A U.S. Open Sunday and Father’s Day intersect once more. How convenient. The idealized connection between father and child most often comes wrapped in the gauzy, familiar image of a front-yard game of catch. But golf binds the generations, too. It just doesn’t get the same press.
Here are a few tales from the course about the lasting influence of dads here and gone:
Justin Rose’s father, Ken, died 11 years before his son won his first major, the 2013 U.S. Open. Leukemia claimed him.
That championship was the flower of the seed planted by Ken Rose. He was the one who put the first club in Justin’s hand when his son was still a toddler. His own father never much encouraged the athletic interests of his children. Ken promised himself he’d never make that mistake with his kids.
As Justin Rose climbed the ranks of golf following Ken’s death, he felt there was something missing.
“Watching good friends of mine and the embraces that they have been able to have with their fathers, I always thought, oh, that’s something I’ll never experience,” Rose said.
But then a different feeling overtook Justin as he stood on the verge of a defining victory. Trailing Phil Mickelson by two strokes after 54 holes of the 2013 Open at Merion, he drew on the memory of his father, as reported in a New York Times story. He sent his mother a text message that Saturday night: “Let’s do it for Dad tomorrow.”
And after winning, the old regrets lifted a bit.
“It was amazing because I felt really connected to my dad in the moment,” Rose said.
“The fact he wasn’t here didn’t seem to matter to me with my feelings. That’s what I’m most grateful about for winning the U.S. Open was that connection, the ability it gave me to feel the presence of my dad once more.”
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Known for his Masters experiences, Bubba Watson actually thinks back to the 2007 U.S. Open as the doorway to it all.
Back then, as a 28-year-old of small acclaim, still nearly three years removed from his first PGA Tour victory, he put together what still stands as his best U.S. Open showing, a tie for fifth.
The choice part of that moment, said Watson, was “getting to call my dad, saying I get to play in Augusta for the first time.” (Top eight players in the Open qualify for the following Masters).
“The U.S. Open is always that: I got to call my dad on Father’s Day and tell him we’re going to the Masters,” Watson said.
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Back in Australia, 24 years ago, Jason Day’s father did not outfit his 3-year-old boy with the latest gear from the Brisbane PGA Superstore. Sparking an interest in golf didn’t require taking out a second mortgage. Alvyn Day got his kid a second-hand club that he could knock off the walls or the driveway or even the grass if it just happened to land there.
Day’s was another father who died too soon of cancer, when Jason was just 12.
One thing about sons, they become fathers, too. Then they get the chance to create some of the paternal experiences that may have eluded them.
Which brings us to Dash Day, who turns 2 next month.
“Hopefully one day Dash will be able to see me playing and winning tournaments,” Day said. “Not only the U.S. Open, but other tournaments as well. And we can look back on it together as father and son and really enjoy it and have those memories that go a long way.
“I never got to experience that with my father as I turned professional. Hopefully I can experience it with him.”
Father’s Day in the Australia by the way doesn’t come until September. But Day also has a home in Ohio. So, does father Day get two Father’s Days?
“That’s totally up to my wife,” he said, “if she wants to give me two presents.”
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The Kuchars, father Peter and son Matt, could have bonded over tennis. That was dad’s first game. But then his wife, Meg, expanded their club membership to include golf. And dad quickly discovered how much more fun it was for him to sit next to his son in a golf cart rather than stare across a net at him.
The shift in sports certainly was life-changing. When Matt won the U.S. Amateur in 1997, Peter was his caddie. When Matt, the Georgia Tech phenom, was charming the galleries the next year, he was his caddie. When Matt plays in a charity tournament in Rhode Island and an exhibition round in Nova Scotia in the next month, dad will be on the bag again. Dad is always on call to be a happy beast of burden.
“My dad and I have shared some special moments. We have done some things that are really cool for fathers and sons to do together,” Matt said.
“To share a love and a passion for sports and a love and passion for the game of golf and now to live out my dream of playing as a professional golfer, it’s been really good,” he said. “I’ve done some great things. Dad has been along to see some great things happen, and we have got some great memories together.”
There are, by the way, also some tangible perks to being the father of a highly successful professional golfer. The payback of a grateful son can be plentiful.
When Kuchar’s folks arrived at Pinehurst on Wednesday night and came by the home Matt had rented for the week, his son beckoned Peter upstairs. In a room were boxes and boxes of shoes from a company that Kuchar endorses. Pops, a bunch of these are in your size. Pick yourself out as many pairs as you want. Happy Father’s Day in advance.
And know something else? “It’s been probably 15 years since I bought any golf equipment,” Peter said with a smile.
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