Building a lifelong golf fan in Pendrith

A perfect day on the golf course culminated in meeting the newest PGA Tour winner. I’ll detail my day watching PGA Tour golf through the eyes of a ten year old.

It’s been a couple years since I attended a PGA Tour event in person, but the stars finally aligned with my schedule where I could attend the Byron Nelson in person. So we crossed our fingers that the weather would hold off and I took my 10 year old son out to TPC Craig Ranch to watch the Sunday finish.

It was a leaderboard of less familiar names, so after following Adam Scott around for the first 5 holes, we decided to spend the day following the leaders. Without a serious dog in the fight, we were rooting for Jake Knapp who seemed to be the obvious crowd favorite. He hits it hard and has been in contention a few times recently.

Jake started on cruise control. He made a great up and down for par at the first and continued with pars until the 5th hole with his first birdie. He kept it within a few strokes of the lead, but just never really got hot. A lot of good shots, not too many great ones and a cold putter.

We watched Ben Kohles get pretty hot on the front 9. He birdied 4, 5, 6, and 8 with a lot of really good golf shots. And contrary to Jake, he was making putts. My son was rooting for everyone and here he is telling Ben ‘great birdie’ after the 5th hole.

A few golf observations… When you follow a group on the PGA Tour, even the lead group where everyone is playing well… It’s not perfect golf. There were missed greens. There were shots that were short sided. There was scrambling. In between every great shot, was one where a player was out of position and had to figure out how to get back in.

A perfect example, on hole 6 which is a very short par 4, Taylor Pendrith decelerated on a flop shot from up close and dumped it in the greenside bunker. With the other two players on or near the green, it looked like they would make up ground… That is until Pendrith hit a silky bunker shot that rolled right in to the hole like a putt for birdie. He went from potentially losing ground to gaining ground. Every one of these shots would be immensely important in a final round.

It was hard to escape that golf is a mental game as well. We could hear cheers throughout the golf course as Aaron Rai blitzed the front 9 at 6 under and leaped up the leaderboard to get within a shot of the lead, only to cool off and play the back 9 at even. Was that statistics just balancing out? Or did he his mind start working against him on that back 9?

Watching Jake over his putts, it was hard not to think that he was nervous. Just reading body language he seemed to be trying a little too hard and not quite as free throughout the day and those putts that normally drop… just weren’t.

After a bogey by Jake on 13, it was slipping away. Taylor Pendrith made a great putt to stay in the lead. My son was loving watching Taylor crush the driver so he held out his hand to get a high five and told Taylor great putt.

At the end of that gif, Taylor’s caddie heard my son and handed him Taylor’s ball. My son was over the moon and immediately told me we were rooting for Taylor now. It’s awesome watching the tournament through the eyes of a young fan.

In fact, the entire day was pretty special. While we were watching Jake hit warm up putts before the round, one of the volunteers gave my son a couple of the tour practice balls. ProV1xs. He was stoked. Another volunteer gave him a broken tee from one of the players. When we waited for the award ceremony, a different volunteer gave him a free hat. He made out like a bandit throughout the day, but when he got Pendrith’s ball on 13, he held onto that one just a little bit tighter.

Throughout the rest of the day he kept pulling the ball out and examining it, looking at it closely. There was a word Taylor writes over the number of his Srixon and we couldn’t quite make it out at the time. Later we figured out that it was his young son’s name.

We walked over 10 miles following the golf and for a 10 year olds little legs, it was a lot. I kept asking if he wanted to rest or go home… Nope. I want to watch the golf. I want to watch Taylor win. He gripped the ball he had been given tightly hoping it would be that of a PGA Tour winner.

However, golf is hard. Even though Taylor was playing great with just a lone bogey on 8, Ben was making putts. He birdied 16 and 17 to take the lead going in to the last hole. We grabbed a spot by the 18th green and waited to see how things would shake out. Hoping Taylor could make one last charge… And that was nothing against Ben Kohles. He was -6 through 17. He had given my son several high 5s throughout the day… But my son didn’t have Ben’s ball in his pocket.

On 18, Taylor had hit a stellar shot onto the back of the green for an eagle putt, while Ben’s approach had come up just short in the rough. An up and down for birdie would virtually assure Ben his first PGA Tour win and force Taylor to make a very long putt. Ben had been flawless all day.

So when Ben chunked the short pitch into a tough spot the crowd audibly gasped. It was unexpected. It seemed like a pretty routine chip. Nothing is routine when you’re staring at your first PGA Tour win.

Ben collected himself and from a really difficult lie… ball above his feet, half standing in a bunker… He hit a great recovery pitch to what looked like just a few feet. He would make par and I was already texting my wife we would be even later as this was going to a playoff…. until it didn’t. As rock solid as Ben had been all day, making putt after putt… Somehow he missed this one. Nerves, a bad break, a misread… hard to tell in the moment, but pressure bursts pipes and Ben made his only bogey of the day on the 18th hole… with a chance to win his first tournament.

Even rooting for Taylor for my son… my heart broke a bit. I’ve been there. It hurts.

Taylor had to recollect himself to make his own short putt that I’m sure he thought best case would be for a playoff, but was now for the win. He snuck it in and my son could not wipe the smile from his face.

He now had the ball of a PGA Tour winner in his hand.

That also meant that we now had to wait for all the ceremonies as he was determined to get that ball signed. In the meantime, we got to meet Jake Knapp who graciously stuck around to sign for all the kids despite having to have been crushed.

Mackenzie Hughes stuck around to watch his fellow Canadian finish it off and signed autographs for all the kids that waited patiently.

Watching everyone pull on Pendrith for time after the round was pretty eye opening. You just have a huge career milestone and everyone is pulling for your time. Pictures, autographs, media… It’s a lot. We waited patiently as Taylor got ushered from one thing to another. His wife who we had been standing with for a large part of the day held their young son with a huge smile on her face.

Eventually Taylor went back to do media interviews while we waited outside where he promised he’d come back to sign autographs for the 4 kids that remained.

It was pretty surreal as I watched the aftermath of a big PGA Tour event. Staff was already running around tearing stuff down. Signs, ropes, trash… Starting to make it look like the tournament never happened.

Mackenzie Hughes got put on babysitting duties. It was entertaining watching him wear a cowboy hat while keep Taylor’s young son busy on the putting green while Taylor finished his media commitments.

The night got later and later as everyone pulled on Pendrith’s time. All the while, my 10 year old sat patiently holding his ball and waiting for his turn for a signature.

Then just when it seemed like Taylor was headed our way, he got pulled inside to sign for the volunteers. We’re gassed. Its been a long great day. We still have a long drive home.

The security officer who had been ushering us around for autographs apologized. He also let us know that this might be a while, but assured us that Taylor would make sure we got stuff signed. He offered to take everyone’s stuff inside to get it signed for us. Speed things up so we could get on our way. Or… we could wait and take our chances.

All the other kids gave him their stuff to be signed. Not my son.

“Nope. I’ll take my chances. I’m waiting. I want to meet Taylor and see him sign my ball.”

He said, “Worst case, we don’t get a signature. But I’ve already had a pretty good day.”

I couldn’t help but smile and say “I’ll wait as long as you want to buddy.”

About 10 minutes later, the security officer came out with everyone else’s items with nice new signatures. The smiling kids all packed up their things and headed for the exit.

We were digging in for the long wait when the security officer looked at my son and said “You have some grit kid. You want to go in there? Let’s go in there and meet him.”

You wouldn’t have noticed the sun going down with the beams flying off my son’s smile. He couldn’t control his excitement as we were ushered past layers of security into the clubhouse to meet Taylor.

The security officer told Pendrith that we were the last ones remaining waiting for a signature. And I’m sure an emotionally and physically exhausted Taylor jumped right in with a big smile and made my son’s day. He signed his hat and his ball. He took a picture. He shook my hand. An amazing end to an amazing day.

We went from not knowing who to root for at the beginning of the day to having several new favorites in Taylor, Ben, Mackenzie, and Jake.

The way the tournament was run was phenomenal. So many volunteers went out of their way to give my son small things. A broken tee, a practice ball, a smile or a high five. The lead group is fighting hard to win their first event, yet all three took time to give my son a high five during the round. My son probably didn’t stand a chance having me as a dad… but after a day like today… I think its safe to say we have a lifelong golf fan.