- Hey, Jeremy, how do you feel about the round today?
- Well, it wasn't everything I'd hoped for.
Obviously there's a lot of pressure coming in,
with this being not only an inaugural event,
but is really the biggest event in amputee golf history.
But the course was great.
And once I can figure out how to putt the correct way
I'm looking forward to getting back out there tomorrow
and kind of learning from the mistakes that I made.
- All right. Absolutely. Can you tell me a little bit
about the putting challenges?
- Sure. Yeah.
You know, I mean, I'm used to the fast greens, you know
different kind of grass
and just the added pressure always makes it, you know
a little more fun, but like I said
I put myself in a position to score
and I'm looking forward to actually pulling it off.
- Absolutely. How do you prep for a tournament like this?
Like what's your, what's your dream?
- Yeah, I mean, I'm definitely a range rat.
I love, you know, especially going out
after work and just beating the rock pile
for an hour or two, just, just throw some headphones in.
And, you know, just when I, once I get here and the,
the session is basically putt, head to the range,
work my way up from wedge to a driver, go chip
for a little bit, and putt, and go back to the first tee.
- Absolutely once, once you get out to that tee
do you have like a routine?
Are you superstitious at all?
- No, not, not too superstitious.
I definitely like to play fast.
I mean, once, once the pegs in the ground
I'm just ready to hit.
I really, I don't like doing a lot of second guessing.
I make pretty fast decisions out there and just
gotta learn to live with it at that point.
- Absolutely. I was, I was noticing,
I was having a tough time keeping up with you on the,
on the green over there.
I, I missed your first couple of shots,
so I was just setting.
- Like, I'm sure that was a good thing.
- Oh yeah.
Oh yeah.
But you were, you were hitting those pretty well, actually.
- Yeah.
- So how about for tomorrow?
What adjustments do you feel like you're gonna be making?
- Definitely just gonna take my time on the putting green I,
the, the good thing is that I can at least take
with me is I did play the last two holes one under
so it's only a two hole sampling, but hopefully
we figured something out when, just when it comes
to confidence in the putting stroke.
Obviously with putting, as much
as anything, it's once the ball starts rolling one way
it it's hard to get it to, to change direction, so.
- Absolutely. So let's, let's talk
about how'd you get into golf in the, in the first place?
- Sure. Yeah. So,
really I started with golf in the first place,
my dad would take me out
with his work league that he'd play nine holes
during the week and just kind of fell
in love with it that way.
I played basically every sport of imaginable growing up,
mainly, you know,
baseball, basketball, and, and golf.
And once, once I got the latter part of high school years,
I really decided to focus on golf and take it seriously.
And that was when I was able to commit to it.
You know, I would go to a simulator throughout the winter
living in Pennsylvania, obviously there's half the year
you're not really out, but, on the course.
But being able to kind of work through some stuff
go through a swing change in the off season
and then come out what would have been my senior year
of high school and, and really actually, you know, put some
put some good scores together and
and get that handicapped down in single digits.
- Absolutely. And obviously that's paying big dividends
with you at the open here.
- Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, it was obviously it's a tremendous honor to be chosen
to something like this.
And then, you know, once you show
up and you just see everything they've got here between the
the tents and the facilities, obviously we're at Pinehurst,
the name that is recognized in the Gulf world all over.
But then the volunteers
and how eager everybody is to just kind of watch
and listen and learn people's stories.
It's, it's surreal to be a part of.
And it's truly an honor.
- Absolutely. Let's talk about your story a little bit,
like getting into adaptive golf.
Were there challenges that you ran into at local courses or?
- Yeah, I mean, I, honestly, when I first got into golf
I was not aware adaptive golf was the thing.
I was just out here playing golf.
And then it was the local pro at my course that had said
have you ever heard an organization called the EAGA
which is run by still run by Bob Buck?
And it's the Eastern Amputee Golf Association.
Of course I hadn't.
And it just so happened.
They had a tournament coming up in Carlisle, which is about
two hours away from me, in a few weeks.
So I went down there and I had, I had pretty
good success early on with EAGA stuff and, you know, kept
up with it through high school and college.
And then of course after college, when you're trying to
figure out job, life, and career and everything, it
I got away from it for a while, but I came back
to it pretty regularly about five or so years ago, played
at a couple nationals.
This is obviously the biggest tournament yet
but just steadily growing and, and seeing all these guys
learning their individual stories.
I mean, you know, I think I have an interesting story as a
as a single BK on my left leg and I get out here
and I'm like, I am one of the least handicapped people
that are out here.
And yet we're all out here competing, trying to win
you know, grinding out here in, in the 90, 90 degree
you know, heat index
but we're all here for the same reason, which is cool.
- Absolutely.
So, so with that reason of mind,
what would you say to like a young adaptive golfer who's
up and coming and wants to compete here someday?
- Yeah, the biggest thing I would say
and it's something that I've learned over the years is
you know, you can read all the golf magazines
and watch all the videos on YouTube.
And they're gonna tell you to do, to do this or that thing.
And chances are that probably is good advice.
But if you've got something, whether it's arm, leg
physical limitation, don't be afraid to go out there
and play around with what works.
You know, if you, if you need to play a cut
and the instructor online saying, here's how you hit a draw.
But if you, if you're just not able to do that
or you're not comfortable doing it,
play the cut until you are.
There's no, you know,
reason to do something that makes you uncomfortable
especially if you're having good success with it.
You know, there's a popular saying that the little box
on the scorecard don't leave room for pictures.
It's just a number you put in there.
So however you go about shooting the score you got
that's your, that's your swing.
And just, you know
take the time to figure it out for yourself.
- I like that.
I like that.
So to each their own.
How about the group you played with today?
Speaking of to each their own?
- Yeah.
- How was everyone?
- It was good.
It was, played with a guy I know pretty well, Tim,
he's actually staying with me and a couple
other guys there this week and we were competitive.
It was a pillow fight, but we were competitive.
I think we were within one shot of each other.
Met Ryann here today.
She, I believe I saw in the leaderboard.
She's like in second place I believe for the women.
She was incredible.
She, she's a machine with the drive
hits it right down the middle every time.
And then the other gentleman I played with Connor, he was
he was great as well.
He's from Ireland.
He's, he's gotta be like 6'4".
And he actually walked out here today
which is obviously impressive in its own right.
And man, he can really move it.
So I think we all shot about the same in the front nine.
Then he, he was able to put together a pretty good back nine
which was fun to watch.
- Absolutely. And then finally, let's talk about
what's important to you in
in your personal life, like career, family?
What's, what drives you?
- Yeah. Oh, it's definitely the family, you know
my wife and I have three kids they're in Virginia right now.
Cause you went down to her mom's house and I'm sure
that they're, they're probably gonna watch this interview.
They, they, I'm sure they've been following online today
and I'm really looking forward
to giving her a call, you know, once everything's wrapped
up and just kind of catch up with a family and, you know
see them at the end of the week.
- Absolutely. Well, thanks so much for your time
and, and I will see you tomorrow and get some shots.
- All right.
Thank you.
Appreciate it.