Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2009 - 8

(editor'sletter)
A Major Winner
N
o Q-school grad or newly minted
champ from the Nationwide
Tour, or even a Major winner,
has ever trod every hole of every round of
the PGA Tour. Last year, golf enthusiast and
blogger D.J. Gregory did just that, chalking
up some impressive stats: 80,077 miles
traveled, 3,256 holes walked, 1,436,610 steps
taken and 871 beverages consumed. Along
the way, he won the hearts and minds of
tour players, avid fans and members of the
media, including me.
Inspiring and unfathomable considering
this 30-year-old from Savannah, Ga., was
born with cerebral palsy and other severe
complications, and his parents were told he
would never walk.
While walking the tour, following a single
player and blogging on pgatour.com, Gregory
would track whether he took a spill (29 falls
in 44 tour stops over 45 weeks), note whether
the layout was challenging or easy to walk (his
most diffi cult: TPC Sugarloaf) and comment
on whether the conditions were particularly
challenging-slippery and wet, and hilly, slippery
and wet were the most hazardous for
Gregory, who often logged 67,000 or more
steps each week (tracking by pedometer),
steadying his lurching gate with a cane.
Google Gregory and you'll fi nd links to
his weekly blogs, which include the following
offbeat and oddly personal trivia about
the personalities he shadowed on tour:
Jason Bohn, who lost his amateur status after
canning a $1 million hole-in-one, prefers
two PB&J sandwiches every round for energy;
Masters champ Zach Johnson likes to go
shirtless, not to show off his physique, he says,
but to help regulate his body temperature;
Bubba Watson has his own clothing line-
Bubbagolf-where everything is only $15;
Briny Baird, through a partnership with the
National Center for Missing & Exploited
Children, totes a different photo of a missing
child on his golf bag every week; and Kenny
Perry, this year's Masters runner-up, owns a
'69 Camaro, has bagged 39 aces in his career
and has helped fund " about 20 " college
scholarships to Lipscomb University.
While moonlighting last year as a media
gopher for the USGA, I met Gregory at Torrey
Pines and offered him a lift from the media
center, located on the second fairway of
the North Course, to the main gate-a long
journey across several holes and through
hundreds of spectators jamming the crosswalks
and lining the ropes. At that time, as
we navigated the throngs (I not wanting to
be the fi rst Minnesota 10 volunteer to run
over a paying customer), I was completely
in the dark about Gregory's quest. Nonetheless,
I was impressed with his enthusiasm
and stamina. He seemed contently spent
after walking the South Course's 7,643 yards
that day, and if he was in pain, he didn't
show it.
Most golf fans will remember Torrey as
the Open where Tiger hit one miraculous
golf shot after another, grimacing with pain
from a fractured tibia but catching the indomitable
Rocco Mediate on the 72nd hole.
The roars still fi ll my head. I, however, also
will recall that cart ride over a dusty golf
course on a sunny afternoon and the lessons
life teaches us, thanks to a remarkable
young man from Savannah, Ga.
See you on the tee.
W.P. Ryan, Editor-in-Chief
6
MINNESOTAGOLFER Summer 2009
www.mngolf.org
http://www.pgatour.com http://www.mngolf.org
Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2009

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