At the LPGA Drive On Championship last week, the first full-field event of the season on tour, Golfweek asked several players to name their favorite swing on tour (outside of their own). Not surprisingly, one name kept popping up – Nelly Korda.
The hometown favorite would go on to win her ninth LPGA career title in a playoff against Lydia Ko in Bradenton, Florida. Danish player Nanna Koerstz Madsen even noted that she has used videos of Korda’s swing in the past to help her get into certain positions.
The No. 2 player in the world wasn’t the only name mentioned, of course. Here are the favorites:
Boutier has posted rounds of 66 and 69 to get to 7 under for the championship.
Celine Boutier has three LPGA wins. A victory this week, though, would be her biggest by far.
After 36 holes at the 2023 Amundi Evian Championship in Evian-Les-Bains, France, the fourth of five LPGA majors in 2023, Boutier, a native of the host nation, holds a one-shot lead after hitting 10 of 13 fairways and 15 of 18 greens Friday.
Boutier has posted rounds of 66 and 69 to get to 7 under for the championship. She has 10 birdies and just three bogeys over the first two days.
She admitted to feeling the nerves of playing on home soil in a major.
“It’s definitely not easy. I feel like in the past I’ve definitely, you know, not handled it very well. I just feel like I put a lot of pressure on myself because I don’t want to disappoint anybody,” she said.”If I learned anything from the past, I really have to just focus on the job and on the course, on each shot. I feel like that’s really helped me really stay focused and not get ahead or think too much about the plans.”
Boutier is trying to treat this like any other tournament but there’s no avoiding things like doing news conferences twice, in two different languages.
“I feel like it’s a positive thing that the French media is talking about women’s golf and Evian,” she said. “I feel like anything I can do to bring more attention to the tournament and women’s golf, in general, is always a good thing.”
Heres some other things you should know about Friday’s second round.
Many players want to forget what happened when they tried to fly back home.
The KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Baltusrol in Springfield, New Jersey, was a fantastic event. Several stars made Sunday charges, including Rose Zhang and Yuka Saso, but it was 20-year-old Ruoning Yin who held the hardware when it was all said and done.
Although the week was a memorable one, many players want to forget all about what happened to them when they tried to fly back home.
More than 1,600 U.S. flights have been canceled and over 5,400 more have been delayed as of Tuesday evening, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware.
United Airlines flights were impacted most heavily, with 471 flights scrapped – 16 percent of its schedule – and more than 1,000 delayed. Newark Liberty International Airport and LaGuardia Airport in New York saw the most cancellations and delays.
The disruptions came as severe weather rolled through the East Coast and Central Plains. Strong weather that moved through the Northeast, especially around New York, was behind many of the cancellations and delays.
This wreaked havoc, forcing several players to ditch their plane tickets for car keys.
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Here’s what several LPGA players faced this week after competing at the 2023 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship:
The event is a co-sanctioned event between the DP World Tour, Ladies European Tour and LPGA.
Leona Maguire will compete in front of Irish fans at an LPGA event for the first time since becoming the first Irishwoman to win on tour last February at the LPGA Drive On Championship. The president of Ireland called her after the historic moment.
The 27-year-old Maguire is the highest-ranked player in the field at the ISPS Handa World Invitational after moving up to No. 17 following her T-4 finish at the AIG Women’s British Open, the best major finish of her career.
The ISPS Handa World Invitational is a co-sanctioned event between the DP World Tour, Ladies European Tour and LPGA. There will be 132 men and 132 women competing in two separate 72-hole stroke play tournaments (one for men and one for women) at the Galgorm Castle and Massereene Golf Club in Ballymena, Northern Ireland. For the first two rounds, all players will play one round on each course.
The total purse of $3 million will be split evenly between the men and women at $1.5 million each.
Here are six LPGA players to watch this week in Northern Ireland:
Thursday was already tough, but Emma Talley’s day got tougher after she damaged her putter.
BETHESDA, Md. – Emma Talley often hits her left foot with her putter. Not hard enough to break a toe. Just enough to let out a little steam, coupled with a “Gosh, dang it.”
On Thursday at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, a day that was already tough by any standard on Congressional’s Blue Course, Talley’s got tougher when she struck her foot with the putter after a short missed putt on the sixth hole and damaged her club.
“It was a freak accident,” said Talley, who said the club had probably weakened over time. While Rule 4.1a(2) says that regardless of the nature of what caused the damage, the damaged club can be treated as conforming for the rest of the round, Talley instead pulled out her 58-degree wedge to replace her putter.
The former U.S. Women’s Amateur and NCAA champion played her last four holes in 3 over, finishing at 6-over 78. The tears flowed during and after the round. Talley said she felt both frustrated and embarrassed.
“Obviously you want to shed light when you’re out here,” said Talley. “If they didn’t see what happened, they’d probably think I snapped it over my leg.”
A devastating tornado ripped through Princeton, Kentucky, in December 2021, causing widespread destruction.
Emma Talley flew to Singapore over the weekend to resume the LPGA season, but her heart is never far from Princeton, Kentucky. It’s a friendly, hope-filled community with four stoplights and a big sign that says “Home of Emma Talley” on the way into town. When Talley, 27, earned her card for the 2018 season, a 5-foot-wide photo of her went up in the local Wal-mart.
Talley was on the other side of the world in New Zealand when a devastating tornado ripped through her beloved Princeton on December 10, 2021, with winds up to 190 mph, causing widespread destruction.
Talley’s parents’ house was fine. A piece of metal went through one of the windows but nothing major. The Talleys live on the 16th hole of Princeton Golf and Country Club, and they rode out the storm in the basement of club president Fred Foltz, who lives up near the 16th green.
While the Talley’s Greenspoint neighborhood didn’t take a direct hit, many families in the golf course’s other community, Country Club Hills, lost everything.
“My parents have survivor’s guilt, to be honest,” said Talley, who was able to stream the local news from the Southern Hemisphere. While Talley was eager to get home to help, her mom told her to stay put. Someone might need her bedroom.
Emma Talley plays her shot on the 10th tee during round two of the HUGEL-AIR PREMIA LA Open at Wilshire Country Club on April 22, 2021, in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)
Brandon Knoth, a local attorney, had lived on the second hole at Princeton for seven years with his wife and three kids. He’s the girl’s golf coach by default at Caldwell Country because middle daughter Claire is the school’s only player.
Knoth was in the corner of the basement on the couch with one daughter under each arm when the tornado hit. Their ears popped from the pressure and the roar was so loud they couldn’t hear their house being torn apart above.
If he’d known the severity of what was about to happen, Knoth would’ve brought their three dogs down with them. When they went up to survey the damage, the garage was gone along with the dogs. Miraculously, two of the dogs came back, but their youngest, a one-year-old English Cream Retriever named Basil, didn’t survive.
Knoth’s wife and eldest daughter immediately flew back from a Miami birthday trip to find utter chaos. Some of the walls were still standing on the first floor but besides a few clothes from a dresser, most of it was gone. There was a washing machine in the yard, but it wasn’t theirs.
Residents scoured the golf course picking up belongings that were scattered about – shirts and ties and pictures. The Knoth’s sliding glass door blew out in the living room and their recliner flew across the course, but somehow the Christmas stockings – in that same room – were still hanging on the mantel.
“We had just finished renovating our house,” said Knoth. “We loved it, and never planned on leaving it.”
While the EF4 tornado was the deadliest on record in Kentucky with 77 deaths, incredibly, no one in the Princeton community died. The latest census put the population of Princeton at 6,270.
Princeton Golf and Country Club.
Mayor Dakota Young said 62 homes have been demolished in Princeton and that number is expected to rise to as many as 70 by the time insurance reviews are settled. Foltz said at least 40 of those homes are located in the golf course community.
Talley shared a GoFundMe link on her social media accounts to try and help raise funds. Fellow Kentucky native Justin Thomas joined her in raising awareness, as did top American Nelly Korda. To date, the Caldwell Chamber Tornado Fund has reached $155,737 of its $200,000 goal.
Emma’s father, Dan, the town’s optometrist, was prepared to pay out of pocket for contacts and glasses for Princeton residents before his supplier came through with help. Her mother, Jennifer, helped sort through the debris to find clothes she could take back to her house to wash over and over. The Talleys lent one of their cars to a friend. Two families are currently living in their home in Princeton while they winter in Florida.
“People need help,” said Talley. “There’s not much else to say other than that.”
Emma and Mayor Young grew up together in Princeton and graduated from the same class. Emma’s mom used to bake a chocolate chip pound cake, Young said, when he would come over to the house to study biology.
Young graduated from the University of Kentucky with a degree in economics and, at age 24, became the mayor of Princeton. Talley said he’s a big reason why the town’s clean-up efforts moved so quickly.
The tornado hit on a Friday. Young said he reached out to the golf course on Saturday to inquire about using some of their property as a landfill, given the shortage of space in the area.
“They did not hesitate,” said Young, who set a goal of 45 days to wrap up major cleanup efforts. They finished in 43.
Princeton Golf and Country Club.
The landfill is about an acre in size and has 60 complete houses buried inside along with innumerable garages, sheds, and roofs from other properties. Built into an existing hillside, it blends well into the current landscape and doesn’t interfere with any existing golf holes. Young called it a godsend.
“You wouldn’t guess there was a landfill there,” said Foltz, “ever.”
Knoth said the tornado stretched at least eight houses wide. That’s how many in a row were pulverized on his street.
The Knoths are trying to make plans to rebuild on that same lot, and their new house would sit near their old house, now covered beneath the earth.
“It will be buried right there behind us forever,” he said.
A cardinal rests on the hand of Claire Knoth the morning after a tornado destroyed the family’s home in Princeton, Kentucky. (Photo: Tara Miller)
Mercifully, downtown Princeton was spared. Residents still go to work and school every day. Some just don’t have a place to stay in town anymore as they wrestle with outrageous building costs. With construction costs up nearly 20 percent, many in Princeton find themselves unable to rebuild what they lost.
“We’ve heard costs of $250 to $275 a square foot,” said Young. “It’s extraordinary.”
Golf course superintendent Lee Childress lives about 30 minutes away from Princeton and said the tornado skirted about 15 miles south of his home. He had no damage. The next morning he drove to the golf course, taking spare clothes and a generator to an employee who lives on the course.
Childress, a fine player in his own right, has been superintendent of the local club for three years now, and Foltz said the course was in the best shape he’d ever seen since he joined more than 40 years ago. Sadly, only four holes were unaffected by the tornado. Flying two-by-fours, Foltz said, did significant damage to the greens.
The first nine holes at Princeton were designed by famed architect Perry Maxwell in the 1930s, and trees were the main source of protection against low scoring, given that it tipped out at about 6,600 yards. With close to 300 trees lost, they’ll have to get creative with long grass.
Princeton Golf and Country Club, before the tornado.Princeton Golf and Country Club, after the tornado.
“That was probably the most impressive thing, in a bad way,” said Childress. “The force of Mother Nature being able to pull up a full-grown oak tree out of the ground and move it 5 yards.”
They’d hoped to open nine holes in March, but damage from an ice storm moved that start date back to early April.
“Hopefully that front nine can be a sanctuary for people,” said Talley.
Everyone in the Knoth family had a set of clubs, and they kept two golf carts at the house. They still haven’t found one of the carts, but the other one was lying upside down on a heap of rubbish. Someone said to Knoth: “I bet that thing will still run.”
The cart didn’t have a seat or a top, but Knoth put a piece of plywood down and hit the gas one day and it took off like a bullet.
“It’s Lightning McQueen,” said Knoth, referring to the main character in Pixar’s “Cars” movie. “We joke that it got hit by lightning.”
Brandon Knoth’s golf cart, truck, and home the morning after the tornado struck. (Courtesy photo)
During her first tournament of the year on the LPGA, Talley donated money every time she made a birdie to help Princeton. Later this year she plans to help with a fundraising event in Paducah, Kentucky, that would benefit rebuilding efforts in Princeton and surrounding areas.
Before boarding a plane bound for Asia, Talley live-streamed her high school’s district basketball game. She keeps up with Princeton just as the town keeps up with her. There’s a monument of sorts dedicated to her on the first tee at the country club. Members hope to have all 18 holes open by late summer. Lee said their greatest area of need right now is manpower.
“Everything was shattered,” said Childress. “We’ve got to go around and almost handpick shingles and small debris that we can’t pick up with any type of equipment.”
Talley feels a renewed energy about her golf game this season. After having to rebuild her swing last year, she’s not shy about stating her goal of making the U.S. Solheim Cup team next year in Spain. No doubt there would be a viewing party at the club. Any excuse to celebrate and support one of their own.
“I think that’s the cool thing about a small town,” said Talley. “There’s a lot of hope.”
In 2018, Emma Talley looked at the top players and decided that she needed to get longer to be successful.
Emma Talley wasn’t sure what she was thinking when she originally booked a flight back to Nashville in between LPGA tournaments in Texas and Ohio. But the hurried stopover turned out to be a blessing after she got into the Amundi Evian Championship field thanks to a career day in Dallas and needed to repack.
Talley was an alternate for the last major, the KPMG Women’s PGA in June, and didn’t get into the field. She did get a practice round in at Atlanta Athletic Club with good friend Austin Ernst, who said something along the lines of, “Your game is so good, what is going on?”
The pep talk from Ernst added fuel to a fire that had been reduced to fumes in recent months. Talley, a former NCAA and U.S. Women’s Amateur champion, joined the LPGA in 2018 and made 21 of 27 cuts that first season, earning $421,287 – a fine start for a rookie. But she didn’t win. And when Talley looked at the top players at the time – led by Ariya Jutanugarn – she decided that she needed to get longer to be successful.
“From there,” she said, “I lost my golf swing.”
Emma Talley holds up the Robert Cox Trophy after she defeated Yueer Cindy Feng 2 and 1 at the 2013 U. S. Women’s Amateur at Country Club of Charleston.
Talley developed a two-way miss in 2019 and missed 12 cuts. In 2020, she started swinging with her arms to keep the ball in play and actually lost distance, hitting pitching wedge only 105 yards.
Talley, who averages around 247 yards off the tee and ranks 138th, went back to her old coach, Todd Trimble, last December.
“He was like ‘What in the world have you done?’ ” recalled Talley. Trimble told her that rebuilding her golf swing would be a four-step process.
Talley’s short game coach, Gareth Raflewski, suggested she get in touch with sports psychologist Paul Dewland. Talley, one of the friendliest souls in golf, needed someone to talk to.
Talley had a big team in place. She went back to her roots and dug into what made her one of the best amateur golfers in the world. But the process was painfully slow. So slow, in fact, that she thought about quitting the game, though she couldn’t imagine what else she might do. She missed five consecutive cuts to start the season.
Talley phoned former Alabama coach Mic Potter and made a trip down to Tuscaloosa on Cinco de Mayo.
“She’d gotten kind of out of her footprint,” said Potter.
The veteran coach reminded her of what made her successful and what she needed to work on. Talley spent time talking to the current team as well.
“They enjoyed her immensely,” said Potter.
The feeling was mutual.
“Just seeing all those girls practice,” said Talley, “it just kind of motivated me and made me remember why I loved the game.”
Looking back, Talley wishes she’d just recognized that she’d know all the courses in her sophomore season on the LPGA and would likely pick up one or two strokes a week from that alone. It certainly would’ve saved a lot of heartache.
When Talley had put in the hard work but wasn’t getting results, her team kept reminding her to “water the plants.”
Slowly, she began to see some light.
“I knew it was back the last few weeks,” she said, “but it just took a few weeks for the fruitation.
“Is that a word?” she asked, laughing.
The fruits of Talley’s labor sprung forth at the Volunteers of America Classic, where she opened with a 65 and closed with a career-best 63, finishing in a share of fourth.
“I didn’t win this week,” she sad, “but in my mind I did.”
No Thanksgiving will ever be the same for the Brown family now that son Cullan is gone, but his memory lives on through friends and family.
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Thanksgiving is opening day for duck-hunting season in Cullan Brown’s part of the world, and he looked forward to the chase as much as his grandmothers’ dressing and homemade rolls. Brown liked his duck wrapped in bacon and grilled with jalapeños for added kick.
No Thanksgiving will ever be the same for the Brown family now that Cullan is gone. The beloved Brown of Eddyville, Kentucky, son of Rodney and Emily and known locally as “the mayor,” died on Aug. 4, less than one year after being diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a form of bone cancer in his left thigh. He was 20.
“The last promise I ever made was that we would continue on with our lives and live it the way he would want us to,” said Brown’s mother Emily, fighting back tears.
Cullan always did have a way of lifting people up.
After Cullan died, the Browns had about 24 hours to decide what they wanted to do in their son’s memory. Cullan, who played a season of college golf at the University of Kentucky before his illness, loved to interact with kids on the range and at tournaments. Only weeks before his cancer diagnosis last year, Cullan competed in the PGA Tour’s Barbasol Championship, where three juniors waited 30 minutes for him to finish interviews to get an autograph. Brown, in turn, spent 20 minutes talking to them.
Creating a GoFundMe page to raise money for Western Kentucky junior golf seemed like a natural cause. The GoFundMe account has raised $27,445 to date and last month’s Cullan Brown Invitational on the Bluegrass Golf Tour raised around $10,000.
Brown’s longtime swing coach and close friend Nick Mills said the field for Cullan’s junior event was stronger than the state high school tournament held just a few weeks prior. The next day, Emily noted, local sportscasters in Paducah held a golf-a-thon that raised close to $7,000. Checks still come to the Browns’ house or the bank in town.
Cullan Brown caddied for Emma Talley at the LPGA stop in Arkansas. (Photo courtesy of Talley)
LPGA player Emma Talley, who was like an older sister to Cullan, sits on the board of the foundation along with Mills. She donates money every time she makes a birdie on tour.
“Every day I think about him,” she said at last week’s Pelican Women’s Championship in Belleair, Florida, “and every time I make a birdie I think about him, and I think that will last forever.”
There are a number of ideas floating around regarding how to use the money. They’d like to provide equipment and lessons to juniors struggling to get started in the game. Maybe put Cullan’s name on an academy or build a short-game practice facility.
“Cullan’s life would’ve been full of philanthropy,” Mills said.
When Cullan was in high school, he was tasked with preparing the meat for a Future Farmers of America banquet. A local farmer donated the brisket and Cullan and his friend Jack started mixing up spices to create a signature rub. There wasn’t a morsel of meat left in the buffet line that day. C&J’s Flavor Dust, now a staple of Lyon County, Kentucky, was off and running.
The day the Browns moved Cullan home from college because of his illness, the family packed up all his Flavor Dust supplies in Rubbermaid totes and stored them in the basement.
“We did find his recipe for Flavor Dust,” Emily said of the secret hidden away on Cullan’s phone. They hope to raise funds for Cullan’s foundation by making Flavor Dust in bulk.
Cullan cooking for his friends for the last time. (Photo courtesy of Emily Brown)
Cullan’s love of cooking was legendary among his friends and family. He and Mills had a tradition of texting pictures of their meals to each other to try and guess the restaurant. At one time, Cullan told his mom they’d exchanged 3,000 photos.
Emily doesn’t remember much about the day she buried her son. Much of it remains lost in a fog. Over 700 people signed the visitation book. There was a constant stream of people moving in and out to love on the Brown family for eight hours. They set up a tent with 600 chairs on the Eddyville First Baptist Church lawn for the funeral and sent the overflow across the street to the local school where Emily works.
Cullan told his family “love you too” on his way to bed every night and his disposition rarely changed. Cullan took life in stride, even as chemotherapy battered his body. He never lost his wit.
“I don’t know where he got it,” said Emily. “It was just a God-given blessing that he was that way.”
Earlier this month, the town of Eddyville buried 10-year-old Owen Matthews, who suffered from rhabdomyosarcoma, a type of sarcoma made up of cells that normally develop into skeletal muscles and is more common in children than adults. Matthews was diagnosed just over a month after Cullan and died three months to the day after the Browns lost their son.
Owen had a sister who went to school with Cullan’s 15-year-old sister, Cathryn. When news of Owen’s death spread throughout the school, it was Cathryn who helped so many kids navigate the unspeakable grief.
“I’ve always called her my tough girl,” said Emily.
Last summer Cullan felt well enough to watch Cathryn play in a Hurricane Junior Golf Tour event on Sea Island, Cullan’s favorite place to play.
Earlier this year, Cathryn told her parents that she was giving up basketball to concentrate fully on golf. The family plans to spend the Christmas holiday in Florida while Cathryn competes in a Hurricane Junior Golf Tour event. Talley checks in daily with Cathryn and plays golf with her when she’s back home in Kentucky. Cathryn loves chocolate so Emma’s mom, Jennifer, likes to bring sweet treats over to the Brown’s home.
“(Cathryn) said mom, you know Cullan always told me I could be as good as he was,” said Emily, “or even better if I just set my mind to it and worked as hard as he worked.”
Cathyrn hopes to one day carry a blue-and-white Kentucky golf bag like her brother did. Emily raves about how supportive the women’s golf team at Kentucky has been to Cathryn this past year.
The Kentucky golf program became family during Cullan’s recruitment process.
“I don’t know how we would’ve survived this whole ordeal without them,” Emily said.
Brown in his college dorm room with teammates Alex Goff (left) and Jay Kirchdorfer.
The Wildcats opened their fall season in October at the Blessings Collegiate Invitational in Arkansas and at the team qualifier, coaches gave the added incentive that the winner would get to carry Cullan’s bag. Alex Goff won the team qualifier and put Brown’s name plate on his bag for the tournament. Looking down at his former roommate’s name had a way of melting away frustration.
Goff collected his first college title carrying Cullan’s bag in Arkansas, despite playing the wrong ball on the 18th hole. The trophy couldn’t have been more fitting: the figure of a bronzed male golfer with “Blessings” scripted beside it.
“You can’t even write something up like that,” said Goff.
It was an unforgettable moment that overflowed with warmth and joy, just like Cullan.
Emma Talley will be mic’d up at the Marathon LPGA Classic on Thursday, and she’s doing it in honor of her late friend Cullan Brown.
SYLVANIA, Ohio – Before Emma Talley hit the road for the LPGA’s restart in Ohio, she had dinner with her best friend Cullan Brown. She ordered the turkey bacon from Our Daily Bread, his favorite sandwich shop in Eddyville, Kentucky.
“We had strawberry cake,” she said. “He was as normal as ever and as happy as ever.”
Talley never dreamed it would be the last meal they’d share together. On Tuesday, Brown, a standout at Kentucky, died from osteosarcoma, a form of bone cancer in his left thigh. He was 20.
Talley was set to be mic’d up for the first round of the Marathon LPGA Classic alongside Christina Kim and Jillian Hollis in the 12:53 p.m. ET group. She backed out on Tuesday night, thinking it would be too much.
All she wanted to do was pack up and race back home to Kentucky to comfort his parents, Rodney and Emily Brown, and his sister Cathryn. To be wrapped up in their tight-knit community and share memories of the pure-hearted man who breathed joy into the world.
But instead, she decided to stay. She’ll wear a mic while competing on Thursday for the first time, too. The sociable Talley might not be herself tomorrow, but she’s determined to do what Cullan would want. She wants everyone to know his story.
“I’m just going to try to get through it and be strong for him,” said Talley, “and hopefully play well for him, too. I definitely think I’ll have the best angel in the world and the best second caddie. He’s going to be there every step of the way.”
(Courtesy of Emma Talley)
There are fewer than 1,000 cases of osteosarcoma diagnosed each year. Because of that, new research is rare. Talley hopes Cullan’s story will help to change that. Nearly every text message she has received since his passing tells the same story: Cullan was their favorite.
“Every tournament, whether he won or got last,” said Talley, “he’d say ‘I hope the golf is good, but I’m here for the good food and the good fun.’ ”
It’s in that spirit that Talley remained on site at the Marathon Classic, wiping away tears as player after player offered her condolences.
Only weeks after Brown made the cut at the PGA Tour’s Barbasol Championship last year, finishing 10 under, the team announced that he would be stepping away from the 2019-20 season to start chemotherapy.
Brown made seven starts for the Wildcats and garnered four top-20 finishes in the 2018-19 season. His opening 64 at the Mason Rudolph tied for the lowest 18-hole score in the coach Brian Craig era. His 54-hole total of 206 tied for the best mark of the season.
Photo: Kentucky Athletics
When Brown got sick, teammate Jay Kirchdorfer started a GoFundMe page to help ease the family’s financial concerns. Donations surpassed $25,000 in six days. It’s now over $56,000. Both the Kentucky men’s and women’s teams had the hashtag #B4B – “Birdies for Brownies” stitched onto their clothing last season to honor Brown.
It’s still so much of a shock. Talley, a former NCAA and U.S. Women’s Amateur champion, remained hopeful throughout Cullan’s nearly year-long battle, believing that a young man so strong and so full of life would beat this cruel disease. It was only three weeks ago that Cullan was preparing a hibachi dinner for loved ones. Only last week that her mom was crying from laughing so hard at Cullan’s jokes.
One reason Cullan chose to stay in Kentucky for college was that he wanted to be home for hunting season. The two friends would often enjoy a little target practice off of Cullan’s back porch.
“That’s one reason I came out today,” she said. “I needed some fresh air and I wanted to be where he loved.”
