In the beginning there was an old man Tom Morris of St Andrews and his son Tommy. His father won the only championship at the time, the Open Championship, four times, and his namesake son also won four times. Yes, 19th century golf in all its wetwool, paternalistic glory. The players marched off the first tee into a raging sea breeze, but no one knew when or if they would return.
Since then, fathers have continued to raise their sons within the game, and both generations dream of lifting trophies. OB Keeler spilled a keg of ink about Bobby Jones and the boy’s blue life when he took up golf on the orders of his golf-loving father, Robert Permedus Jones (also known as “The Colonel”), who was a wealthy attorney in Atlanta.
What Arnold Palmer said once, he said a thousand times. His father, Deacon, a course manager and head pro at Latrobe Country Club in western Pennsylvania, taught young Arnold how to grip the club once. Palmer never changed that.
Jack Nicklaus’ pharmacist father Charlie, a three-athlete at Ohio State University, raised his son Jackie as an oversized 10-year-old in the summer of 1950 at the Saito Country Club, a club in Columbus, Ohio. Mid-country, mid-century, northernmost middle class. Donald Hall’s “Father Playing Catch With His Son” is mostly about baseball, but Charlie and Jackie on the course in the 1950s might fit right in.
Twelve years later, Jack Nicklaus defeated Arnold Palmer in an 18-hole playoff at Oakmont Country Club to win the 1962 US Open, his first record of 18 major titles. It was his father’s day. Since then (since the date has changed) most U.S. Opens have ended on Father’s Day, and for most years the relationship between father and son has been an important part of the winner’s life story.
The phrase is well known in the golf world: Tiger and Earl. The greenside embrace of father and son after Woods won the 1997 Masters Tournament is one of the most iconic moments in golf history. It was Tiger’s first professional major, and he won by 12 strokes. Nine years later, ten weeks after Earl Woods died at the age of 74, Woods fell into Caddy’s arms after winning the British Open at Royal Liverpool.
But in 2014, when Rory McIlroy, 25, of working-class parents from the Belfast suburbs, won the British Open, Royal Liverpool set the stage for an evolving narrative. It was his third major title, and in a quaint and adorable gesture McIlroy dedicated his victory to his mother at the awards ceremony as thousands of fans roared the 18th green.
“This is the first time my mom has won a major since she came here,” he said. “Mom, this is for you.”
Rosie McDonald McIlroy, who helped pay for her son’s overseas junior golf trip by working shifts at a 3M factory, had a big smile on her face. Then she tentatively put a few fingers on her winner’s claret jug as her son gripped it tightly.
Five years later, Woods won the 2019 Masters. It was a shock in a way. He hadn’t won a major in 11 years. Kourtida, her mother, who was born and raised in Thailand, was standing on a ledge in the grass about 10 yards from the 18th green when she won. Although she didn’t get to see her son’s winning putt, she heard the violent reaction to it. Her face was painted proudly. The victorious Woods softly recounted how his mother woke up at 5:30 a.m. to drive the Tiger in a Plymouth Duster to the nine-hole Pee-Wee Tournament for 90 minutes, 90 minutes out and 90 minutes back.
When Woods was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame last year, “Tidus,” who was known in Woods’s immediate circles as a tough and outspoken figure, took the front row, shining just as Rosie McIlroy did in 2014.
Without notes, Woods recounted how his mother repeatedly took him to par-3 courses near his childhood home in Southern California and gave him 50 cents for a hot dog and 25 cents for a phone call home at the end of the day. Woods staked his early success in putting contests on the housing his mother gave him. It was a rare and personal moment for both of them as Tiger shared a personal story about his mother and Tidus laughed for the camera.
This year, the final round of the US Open at the Los Angeles Country Club fell on Father’s Day as usual, but the day belonged to a mother and son.
Winner Windham Clarke heard Woods talk about his mother during the Masters and at the Hall of Fame at Augusta National. It caught his attention.
Ten years ago, when Windham was still a teenager, his mother, Reese Clark, died of breast cancer. After she died, he nearly quit golf. His mother nicknamed him “Winner” and had two words for him: “Play big.”
The technical side of the game was never her forte. Nor was she the case of Rose McIlroy or Tidus Woods.
When Clark was in high school, his mother came to his game. She applauded enthusiastically for her son as she watched him make an eight-foot putt.
“Mom,” Clark said to his mother as he stepped off the green. “I hit a triple bogey.”
Mom didn’t know and mom didn’t care. Her son holed the putt.
“I felt like my mom was watching over me today,” Clark said minutes after winning the US Open. Mother’s day so to speak. sorrowful.
And now, the British Open is heating up again at Royal Liverpool. After two rounds, British golfer Tommy Fleetwood was the sole runner-up, five shots behind leader Brian Harman. Wherever Fleetwood goes on the course, he is greeted as “Tommy Youngster”. Even McIlroy sought out Fleetwood after losing 66 in the season opener and praised him, saying, “Tommy!” his own.
Fleetwood is one of the most likeable players in the game today, growing up in humble surroundings in Southport, about 30 miles north, where his mother was a hairdresser. Fleetwood has a distinctive appearance, including a well-tanned upturned nose, blue eyes that look almost tucked in, and long, flowing hair. Sue Fleetwood wanted to cut his son’s hair, but Tommy Rudd couldn’t. Sue Fleetwood died last year at the age of 60, two years after being diagnosed with cancer.
“She took me everywhere,” Ms Fleetwood said Friday night on the first anniversary of her death. It started to rain and the air got colder.
“She was always my driver.
There was nothing sullen in his tone. Fleetwood was talking about golf and his mother, and he smiled. So to speak, it’s his Mother’s Day again. Win or lose, Mother’s Day has arrived for my golf-loving son.
