Jeremy Bittner picked a fine time for his first ace.
VILLAGE OF PINEHURST, N.C. – Jeremy Bittner picked a fine time for his first ace. The 33-year-old from Moon Township, Pennsylvania, took a little off a 6-iron on the par-3 fourth hole at Pinehurst No. 6. The number on the laser was 187, downhill but into the wind.
Bittner’s ace is the first in championship history at the U.S. Adaptive Open. He donated the ball to the USGA Museum.
“When it disappeared, I was actually like, oh, no, what happened,” said Bittner, “and then everybody started screaming and I was like, oh, that was a good thing.
“For the next 10 minutes I was shaking.”
Bittner lost his lower left leg in a lawnmower accident when he was 4 years old. There are 33 players in the field of 96 competing in the leg impairment category. There are eight multiple limb amputees.
Players this week are competing from four different yardages ranging from 6,500 to 4,700. Men in the leg impairment category play the blue tees from 6,500 yards. Bittner shot 86-78 in the first two rounds and is in a share of 26th at 20 over.
South Korea’s Simon Lee is the only player under par at 2 under. He holds a two-shot lead over Felix Norman of Sweden. Both players are in intellectual impairment category.
“I didn’t have the strongest finish I’d like,” said Bittner, “but like you said, it’s a core memory that is going to stick with me no matter what the score was.”
“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.
Brandon Canesi, 30, was born without hands and plays with custom extended clubs that allow him to anchor under his arms. pic.twitter.com/43ViRwB0X7
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.”
The first-ever U.S. Adaptive Open is a three-day, 54-hole event with a 96-player field.
VILLAGE OF PINEHURST, N.C. – The first-ever U.S. Adaptive Open is a three-day, 54-hole event with a 96-player field.
There are at least five men and two women in each impairment category: arm impairment, leg impairment, multiple limb amputee, vision impairment, intellectual impairment, neurological impairment, seated players and short stature.
In all, there are 15 players in the field with a Handicap Index better than 0.
Four separate yardages at Pinehurst No. 6 in North Carolina will be used, spanning from 4,700 to 6,500 yards.
Here are some photos from the inaugural event, the 15th championship from the U.S. Golf Association.
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.
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.”
U.S. Army veteran Randy Shack shows how his SoloRider works ahead of the U.S. Adaptive Open. pic.twitter.com/8C9m6s2oAj
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.
This is Randy Shack. He’s competing in the Seated Players category. I’ll have more on Randy later. You’ll want to follow this soldier’s story. pic.twitter.com/DhLXBW9po3
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.
The inaugural U.S. Adaptive Open is at Pinehurst No. 6. It’s a three-day, 54-hole event with a 96-player field.
VILLAGE OF PINEHURST, North Carolina – Grace Anne Braxton hit the first tee shot at the inaugural U.S. Adaptive Open. The 50-year-old is a member of the 2022 class of the Virginia State Golf Association and became involved in the Special Olympics at age 8.
Braxton is competing in the Intellectual Impairment category. There are eight categories in all and a total of 96 players in the field.
Players compete from four separate yardages spanning from 4,700 to 6,500 yards. The championship is using a maximum score format. Maximum score has been set at double par for each hole.
Take a look at some of the competitors at Pinehurst.
