Tag: 2022 U.S. Adaptive Open

Nichols: Forget the LIV-PGA feud; the U.S. Adaptive Open has reminded us of golf’s true spirit

Many believe the very soul of golf is at stake. But not those who attended the U.S. Adaptive Open.

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 game in ways that are life-changing. Even life-saving.

Randy Shack, an Army vet whose spinal cord was injured by five roadside bombs, was homebound for nearly a decade because he didn’t want to go out in public in a wheelchair.

Now he’s an ambassador for PGA HOPE, a program that seeks to engage veterans in the game. Shack, who competed in the seated category at Pinehurst, marveled that this is the first adaptive tournament he’s played in that had wheelchair-accessible bathrooms on the course.

Gratitude overflows here.

As with any first, there’s room for improvement. Finding a way to televise what happened here would be a fine place to start. A “Live From” show on Golf Channel that highlights not only what these players have overcome, but their jaw-dropping athleticism would go a long way toward showing what’s possible.

The world needs to see this.

Dennis Walters plays from a. greenside bunker during a practice round at the 2022 U.S. Adaptive Open at Pinehurst Resort & C.C. (Course No. 6) in Village of Pinehurst, N.C. on Sunday, July 17, 2022. (Jeff Haynes/USGA)

Dennis Walters, the renowned trick-shot artist who is in the World Golf Hall of Fame, said at the start of the week that this must have been what it felt like to be Horace Rawlins in 1895, when the first U.S. Open was staged with 11 competitors. There were seven this week in Walters’ seated category.

“This is the first one,” he said. “That’s why I wanted to be here.”

But not without his dog, Gussie, short for Augusta. There were two service dogs in the field this week, the millionth reason why this event was better than any other this year.

Luke Carroll, 17, was one of four teenagers in Pinehurst. When he was 10, Carroll played AAU basketball and was the quarterback on his football team and the left-handed pitcher on his travel baseball team. One Saturday, Carroll complained about back pain after a basketball game. The next day, he was paralyzed from the waist down with idiopathic transverse myelitis, an inflammation of the spinal cord.

Carroll had to learn how to walk again and refused to live his life in a wheelchair. He fell in love with golf, and now carries a +0.3 handicap index and a dream of playing college golf at Vanderbilt.

“I’ve never played with anyone else like me,” said Carroll of his first adaptive tournament.

Luke Carroll, Neurological Impairment, hits his tee shot on hole 12 during the first round at the 2022 U.S. Adaptive Open at Pinehurst Resort & C.C. (Course No. 6) in Village of Pinehurst, N.C. on Monday, July 18, 2022. (Jeff Haynes/USGA)

Bemis would like to see the USGA expand the Adaptive Open to include regional qualifiers for players who aren’t already exempt, like they do for other championships.

“That way it’s more of a truer Open, if you will,” he said.

This week was an important step toward adding golf to the Paralympic Games, a hot topic of conversation in this close-knit community.

The USGA’s 15th championship will no doubt inspire both the disabled and able-bodied to push through boundaries in the pursuit of excellence.

As one parent on the range said before the start of the final round, what a gift this week has been.

No one here will ever be the same.

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How Brandon Canesi, the ‘world’s best no-handed golfer,’ is inspiring others to pick up a club at U.S. Adaptive Open

“I’m just trying to show people that there are other ways to get the job done,” Brandon Canesi said.

VILLAGE OF PINEHURST, N.C. – People have always stared at Brandon Canesi, who was born with no hands. He views those moments as an opportunity to shine.

They are people after all, he said, who feel as though they go unnoticed their entire lives.

“I’ve always had a can-do spirit,” said Canesi while warming up for the second round of the U.S. Adaptive Open. “Nothing has ever really stopped me.”

It’s impossible not to notice Canesi on the range. For starters, his clubs stand up out of the bag head-high. Canesi’s custom-made woods are 58 inches, and his irons are 56 inches.

When he picked up his grandfather’s clubs as a 6-year-old, Canesi began to swing the club naturally by anchoring under his arms. Today the ratio is the same, though he has upgraded the custom model his uncle made with him to ones designed by Cobra. The new set, built last fall, aren’t as whippy, which helps with more consistent contact.

“They flew me out to their headquarters,” said Canesi, “sponsored me, perfected my design and took my game to the next level.”

Canesi’s Instagram bio describes him as the “world’s best no-handed golfer.” Followers sometimes reach out and ask where they can get similar clubs. After watching Canesi, who carries a 5.6 handicap index, golf suddenly seemed within reach.

“I’m just trying to show people that there are other ways to get the job done,” said Canesi, echoing the sentiment of many this week.

The players in this inaugural event want to tell their stories, knowing full well that someone out there needs to hear it.

“I was a real little guy,” said Canesi. “Coaches didn’t see my potential or want to give me a chance on a lot of different things.”

His father, Sonny, who is caddying this week, recalled a pee-wee basketball game that went into triple-overtime. Canesi, ever the scrapper, zipped a three from the corner to end it.

“You talk about an eruption,” said Sonny. “I’ve never had to really worry about him because he’s always been that tough little kid from the beginning.”

Extreme sports took over Canesi’s life in his early teens: skateboarding, surfing, snowboarding. He’s actually a certified snowboard instructor.

The passion for golf began to flourish late in high school, when he and his uncle designed his custom clubs. He’d get up every morning and have his coffee with “Morning Drive,” dreaming of the day he’d be on Golf Channel. That moment came after his hole-in-one video went viral.

“One day I woke up, had my cup of coffee and watched myself on ‘Morning Drive,’” he said.

That’s around the time Canesi, who works at Trump National Doral in Miami, was introduced to adaptive golf tournaments. He currently plays in a handful a year but would like that to increase in a big way.

“Every tournament is getting a little more professional, a little bit more legit,” he said. “Nothing can touch this.”

Brandon Canesi, Multiple Limb Amputee, hits from the No. 8 tee box during the first round at the 2022 U.S. Adaptive Open at Pinehurst Resort & C.C. (Course No. 6) in Village of Pinehurst, N.C. on Monday, July 18, 2022. (Jeff Haynes/USGA)

Canesi has always loved the movie “Lion King” and has “hakuna matata” tattooed to his ribs.

“Just promotes my attitude,” he said, “no worries.”

Said Sonny: “He wants to be king.”

Every year, Canesi goes out to Las Vegas with the U.S. Adaptive Golf Alliance to put on a clinic for a couple dozen Shriners kids at TPC Summerlin. One year, Bryson DeChambeau hit Canesi’s driver at the clinic and swiped the tee out from underneath the ball, which dropped straight down. Add it to the list of memorable moments the game has already taken him.

“If people are going to look at me,” said Canesi. “I’m going to take that moment to step up and shine, to see it as a blessing in disguise. Golf has done that and more  for me.”

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PGA teaching pro Chris Biggins, born with cerebral palsy, carries a +2.8 handicap and is among favorites at U.S. Adaptive Open

“It just felt cool to do stuff that was extraordinary … stuff that you really shouldn’t be able to do, I guess.”

VILLAGE OF PINEHURST, N.C. ­­– Chris Biggins remembers standing in the front yard in Clarksville, Maryland, and calling a golf shot that hooked 30 yards around a tree to his brother, who caught the plastic ball with a baseball glove. Biggins’ friend, Ian Chalmers, called it one of the most incredible things he’d ever seen.

“As someone who is not very impressive even walking,” said Biggins, who was born with cerebral palsy, “being able to impress people with something was something I got addicted to. It just felt cool to do stuff that was extraordinary … stuff that you really shouldn’t be able to do, I guess.”

Chris Biggins watches his tee shot on hole 14 during the first round at the 2022 U.S. Adaptive Open at Pinehurst Resort & C.C. (Course No. 6) in Village of Pinehurst, N.C. on Monday, July 18, 2022. (Robert Beck/USGA)

Biggins, 30, opened up the inaugural U.S. Adaptive Open with a 2-over 74, four shots off the pace set by U.S. Army veteran Chad Pfeifer in the men’s division at Pinehurst No. 6. The best golfer in his county growing up, Biggins played collegiate golf at Methodist and is now Director of Player Development at The Country Club of Birmingham. Last year, the plus 2.8 handicap shot 9-under 63 en route to victory at the GSGA Adaptive Golf Championship.

“Looking back,” said Chalmers, who drove over five hours from Maryland to watch Biggins compete on Monday, “we didn’t give him a break for a second. We didn’t treat him any different from the start.”

•••

At her son’s one-year check-up, Robin Biggins asked the doctor how she could teach him how to go from lying to sitting and from sitting to standing. After checking out a few things, the doctor came over and hugged Robin, telling her that she’d need to have him checked out at the local children’s hospital.

Robin fought back tears on the 17th hole Monday as she relived that life-changing moment.

As they started going to therapy twice a week, Robin couldn’t help but think they were taking up someone else’s spot. As Chris grew older, however, the tightness became more apparent.

Biggins had braces on both legs until the 10th grade. In all, he’s had 17 procedures. Robin said it usually takes two therapists to pull his legs apart, they’re so tight from the spastic diplegia. Robin said Chris pushed himself to do everything his brothers, Patrick and Michael, did.

While many in the field this week use a cart, Biggins walks the fairways to keep from tightening up even more.

“He didn’t realize, I think, that he was different until the second or third grade,” said Robin. “There were one or two bullies, and the other kids didn’t put up with it.”

Chris Biggins and fiancé Heather Tapscott post after Round 1 at Pinehurst No. 6. (Golfweek photo)

Heather Tapscott met her fiancé on Bumble, an online dating app. She saw a picture of Biggins high-fiving his dog Hank in the mountains and was smitten. Several days after their match, Biggins told her about his disability and said he’d understand if she didn’t want to pursue anything.

“I felt awful when he told me that,” she said. “He shouldn’t have to tell people that.”

Their first date was Sept. 13, 2019. They plan to elope next February in Zion National Park. Biggins would’ve liked a wedding, she said. He’s been the best man in so many already. But, as a person who can count her dear friends on two fingers, Tapscott didn’t want to begin a deep search to even out the wedding party.

They’ll have a gathering when they return to Birmingham.

“Anywhere we go in town,” she said, “everybody loves Chris.”

Especially the kids. Coach Biggs, as he’s known, runs the junior program at The Country Club of Birmingham and last year, 243 kids competed in the club championship. Biggins expects even more when it’s held in two weeks. Tapscott recently went to the club to watch Biggins play Elvis in a skit. Naturally, the crowd went wild.

When asked if the kids were blowing up his phone this week, Biggins said he’d kept it off, just as he tells his students to do at tournaments.

“I can’t possibly break my own rules,” he said, smiling.

In fact, Biggins said competing against the 10- to 18-year-olds at the club ahead of this event has been the best training he’s had in years.

“I’m playing for them,” he said.

•••

For years, Biggins dreamed of skiing in the Paralympics. Every winter he’d go out to Park City, Utah, for several months to train at the National Ability Center. After last season, he decided to hang up his skis and focus on the next chapter of life with Tapscott.

But the Paralympics dream is still alive, however – for golf. Biggins’ father, Mark, hopes that with the USGA and R&A now so supportive of Adaptive Golf, that golf might soon be included.

Biggins already travels the world for the G4D (Golf for Disabled) Tour, a DP World Tour-sponsored, seven-event circuit that is held on the same course during the same tournament week. Next month, he’ll travel to Northern Ireland for an event held during the ISPS Handa World Invitational. Mark said officials take care of the disabled players in those events as if they were Rory McIlroy.

Biggins brothers: Patrick, Michael, Chris courtesy photo)

As Mark Biggins made his way around No. 6, he made a point to thank volunteers. One by one, they responded with how inspired they feel this week.

“I look around,” said Mark, “and all I see is heroes all around me.”

Biggins didn’t try to ride a bike until high school, his mom said. The motion of flexing the foot proved extremely difficult, but he made it work.

Chalmers laughed as he recalled a time he and Biggins were waiting for the school bus when Biggins fell down the icy hill in front of his house. When Chalmers tried to help, he too fell down, and they spent a good deal of time flailing around on the ice as the bus waited.

The kind and laid-back Biggins always has had a good sense of humor about things. His fiancé says she’s responsible for the beer when they go out to breweries.

“He shouldn’t be carrying delicate things,” she said.

With the exception of the trophy, of course.

“This is going to be one of the greatest weeks of my life,” said Biggins.

“Regardless how I end up shooting. It’s just such a monumental event. Hopefully, people watching will want to pick up golf and want to start playing because of us.”

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Golf gave U.S. Army veteran Randy Shack a ‘second life’ after roadside bombs injured his spine. Now he’s one of seven seated players at inaugural U.S. Adaptive Open

Shack is the longest seated player in the game, hitting drives as far as 285 yards.

VILLAGE OF PINEHURST, N.C. – Randy Shack was never in the first truck. The infantryman always went out in the second Humvee in the gunner’s position. But with his lieutenant already away on R&R, Shack moved up to the front gun, and he didn’t feel good about it.

“It was like the movies,” said Shack, of his 2007 tour in Iraq. “I’m going home the next day.”

Shack, an Army infantryman from Sulphur Springs, Texas, was relieved to have made it through the 12-hour shift without incident. It was time to go back to base, he thought. That is, until word came down that they had one fragmentation mission left to do.

“Oh, this is it,” he thought. “This is it.” 

The Vehicle Born Improvised Explosive Device the Humvee hit confirmed Shack’s worst fears. It was the fifth time he’d been involved in an IED explosion.

“Seven times you don’t have to go out anymore,” said Shack. “It’s like a punch card.”

Several of Shack’s friends reached seven and were diagnosed with traumatic brain injury. While that didn’t happen to Shack, not long after he returned from Iraq, just before his 26th birthday, he found that he could no longer sit up straight. The deterioration came swiftly, and doctors found the spinal cord damage too great to repair.

2022 U.S. Adaptive Open
Randy Shack hits his tee shot on hole eight during the first round at the 2022 U.S. Adaptive Open at Pinehurst in North Carolina. (Photo: Robert Beck/USGA)

For years, he scarcely left the house, not wanting to go out in public in a wheelchair. Even to the grocery store.

“After I got out, I spent about 10 years in the bottle,” he said. “I didn’t know what else to do.”

The breaking point for Shack came at home in the garage, when 3-year-old son Raiden opened the fridge and handed his father a beer. He knew the routine.

“Our daughter’s wedding was at the same time,” said Shack. “I don’t remember it.”

He choked up at the memories.

It was the PGA HOPE (Helping Our Patriots Everywhere) program that Shack said gave him a second life. Seven years ago, he sat in his truck for 30 minutes trying to decide if he wanted to get out that first day. That first round, he stayed in his wheelchair and used junior clubs.

Now he’s one of 96 competitors at the inaugural U.S. Adaptive Open, where he’s one of seven players competing in the Seated Player category. Other impairment categories include arm, leg, neurological, vision, multiple limb amputee, short stature and intellectual. Shack, a 12-handicap, opened with a 95 at Pinehurst No. 6 and came off the course still smiling under that thick black beard.

“I can’t even put into words what it means,” said Shack of competing in a national open. “It’s life-changing almost.”

With his SoloRider cart, Shack can drive on the greens and in bunkers without causing any damage. The electric seat swivels to the side of the cart and raises up so that Shack, while strapped in, can hit a golf ball.

Eric Hatch, director of SoloRider carts and Shack’s close friend and caddie, drove a trailer from Texas to Pinehurst with seven SoloRiders; six are being used in this tournament.

When the pair first met, they celebrated shots that traveled 75 yards. Now, Hatch said Shack is the longest seated player in the game, hitting 230 yards off the tee consistently and as far as 285 back home when he hits the speed slot on a certain par 5.

While Shack has worked on his fitness, a proper fitting, Hatch said, is what took his game to the next level.

Now a PGA HOPE ambassador for the North Texas section, Shack knows the program can be life-saving for veterans, and he’s eager to share how golf has changed his life. Next year, he’ll travel to the Home of Golf as part of the St. Andrews Legacy program for veterans.

“Adapt and overcome,” said Shack.

It’s the mindset required of everyone in this field.

Shack and his family recently moved out to the country in Texas, where donkeys, miniature potbelly pigs, cinnamon queen chickens, goats and turkeys share their land. Son Raiden isn’t really into golf, but sometimes he’ll hit it around the pasture with dad.

Seven years ago, Shack saw a flier for the PGA HOPE program at his local Veterans Affairs’ Spinal Cord Unit, and that flier changed his life.

“If it wasn’t for golf,” he said, “I’d still be at home drinking.”

No telling how many lives he’ll change now.

How to watch

While there will be no full television coverage of the event, fans can watch near real-time highlights and feature stories during Golf Today (noon-2 p.m. ET) and Golf Central (4-5 p.m. ET) on Golf Channel all three days (July 18-20). The trophy ceremony will be shown July 20 on Golf Central.

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