Stricker led wire-to-wire in winning the 2021 tournament and endured a life-threatening illness in the months that followed.
Who will win the final Bridgestone Senior Players Championship? It’s up for grabs, but players appear to be enjoying themselves at the fourth and penultimate senior major of the season.
Alker has four PGA Tour Champions victories, including the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship in 2022.
New Zealander Steven Alker is enjoying playing golf at Firestone Country Club for the first time.
Alker spoke Friday about the first time he visited Akron and walked the famed South Course — as a spectator in the late 1990s.
“Funny enough, a buddy of mine, Phil Tataurangi, who used to play the [PGA] Tour, I think he played here a couple times in the World event,” Alker said Friday after posting a 4-under 66 in the second round of the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship.
“So, followed him around a couple days and I knew the layout and I’ve seen the golf course, but in terms of playing it, no. I’m loving it. You’ve just got to golf your ball.”
Alker was playing the Canadian Tour at the time and said he drove down to Akron and spent a couple of days walking the grounds of Firestone.
Alker, 50, left Firestone on Friday in a tie for first with Tim Petrovic, Alex Cejka and Joe Durant at 6-under through the first two days of the Bridgestone Senior Players.
“It’s nice to have a bogey-free round at Firestone,” Alker said. “It’s that type of golf course, you’ve just got to keep going. But kind of everything, drove it in the fairway for the most part and hit a lot of greens except for the last few. I scrambled nicely the last couple holes. Overall, just a solid day. Kind of kept my nose clean and haven’t done too much wrong. A few more putts would be nice, but yeah, at Firestone, just fairways and greens around here.”
Alker has won four PGA Tour Champions victories — the TimberTech Championship during the 2020-21 season, and the Rapiscan Systems Classic, the Insperity Invitational the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship in 2022.
He also has seven international wins — the Fiji Open in 1995, the Tahiti Open and the Queensland Open (Australia) in 1996, the South Australian Open (Australia) in 1997 and the McDonald’s PEI Challenge (Canada), the Bayer Championship (Canada) and the PEI Challenge (Canada) in 2000.
Alker is also enjoying playing in a field of Hall of Fame golfers on the Champions Tour.
“Just getting comfortable in this company, I think that’s the biggest thing,” Alker said. “Just like learning to play my game. It’s been hard to watch these guys but just stay in my skin and play my game. And then learning the courses, these are all new. I like playing new courses, it kind of gets me up and going. So just everything, to travel to different places, just the whole package. It’s been fun.
“… I hadn’t played with a lot of these guys when I was on Tour or Europe or anything. So [Steve] Stricker, Vijay [Singh], Ernie [Els] and all those guys, I hadn’t played with them before. Just getting comfortable playing with them. And they’re super guys. Maybe get a little bit older and soften up, loosen up a little bit, I don’t know, but they’re very approachable and it’s a lot of fun.”
Michael Beaven can be reached at mbeaven@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow Beaven on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MBeavenABJ.
Rocco Mediate listens to wife’s advice to succeed in Bridgestone Senior Players Championship at Firestone Country Club.
Rocco Mediate is in search of the perfect swing on each shot.
Every golfer is.
Mediate has had his share through the years on the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour, but in recent years he has experienced what he calls “physical failures in the golf swing.”
Recent conversations with his wife have helped Mediate, 59, overcome a few shortcomings and increase his confidence.
“I’m getting a little better,” Mediate said Thursday after carding a 2-under-par 68 in the first round of the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship on the South Course at Firestone Country Club.
“I had some issues, I call them physical failures in the golf swing. I had a few things I messed with. But, you know, actually Jess, my wife’s kind of like, you know, you’ve been doing this for now 37 years now on tour, maybe you want to trust your muscle memory? Do you always have to keep screwing around with stuff?
Rocco Mediate reads the green on the 5th hole during the first round of the Bridgestone Senior Players Tournament at Firestone Country Club on Thursday. (Jeff Lange/Akron Beacon Journal)
“And it’s true, coming from someone who doesn’t play, she doesn’t play, she just watches. She’s like just go play. And I think that’s what I’m trying to do more. My attitude was like this is terrible, how am I going to get around with this? I think all of us go through it and it’s not really that bad. It’s just a matter of trusting — I call it trusting your shape. My shape does this. If I can’t trust it, no matter what’s over there, I’ve got issues. I’ve been trusting it more.”
Mediate finished Thursday’s first round four shots behind first-round leader Alex Cejka, who shot a 6-under-par 64 with six birdies.
Cejka started on No. 10 and made a birdie on Nos. 10, 12, 15 and 16 on the back nine. He then dropped in birdie putts on Nos. 7 and 9 on the front nine.
David Toms posted a 66 to sit in second place, and Jerry Kelly and Ernie Els are tied for third at 3-under-par.
Mediate’s 68 tied him with Miguel Angel Jiménez, Tim Petrovic, Steven Alker, Shane Bertsch, Bob Estes, Cameron Beckman and Tom Gillis for fifth at 2-under-par.
“I had a reasonable Open, the week before I played OK in Madison and this was a really clean — just a couple loose ones, but we’re human, unfortunately,” Mediate said. “I don’t know where I got the idea that we never miss because I must have been thinking — I must have had a dream that I was someone else because we always miss. It’s a matter of fixing your — you know, making up for that short game. Jerry Kelly, he never misses, he never misses.”
Rocco Mediate plays out of the bunker on the 6th hole during first round of the Bridgestone Senior Players Tournament at Firestone Country Club on Thursday. (Jeff Lange/Akron Beacon Journal)
Mediate said it is important to not overthink and overanalyze.
“Pete Bender’s one of the best of all time [caddies],” Mediate said. “He goes, ‘The only time you ever play crappy is when you think too much. No kidding.’ And he’s right, he’s right. It’s like it cuts through the crap. It’s like you’re doing this because you’re doing that. So my swing key always used to be gather and go, gather and go and that’s all I thought about today. Most of them came off where I was looking.
“You know, I didn’t think of any physical thing, just get in behind it and go, that’s it. So it worked most of the day. Hit a few bad ones. But Mr. Short Game, that’s why we do all that crap that makes up for it. It’s just Golf 101, I guess. But around here, it’s a good one. It’s just relentless. We were talking about it, it just doesn’t stop. There’s no like walk in the park if you miss a shot. It’s a nightmare if you miss in certain spots, but it is a great place. It’s cool that we’re here.”
Mediate finished tied for seventh last year at Firestone with a 4-over 284 that earned him $96,000.
“I’ve loved this course since I [first] played it,” Mediate said. “I think my first NEC was ’91 and I had a couple of 1-under rounds maybe and it was just so hard, and it still is.
“This year the rough’s not up like it was and I hit it in most of the fairways. Missed a couple, which [was] much easier to play from the short stuff. Always tell people, you know what, fairway mowers are really, really expensive and make the fairways perfect. Rough mowers are cheap, they don’t need good mowers to mow the rough. This is another one of those courses where it actually rewards you for hitting in the fairway. I think most of us love that, I know I do.
“And if you miss, too bad, deal with it. I caught a horrible two lies on 16, but it’s rough. You know, I’m like, God, I wish this was a foot more to the right. I had a hard pick. It was hard. That’s the game. We have to deal with it. I love courses like this. And like I said, I wish we played twice a month like this. Not every day because then we would all go completely bonkers, but I love the hard — and I’ve always loved Firestone, it’s hard not to like it.”
Michael Beaven can be reached at mbeaven@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow Beaven on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MBeavenABJ.
Kaulig Companies will supplant Bridgestone as the title sponsor of the Senior Players Championship.
For a while, the financial commitment required for Kaulig Companies to become the title sponsor of the PGA Tour Champions’ Senior Players Championship was daunting.
“On first blush, people would say, ‘Oh, let’s pass because, you know, it costs some money,’” said Tim Clepper, president and CEO of Kaulig Companies.
But then Clepper and Executive Chairman Matt Kaulig thought about the memories they’d already made at Firestone Country Club.
Kaulig, 49, a Cincinnati native, played quarterback at the University of Akron from 1992-95, married a Zips cheerleader, and put his corporate headquarters in the area. He was a tournament volunteer during his UA days, driving a van at the prestigious PGA Tour event.
“My earliest thing was Davis Love III was in our vehicle and we just thought that was the coolest thing ever,” Kaulig said.
Clepper, 47, brought his sons when they were babies, remembering the day Zach Johnson flipped his 3-year-old a golf ball. While a student at Kent State, he and his father made it “our thing” to attend the Bridgestone Invitational, won by Tiger Woods eight times.
“It’s these kind of memories that we have in our own backyard that we’re excited to take to the next level,” Clepper said
The event’s philanthropic goals, shared by Kaulig Companies, sealed the deal.
It was announced Wednesday that Kaulig Companies will supplant Bridgestone as the title sponsor of the Senior Players Championship with a four-year agreement starting in 2023.
Kaulig Companies’ sponsorship will keep the event at Firestone through at least 2026. Bridgestone will continue to be a partner in the event, according to Miller Brady, president of PGA Tour Champions.
The announcement was made during media day for the 2022 Bridgestone Senior Players, set for July 7-10, 2022. Among those attending were Akron mayor Dan Horrigan and Summit County Executive Ilene Shapiro.
This year, a field of 79 will compete for a $3 million purse in the 72-hole event. The 2023 tournament will be held July 13-16.
Don Padgett III, executive director of the Bridgestone Senior Players, said Kaulig Companies will be only the third title sponsor in seven decades of tournament golf at Firestone, joining NEC and Bridgestone.
“And when we say 70 years, we’re the fourth longest-running venue of consecutive professional golf in the country,” Padgett said. “The other venues are Augusta National, Pebble Beach and Colonial in Ft. Worth, so that’s pretty good company to be in.”
Through Northern Ohio Golf Charities, professional golf at Firestone has given over $30 million to area causes. Clepper said Akron’s I Promise School, founded by LeBron James, and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation are among the 150 charities Kaulig Companies have supported. Kaulig said he and his wife Lisa will serve as chairs of Akron Children’s Hospital’s Walk for Babies this year.
Clepper and Kaulig had no idea they were signing on for the 70th anniversary in 2023.
“That’s a huge deal,” Clepper said.
“When Don said that today, 70 straight years, it is special and it’s a responsibility that we take very seriously,” Kaulig said. “Bridgestone has been unbelievable for the community and for this tournament over the last 16 years. We want to take it to another level and be great and make Akron proud.”
Firestone hosted the PGA Tour’s World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational from 2006-2018 before the event moved to Memphis, Tennessee, under the sponsorship of FedEx. With Bridgestone’s continued support, Akron was then awarded one of the Champions Tour’s five senior majors. Steve Stricker (2021), Jerry Kelly (2020), and Retief Goosen (2019) have captured titles at the iconic South Course.
Kaulig Companies Limited is the single-member family office (SFO) for Kaulig and his immediate family. Its business platforms include sports and entertainment, marketing and event management, private equity, real estate and investment advisory services.
Its sports interests include Kaulig Racing, a NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series team. Now it will expand its footprint into golf.
“If it was a golf tournament in Florida, I don’t think it would have as much interest,” Kaulig said. “We do like sports, the excitement of sports, and what it can do for us. We have NASCAR and that’s all about sponsorship and your logoed up everywhere. Just to have our name as the title sponsor, the name of the golf tournament right here in Akron is really special to us.”
Clepper sees broad marketing opportunities with the relationships Kaulig Companies has developed.
“We can bring partners together, new partners here to this event, which will ultimately help us raise money for the charities in the community,” Clepper said. “Ultimately this is a charity event and the more brands and friends and fans that we can bring to this tournament, the more money we can raise, the more money we can give back.”
There will be a private event space, an outdoor patio and an elevated sports bar.
AKRON, Ohio — Firestone Country Club will be getting a high-tech BigShots entertainment and dining venue this year.
BigShots Golf, part of Dallas-based ClubCorp, on Tuesday said it plans to open a new facility at the Akron club in the fall. Construction starts this month, the company said in a news release. ClubCorp owns and manages the Firestone property.
Firestone hosted a WGC event since its evolution from the World Series of Golf in 1999 until 2018, and has since hosted the Senior Players Championship ever since. The famous course less than an hour from downtown Cleveland has played host to PGA Tour tournaments since it hosted the Rubber City Open from 1954-59. Firestone also hosted PGA Championships in 1960, ’66 and ’75.
BigShots filed plans in February 2020 with the city showing it wanted to build the virtual-and-actual golf-themed venue at the country club.
BigShots open to public
What will be called BigShots Golf Firestone will be the seventh location of its kind in the nation, according to the news release. The facility will be open to the public.
The company said the BigShots will be 22,500 square feet and a “cutting edge golf, dining and entertainment venue” for all ages.
According to ClubCorp, its BigShots facilities have virtual games and courses, full-service food, sports bars, outdoor patios, mini-golf, private event spaces and climate-controlled tee boxes. The Firestone site will have 44 interactive tee boxes in a two-story structure.
The facility’s technology will allow golfers to play full virtual rounds. Beginners, families and children also can take part in other games, the company said.
Justin Thomas poses for photos after winning the 2018 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational golf tournament at Firestone Country Club – South Course. Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports
Facility replaces Hackers
The BigShots replaces Hackers Bar & Grill and will be alongside the Raymond C. Firestone Public 9 short course.
This particular facility will be the company’s first free-standing outdoor location that is connected to one of its properties. There will be a private event space, an outdoor patio and an elevated sports bar.
Although BigShots Golf operates in a similar way to the popular Top Golf ranges, it doesn’t try to compete with Top Golf; rather the company tries to open locations in areas that have been “underserved in the entertainment aspect,” according to T.J. Schier, the chief operating officer for BigShots.
There are a few main groups that use BigShots including serious golfers who want to practice without worrying about the elements, large groups, including businesses renting out space, and just regular people looking for a social activity that involves some movement, according to Schier.
“BigShots Golf Firestone will bring a new level of entertainment and dining to Akron,” ClubCorp Chief Executive Officer David Pillsbury said in the news release.
“Our concept is rooted in golf, but our passion is centered around creating exceptional experiences that bring people together through our innovative gameplay, elevated sports bar and unexpected events for the whole family,” Schier said in the release.
“Having this location connected to Firestone Country Club allows us to transition beginners who find a passion for the game to the fairways of courses where the best in the game, like Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, have triumphed,” Schier said.
The other BigShots Golf venues are in Florida, Texas, Missouri and Great Britain.
ClubCorp said Firestone Country Club recently updated many of its amenities and on-site accommodations. It also added a fitness center for members and guests and La Vetta, an Italian chophouse.
Steve Stricker withstood an early scare from Jerry Kelly but was able to hang to win the Bridgestone Senior Players.
AKRON, Ohio — Steve Stricker withstood an early scare from Jerry Kelly and nearly fell victim to some loose play on the back nine on Sunday but was able to hang to win the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship at Firestone Country Club.
As sloppy as Stricker was on the first four holes on the back, his play was stellar over the final five and that’s what won him the tournament.
Kelly also faltered late, making bogey on two of the final three holes.
Stricker, 54, became the third wire-to-wire winner of the event and won his third major on the Tour Champions when he shot a final-round 33-37 70 to finish at 7–under 273 to win by six shots.
Kelly, attempting to win a second consecutive Senior Players, finished second after shooting 34-38 72 for a 72-hole score of 1-under 279.
Stricker, who earned $450,000 for the victory, joined Arnold Palmer and Bernhard Langer as previous wire-to-wire winners of this event, which moved to Firestone three years ago.
Palmer led from start to finish in winning the 1985 Senior Players at Canterbury Golf Club in Beachwood, and Langer, who has won 41 events on the Tour Champions list, followed suit in winning in 2015 at the Belmont Club outside of Boston.
Undoubtedly, their journeys were less stressful than Stricker’s, who for the second day in a row was nearly done in by the back nine on the South Course.
He began the day with a 4-shot lead over Kelly and had a 5-shot lead at the turn before things began to unravel a bit, just as they did during Saturday’s third round when his 9-shot lead shriveled to three when he bogeyed three of the first six holes and double-bogeyed another.
A similar scenario seemed to unfold Sunday when Stricker bogeyed the 11th and 13th holes and Kelly poured in a 15-foot putt for birdie on 13. The lead had dwindled to two shots.
A saving grace came on the 460-yard 14th hole. Kelly, who won here last year by two shots, left his second shot in a greenside bunker and it led to a bogey to Stricker’s par.
A bigger break came on the 625-yard 16th. Kelly attempted to reach the green in two but his shot hit the far bank and dribbled back into the pond that fronts the green. The penalty shot and two putts resulted in a bogey. Striker chose to lay up and a wedge to 15 feet led to a kick-in par.
Stricker made bogey on the fourth hole, which is where he made his first bogey of the tournament on Saturday. However, this time he responded with a routine par and consecutive birdies on the sixth and 190-yard seventh when his tee shot stopped a tidy four feet from the hole.
Ken Duke, who began the day five shots behind, shot himself out of contention when he bogeyed four of his first six holes.
Fred Couples turned in the lowest round of the day with a 3-under 67 for a total of even-280 to share third place with David Toms, who followed a third-round 66 with a final-round 70.
Fast starts and low rounds at Firestone Country Club are nothing new to Steve Stricker.
AKRON, Ohio – Fast starts and low rounds at Firestone Country Club are nothing new to Steve Stricker.
But, if the Ryder Cup captain gets any faster or goes any lower during the final three rounds he’ll likely leave the field distantly in his rearview mirror as the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship unfolds.
Stricker, 54, birdied five of his first nine holes on Thursday, including three in a row to close out his front nine, and went on to shoot 7-under 63 to take the first-round lead.
The 63 was Stricker’s personal best on the South Course, bettering the 64 he shot on two other occasions. It also was the lowest first round in Bridgestone Senior Players history.
Stricker’s nines of 33-30 gave him a 4-shot lead over two relative unknowns to Firestone fans. Ken Duke (35-32) and Englishman Paul Broadhurst (32-35) shared second place.
Reigning champion Jerry Kelly, who was paired with Stricker, was one of four players tied for fourth at 1-under 69 after nines of 35-34. The others are Marco Dawson (33-36), Bob Estes (34-35) and Gene Sauers (35-34).
Fast starts and superlative rounds on the South Course are part of Stricker’s Firestone DNA.
In the 2020 version of the Senior Players he opened with a 2-under 68 only to shoot 11-over during his final three rounds to finish at 9-over 289 and in a tie for 23d.
Part of that 68 including a hole-in-one on the par-3 seventh hole that helped get him to 5-under at one point.
In 2019, when Retief Goosen won by two shots, Stricker opened with a 6-under 64 then failed to break 70 the rest of the way and finished at 1-under 279.
He also laid a 6-under 64 on the field during the final round of the 2012 World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational. That lifted him into a tie for second place with Jim Furyk, each one shot behind winner Keegan Bradley. The 64 followed three consecutive rounds of 68.
“I have gotten off to good starts here before so I’ve got to continue with that,” he said, while acknowledging he is winless on the South Course. “Just have to keep playing with the confidence level that I played with today and keep trying to hit the shots I hit today.”
Stricker, who has been toying with his putter, its grip and how he holds it, needed just 22 putts on 14 holes and was not required to make many monsters as he hit the ball close to the hole all day. His longest birdie putts were 20 feet on the 17th and 15 feet on the 18th. His other birdie putts were close to or less than 6 feet.
“I’ve been struggling with my putting, the consistency of it,” he said. “I just haven’t been feeling that great on the greens lately and today was a good day. I putted well. I cleaned up nicely. I made all the little three, four, five-footers and those are what keeps the round going.”
After a roller-coaster front nine in which he had three birdies and three bogeys, Duke settled in for the final nine holes. He birdied three of his final four, including a chip-in from just off the 18th green for his seventh birdie of the day.
Broadhurst, who won the 2018 Senior PGA and the 2016 Senior Open Championship at Carnoustie, was nearly as steady as Stricker. The 55-year-old birdied the eighth and ninth holes that led to making the turn at 3-under, then reeled off nine consecutive pars to shoot himself into contention.
Stricker began play on the 10th hole on a sunny and windy day in which the winds grew progressively stronger as the day wore on.
“It got obviously windier as the day went on,” Stricker said. “There was a little bit of breeze right at the start and then it kept picking up, especially on our second nine. Coming down the stretch it was blowing pretty good.”
Jerry Kelly returns to Firestone Country Club this week, no longer cranking the club head of his unstable driver.
AKRON, Ohio — Jerry Kelly returns to Firestone Country Club this week riding an ultimate high, now that he is no longer cranking the club head of his unstable driver.
On June 13, Kelly defended his title in the American Family Insurance Championship in his hometown of Madison, Wisconsin. He captured his first victory on the PGA Tour Champions since he claimed his first major, the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship, in Akron last August.
“That was much needed for my psyche,” Kelly said of his one-shot triumph over Fred Couples and Miguel Angel Jimenez at University Ridge Golf Club. “That’s what that major can do for you confidence-wise. It was huge for me to win the Players, but last week was just incredible and I’m not quite two feet on the ground yet.”
Kelly will need to return to earth if he hopes to prevail for the second consecutive year in the $3 million Bridgestone Senior Players that opens Thursday at Firestone’s famed South Course. The last man to take home consecutive Senior Players trophies was Bernhard Langer from 2014-16. The last to post back-to-back victories at Firestone was Tiger Woods from 2005-07 in the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational.
“When we get to a world-class golf course — no two ways about it, this is completely world-class, it’s major quality — and we all know it and we all want to win at courses like that because it just proves the game can hold up under any circumstance,” Kelly said Wednesday. “Having won at Firestone Country Club … I know I can win just about anywhere now because it’s that great of a golf course.”
He got a lift from the American Family triumph in more than one regard. It followed what he called his worst round in 2021, a 75 on the final day of the Principal Charity Classic in Des Moines, Iowa, where he finished tied for 23rd.
Kelly said he broke his driver about six weeks ago and had been struggling since. Going into the American Family, in his previous four tournaments dating back to May 9 he had tied for 19th, tied for 14th, tied for 12th and tied for 52nd in the field in driving accuracy, normally his strong suit.
He remained third in the Champions Tour driving accuracy standings for the 2020-21 wraparound season, but in Des Moines hit only 42.86 percent of the fairways, well below his season average of 79.20 percent.
Kelly has an endorsement deal with Srixon but was playing with a PING driver, and said his game wasn’t the same after it was broken.
“The internal threading stripped,” he said. “I hit a shot once and my head looked [bent] and I’m like, ‘That’s not good.’ Basically, I cranked it back down; I could hold onto the grip and twist the head.”
Kelly said he thought it was a problem with the ferrule, the covering between the shaft and club head, so he replaced that. He tried a different driver, but couldn’t find the right shaft-club head combination, so he went back to the broken one.
“I played with it for a few weeks that way,” he said. “It was stable for solid hits, but it was not stable for mishits. I think it moved enough on mishits that I was not hitting shots that I’m used to seeing.
“Even though it probably was the ferrule, just me cranking that thing to show everybody what was going on I think I stripped the head as well.”
He was finally sent a new head and shaft before the Wisconsin tournament, and he said the driver “worked out perfectly.”
Kelly said it’s the kind of problem all pros encounter. He joked that what he did wasn’t nearly as bad as what happened to Rod Pampling in Des Moines. Pampling ducked under a spectator rope and dropped the rope across his bag on the back of his cart. When the cart pulled away, two of his clubs fell out and snapped.
“It’s good comedy if you haven’t seen that one,” Kelly said.
Hitting fairways with his rebuilt driver will be key for Kelly at Firestone, where he and runner-up Scott Parel were the only two in the field to finish under par in 2020.
“You can’t just hit straight drives, you have to actually shape it in the fairways,” Kelly said. “The way that they’re sloped, even when a fairway is wide, you probably only have half to a quarter of that fairway to actually hit. If I’m confident with my driver, I really enjoy the way I’m hitting my irons, the way I’m putting and my short game. So that course especially comes down to the driver.
“If it plays firm and fast. Even though you’re hitting it farther, you need more control over your ball off the tee. I really love that about that golf course because that’s my strong point.”
Kelly explained why his victory in Madison was so important, especially coming off that round of 75 in Des Moines.
“I knew I hadn’t won this year,” he said. “It was great to actually outplay the guys on the backside on Sunday. I knew I was close. But after making double bogey on Saturday to finish my round and then starting my round with a bogey the next day, to come back from those on two separate days, you had the same feeling both times.
“I had to dig deep. That’s probably what I’m most proud of, the comeback that I posed from those two spots. I was in the lead and faltered. And when you come back from something like that, that just makes you that much more proud rather than having everything go so smoothly, which obviously never happens.”
Kelly, 54, also had his mother, Lee, in the gallery. She said in an interview with the Champions Tour staff that she has been keeping his scorecard since he was 5 and making scrapbooks with clippings of his accomplishments.
But her most unusual quirk is burying feathers at the course he’s playing for luck.
“If you bury a feather, you grow a birdie,” Kelly explained in the video.
“She’s been doing it forever,” he said Wednesday. “I played at my regular golf course yesterday, I had a charity outing, and I’m walking down the fairway and I’m like, ‘Wow, there’s an eagle feather, she’d really like that one.’ And I eagled the next hole. It’s crazy, it really is.”
Eagles can be rare at Firestone, but Kelly got one with a hole-in-one at the par-3 No. 12 in the final round last year. Coming into 2020, Kelly had played in four NEC-Bridgestone Invitationals from 2003-09. His best finish in that span was a tie for 11th in 2009, when his 277 total was nine shots behind winner Woods. Last year Kelly also posted a 277 and beat Parel by two strokes.
As he looked forward to competing again in Akron, where he likes to relax at the restaurants beside the water at Portage Lakes, Kelly set another goal besides winning.
“I am going to hit the fairway on the eighth hole this year,” he said, shaking his head affirmatively. “I am, I know I am. Every time I step up on that tee, I say, ‘This is the day that I finally hit you, fairway.’”
The vehicle he was driving in Iraq hit a 250-pound roadside bomb. Pulido swerved right, saving the lives of those with him.
AKRON, Ohio — John Daly has tried to help those in need throughout his PGA Tour career.
But a gregarious retired U.S. Army major with a Purple Heart and a prosthetic leg helped Daly when he reached a turning point with his 2020 bladder cancer diagnosis. Their partnership has given Daly’s charity work a newfound focus.
Major Ed Pulido teamed with PGA Tour Champions star Daly to launch the John Daly-Major Ed Heart of a Lion Foundation last October. Pulido said their fundraising events brought in $260,000 in the first three months and they’re on track to total $1 million in the inaugural year.
On Tuesday, Pulido stood at the 17th tee at Firestone Country Club’s North Course, greeting participants and posing for pictures during a pro-am put on by the Wentz Family Foundation to benefit Heart of a Lion.
The fundraiser precedes the $3 million Bridgestone Senior Players Championship, which opens Thursday at Firestone South.
First discussed by Bud Wentz, president of Wentz Financial Group in Hudson, and Daly during a pro-am two years ago, Daly’s event was capped by a Jake Owen concert hours later at the Archbishop Hoban High School football field. Most of the proceeds will benefit Daly’s and Pulido’s 501c3 charity that serves children, veterans and first responders.
“We do events all across the country. What we try to do that’s different, we try to keep at least 60 to 70 percent of the dollars local,” Pulido said.
Major Ed Pulido, the founder and CEO of the John Daly-Major Ed Heart of a Lion Foundation, swings on the North Course at Firestone Country Club Tuesday, June 22, 2021 in Akron, Ohio. Photo by Karen Schiely, Akron Beacon Journal/USA Today Network
Pulido, 53, of Edmond, Oklahoma, said he met Daly, 55, about 15 years ago at Whistling Straits Golf Course in Kohler, Wisconsin, and they did some charity work together.
But it wasn’t until last year when Daly began planning the new foundation that they reconnected and became partners.
“A turning point, he had a cancer diagnosis and for him it was like, ‘What’s next? How long can I continue doing what I’m doing?’ and making some changes to not only his philanthropy footprint, but his life,” Pulido said. “I think all of us have a point in life when that comes to be.”
Pulido’s came when he was 37 in 2005, when he was forced to retire from the military after 20 years of service and three tours of duty.
On Aug. 17, 2004, the vehicle he was driving in Baqubah, Iraq, hit a 250-pound roadside bomb. Pulido said he had been trained to swerve right or left in such an instance. He swerved right, saving the lives of those with him.
“The first fragment broke my knee in three places, the fragment is still in the left side of my body,” Pulido said. “A combat medic pulls me out. I spent about 17 hours in surgery after I got back to Bagdad. Then Germany, Walter Reed, and Brooke Army Medical Center [in San Antonio, Texas]. I spent almost 40 days in ICU with e-coli, two staph infections and some kind of chemical infection in my leg. On Oct. 1, there was no other remedy except to amputate.”
With retirement inevitable, Pulido remembered the words of his father Manuel, a chief warrant officer 4 in the Army with whom he served when he enlisted at age 17.
“I’m thinking, ‘What’s next?’ I could have sat down and said, ‘I’m going to take my retirement and hang out at the house,”’ Pulido said. “But it was my father, he said, ‘Be resilient. Never quit. Move forward.’ That’s what John represents.”
Pulido went to work for the United Way, then spent 13 years with Folds of Honor, which aids families of fallen or disabled servicemen and women. Pulido gained valuable experience he’s now using to help Daly.
Manuel Pulido, who lives in Lakeland, Florida, was diagnosed with terminal cancer in June 2020, which Polido said coincided with Daly’s test results. Daly revealed in September that he’d undergone surgery, but the bladder cancer had an 85 percent likelihood of returning. That strengthened Ed Pulido’s bond with Daly.
The Heart of a Lion Foundation soon followed. The lion in the logo represents Daly, the Purple Heart Pulido’s service and the American flag in a heart shape says to Pulido, “America’s heart is with all of us and we should do our part to make a difference.”
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The foundation has worked on a house project for a veteran in Oklahoma. Some battling suicidal thoughts have had help in seeking counseling. Injured first responders have received assistance. The foundation also aids St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the Boys & Girls Clubs.
“We try to empower veterans to be difference-makers,” Pulido said. “We have veterans who are selling coffee, they’ve started a coffee business, veterans who are doing woodworking. Some are doing long drive and playing golf.
“A lot of it is morale, welfare and recreation, taking care of their families and connections to organizations that can provide support and healing and educational opportunities.”
Pulido said Tuesday’s pro-am and concert would not have happened without Wentz, Heart of a Lion’s first corporate sponsor.
“We talk about unity and we talk about all of these words, but what’s our action?” Pulido said. “Our action is we’re not going to leave anyone behind on the field of battle for our military, but also on the homefront. That’s what’s Bud’s all about. For us to do our part with him and raise a substantial amount of money, tonight (Tuesday night) the concert with Jake Owen is going to be a pretty powerful thing.”
Pulido agreed that his partnership with Daly centered Daly’s charitable efforts that had been well-intentioned but somewhat scattershot before.
“We gave it focus, we gave it horsepower, we gave it connection,” Pulido said. “We reconnected with our network of people that have helped us with other things. Now it’s inventoried and we know what we’re doing.
“We’ve got people coming at us with golf course management, square (toed) shoes. We’ve got a coin coming out soon with John’s logo and name on it. I’m just re-starting this new brand. We’re the heart of a lion, the heart of America, the heartbeat of our nation. That’s the focus that we want to give. We want to change lives.”
Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MRidenourABJ.
Furyk, 51, returns to Akron for the first time in five years for the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship, one of five senior majors.
Jim Furyk can’t believe 20 years have passed since his epic seven-hole playoff with Tiger Woods at Firestone Country Club.
“No. Might feel like 30 … ” Furyk said.
While the loss remains “bittersweet,” Furyk was able to joke about the memory and his advancing age as he shifts his commitment to the PGA Tour Champions.
Furyk, 51, returns to Akron for the first time in five years for the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship, one of five senior majors that opens Thursday at Firestone’s famed South Course.
When he arrives at a venue that he played for decades on the PGA Tour, Furyk said he’s usually first struck by his body of work. That will certainly be the case in the Rubber City.
In 17 appearances at Firestone for the World Golf Championships-NEC Invitational and the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational from 1999-2016, Furyk recorded five top-five finishes and eight top-10s, including his first five tournaments. He finished second twice, to Woods in 2001 and to Keegan Bradley in 2012, took solo third in 2006 and tied for third in 2015.
“Definitely feel like it was a place that I should have won in my career,” Furyk said in a June 9 telephone interview. “I’m definitely a little bit heartbroken because I like the golf course so much and it’s a place I didn’t win.
“Riviera in LA would be a golf course I would say something like that about, Colonial in Fort Worth. Three of my favorite courses and I’ve had very good finishes at all of them. I think I finished second at Colonial a couple times (1998, 2007). Those are the kind of golf courses I’ve loved in my career, but wasn’t able to win at.”
When asked to recall a few Firestone memories, Furyk turned back the clock to the duel with Woods in the 2001 NEC Invitational. The playoff remains CBS’ highest-rated golf broadcast from Firestone. That bested 1988 (Mike Reid beat Tom Watson in a playoff), 1989 (David Frost beat Ben Crenshaw in a playoff), 2005 (Woods won by one shot over Chris DiMarco) and 2000 (Woods’ “Shot in the dark” victory finish).
Jim Nantz, the voice of CBS, wasn’t surprised by the playoff’s ratings distinction.
Jim Furyk walks past a lake to the third green during the second round of the Bridgestone Invitational golf tournament at Firestone Country Club, Friday, Aug. 3, 2012, in Akron, Ohio.
“Tiger won a lot of the tournaments there in a runaway,” Nantz said in a 2018 Beacon Journal interview as Woods recorded eight victories at Firestone. “People would still watch because it was Tiger. But that was a playoff that lasted seven holes. It was high-stakes drama.”
Remembering the 2001 NEC Invitational playoff with Tiger Woods
The two alternated playing Nos. 17 and 18, and Woods won with a two-foot birdie putt at No. 18, while Furyk sliced his tee shot under a pine tree and made bogey. Furyk, who led or stood tied for the lead after the first three rounds, also missed three birdie putts of 12 feet or less.
“I have great memories of that and also disappointing as well,” Furyk said. “Tiger definitely pulled some magic out a few different times, as I did. But it did have some drama.”
Furyk’s most stunning shot came when he holed out from the sand to save par on the first playoff hole. He failed to get out of the bunker at No. 18 on his third shot, but his fourth rolled straight to the hole, circled the cup 360 degrees, and fell in.
“Holing the bunker shot, that would have been the best shot of the day, that’s the one I remember. I probably don’t remember them all, I’ll have to go back and read [the] articles, I’m over 50 now,” he joked.
Akron provides plenty of memories for Furyk family
Furyk also called the 2012 loss to Bradley “a heartbreaker,” accurately remembering his double bogey at 18. He was beaten by a shot as Bradley sank a 15-foot putt for par.
But when it was pointed out that Furyk led that tournament for 71 holes, he said, “Yes, I’ve got some good memories there.”
This year those will be amplified. Furyk said his daughter Caleigh, 19, a sophomore at Belmont University, and son Tanner, 17, a senior at The Bolles School in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., are attending only one to three of his tournaments in 2021 and chose to accompany him and wife Tabitha to Akron.
“They have some great memories from when they were younger,” he said of his children.
Furyk said the family used to bring their dog, stay in Cuyahoga Falls and go on hikes together. They attended Rubber Ducks (then-Akron Aeros) minor league baseball games and ate at their favorite restaurants, later supplemented by recommendations from 2003 British Open champion Ben Curtis, who lives in Stow.
Jim Furyk during the second round of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.
“We went to the drive-in in Ravenna, which they thought was the coolest thing, we don’t have any of those near our home in Florida,” Furyk said. “When they were young, we’d get an SUV and open the hatch and watch a movie. We were all together in middle America, a fun place for families to be.”
The Jim & Tabitha Furyk Foundation hosted its 9th annual Hope for the Holidays event to fill bags of food for needy families. The Furyks — Tanner (from left), Jim, Tabitha and Caleigh — were pleased that the event raised food to feed more than 5,000 Jacksonville area families.
These days are different, but Furyk’s success has continued.
Turning focus to PGA Champions Tour
In 2020, he won his first two events on the Champions Tour, choosing familiar courses where he’d excelled. He captured the Ally Challenge at Warwick Hills (Michigan) and the PURE Insurance Championship at Pebble Beach (California). He’s finished in the top 25 in all 13 Champions Tour events he’s entered in 2020-21, also with a second, a tie for fourth (on June 13 in Madison, Wisconsin) and eight top 10s.
But it wasn’t until May that Furyk decided to commit to the Champions Tour.
“Early in the year we had some events overseas that got canceled on the Champions Tour, so I played two of the three Champions Tour events, but I played mostly on the PGA Tour,” Furyk said. “As soon as May hit, I’ve focused just on the Champions Tour and that’s kind of what I’ll do for the future. I’m happy and comfortable out here. Not that I won’t go play the PGA Tour anymore, but I’m going to play 90% of my golf out here.
“Just kind of felt it was time to turn the page and move out here.”
Furyk has won 17 PGA Tour events, including the 2003 U.S. Open and 2010 Tour Championship, which earned him that year’s FedEx Cup and player of the year honors. He shot the official record for the lowest 18 holes on the PGA Tour, carding a 58 in the final round of the 2016 Travelers Championship. He played on nine Ryder Cup teams and seven Presidents Cup teams. He served as the U.S. Ryder Cup captain for the 2018 loss to Europe at Le Golf National, Paris.
That’s why it took some time for Furyk to come to grips with the decision to play on the 50-and-over circuit, even though he’s seen an influx of friends join him of late.
“I had to get it kind of right in my head that’s what I wanted to do,” he said. “Was it hard? I don’t know. I wanted to make sure I was positive. A couple of my friends turned 50 and they just said ‘Adios,’ never saw them again.
“I probably got six months into it before I was like, ‘Yeah, it’s the right time and I want to turn the page.’”
Furyk said in the future, he will be wise on the courses he chooses.
“I think Torrey Pines is a fine golf course, but it makes no sense for me to go play the event in February there when it’s cold and wet and damp and the course is 7,600 yards long and I’m giving up 40 yards off the tee,” he said. “I’ve got a lot more opportunities out here to compete and put myself in contention more often. Everyone likes to wake up on Sundays with opportunities to win tournaments.”
For a time on the Champions Tour, Furyk said he felt like a rookie because he had to use MapQuest to get to unfamiliar courses. He didn’t know the location of the locker room or the registration area, where to stay or where to eat.
That will not be the case in Akron for Furyk and his family.
When one of the players’ favorites, the Diamond Grille, was mentioned, Furyk said, “Probably still cash, I imagine.”
Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MRidenourABJ.
