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Thursday, September 25, 2008
Tee shot of ages at Tour Championship
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It was a kind of moment you’d never forget. Man and boy, eight decades apart, but standing on the same ground, sharing the same game, a game that brought resurrection to a community being dragged through the dregs of hell. Errie Ball had not an inkling of the changes that taken place in this East Lake community where he had once worked as a youthful aide, assistant pro to his Uncle Frank. Frank had gone home to England, but Errie stayed and became club pro at Highlands in North Carolina and moved on from there.
So time moved on. Errie won a couple of tournaments in the South and when the first Masters was played in 1934, “First Annual Invitation Tournament” as printed on the program, he was one of the invited. At the age of 97, he stands alone, the only man still in life who played in the first Masters. He finished between Abe Espinosa and Gene Kunes, tied for 34th, and the Englishman went on to become an established professional, and an American citizen who served four years in the Navy in World War II. And so we move forward to a sunny September morn in the year 2008.
Errie Ball has been summoned out of the dusty files of time to establish a precedent at the Tour Championship — strike the first ceremonial tee shot. Alongside him will be a lad from the First Tee Program, developed in the interest of directing young people from an almost indescribably hopeless course of life to one with purpose. Martavious Adams is 14 years old, trim, smiling face, just a mite, taller than the driving club he was holding. Martavious is a product of the First Tee program at East Lake, proudly on display for this special occasion, a project that Tom Cousins created out of rubble that was old East Lake.
Some people 97 years old are 97 all the way. Errie Ball is a 97 going on 77, trim, personable and oozing life. He struck his drive with a swing that has been faithful to him for all these years, 226 yards, straight and true. Martavious was next, a 4-handicap and full of youthful vigor. His swing was lithe and his little body put every ounce into it. Two hundred and 93 yards, was the measure. The result was something that struck up visions of another such youth.
“Is Tiger Woods your favorite golfer?” someone asked him, anticipating the answer. “I think Tiger is wonderful, but my favorite is Anthony Kim.”
Look out, Tiger, here comes the next wave. Kim is the American-born Korean from Los Angeles, member of the Ryder Cup team flashing across your television screen lately, with personality. He has game and the attitude to go with it. Not a bad choice, Martavious. Down through the years, though, golf has made its case through the Errie Balls of the world. They played and they won. They taught and they shared. They set the pace for the generations that followed them. Erie Ball never won a major, but he left his mark on the game in the South, then the Midwest, and now in Florida. He still teaches at Willoughby Country Club in Stuart, Fla., plays a few holes nearly every day, but most of all, he has a style that recreates memories of the golf professional who helped lay the foundation of the game that is today, and brings the Tour Championship to East Lake each autumn. Keep that in mind, Martavious.
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