-day event including an autism seminar, golf and entertainment hosted by Liezl and me, was conceived as our way of saying thanks to everyone who helps us – that includes donors, golfers, fundraisers, partners and sponsors. It’s a special weekend and one that we really look forward to every year.
I’ll finish with some important news for those who played or had friends and colleagues participate in the 2016 Golf Challenge. Due to Hurricane Matthew, The Els for Autism Foundation office has been closed, so the fundraising deadline to qualify for The Golf Challenge Grand Finale is being extended to Wednesday, October 12, 2016 at 5:00 EDT. Just visit the website to find out more: www.elsforautism.com.
Bye for now. Follow me on Twitter @TheBig_Easy.
