Skeptics and psychoanalysts would come crashing down and spew out the differences between a coincidence and an omen were this story to use the latter to introduce the gentlemen who stirred my emotions.
A coincidence can be interpreted as an omen – or so begins the argument that the words are not the same – but in the end those skeptics leave me with a sense of ennui. It’s my story, my emotions, so let’s push on with great respect for a young man named Brendan Ridge and the reverence felt for his uncle, the late and great Tommy Riordan.
That their names entered my consciousness two days apart one month ago and ignited emotional thoughts on different levels is where this story is rooted. Coincidence or omen? Let’s skip the semantics and leave me to suggest that what unfolded was very eerie.
My morning that day in early September was devoted to regaling a friend with my plans for an upcoming trip to Ireland, a location that has mesmerized me on multiple visits and was sure to do so again. When the friend interjected the name Tommy Riordan, the both of us choked up a bit because to describe him with words like gregarious or charitable or compassionate offers solid proof that Tommy’s death in November of 2019 left a void that has been impossible to fill.
Tommy's love of Ireland trips was legendary but we’ll be back to him in a moment.
Now, just two days after shedding tears of remembrance for him, a phone call made to get further details into a remarkable young man named Christian Cavaliere uncovered a nugget that floored me. At the U.S. Amateur Championship at Merion, where Cavaliere – the founder of Tremont Sporting Co. – marched into the Round of 16 and Drew Kayser, who coached Cavaliere at Boston College, happened to mention that Christian’s caddie at Merion was a former teammate on the BC golf team, a lad named Brendan Ridge.
“And he’s a great kid and a cool story, too,” said Kayser.
Remember, these days had nothing in common – the first phone call was just catch-up with a good friend; the second phone call two days later was for a story – but Lord, how these random dials quickly got tied together. Brendan Ridge is the nephew of Tommy Riordan, the guy whose memory ignited a river of tears two days earlier and putting logistics aside – Omen? Coincidence? It did not matter – my pursuit was on. A curiosity had to be quenched so the call was made to Brendan.
Turns out, Brendan is much like his uncle, in love with golf and in possession of a strong sense to give back. But whereas Tommy Riordan’s compassionate and charitable side translated into relentless support of the Francis Ouimet Scholarship Fund (he received the Richard F. Connelly Jr. Award for Distinguished Service months before he died), oh how he would have been so proud of Brendan’s choice to give five years to military service after graduating from Boston College in 2020.
“As a child I really admired soldiers,” said Brendan, who grew up in Hanover, Mass. “So joining (the Army) fulfilled a childhood dream. If I didn’t do it, I would have regretted it the rest of my life.”
His uncle had died after a lengthy battle with cancer months before Brendan joined the service, but by then they had bonded over this game of golf. That both Tommy and Brendan played golf at Boston College was just one of their many connections; both of them caddied (Tommy at Wollaston GC, Brendan at Boston Golf Club; and most fondly both were Ouimet Scholars.
“We had a strong family, regular get-together at the holidays,” said Brendan whose mother, Maryanne, was one of Tommy’s six siblings. “Once I picked up golf and got a love of the game, he really got excited. He could not do enough for me.”
Ah, it’s an epitaph that a massively long line of admirers would use for their friend Tommy Riordan – he could not do enough for us. That’s because in his golf career, from longtime head professional at New Seabury, sales dynamo for Izod and later the leader of The Riordan Group, Tommy Riordan forged countless relationships and never stopped trying to help former caddies at New Seabury and countless others by raising money for the Ouimet Fund.
“He was super involved and I’m not sure I would have played college golf if not for him. He was such a great mentor,” said his nephew.
When he stepped into the winner's circle at that long drive competition, Brendan Ridge was joined by his uncle, John Riordan . . .
. . . and just a few years earlier, another uncle, Tommy Riordan, accepted the coveted Richard F. Connelly, Jr., Award for distinguished service at the annual Ouimet Banquet.
The desire to give back was at the root of Tommy Riordan’s love of golf and Brendan has that same flavorful fabric, but with a different twist. Freshman year he thought about ROTC but it wasn’t until a conversation with Matt Smith, an assistant golf coach at BC who had also served in the Army, that Brendan Ridge became sold on the idea of giving five years to his country.
Once in, the ideas were floated around in his head. “Ranger? Infantryman? All of it seemed right.”
The path he eventually chose was as Sniper Team Leader at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, about 10 miles southwest of Tacoma, Wash. Asia and Japan was where the group focused on and Ridge was in the unit for three years, the last nine months overseas.
Though mostly dressed in combat fatigues, Brendan never lost his love of golf and in a most wonderful way he got to spend a few days as a competitor, just like those junior and collegiate golf years. In the summer of 2024, Ridge got to partake in a long drive contest on his base at Fort Lewis and when he won that it was off to the National Military Long Drive Championship at Fort Jackson in Columbia, S.C.
“I had no idea going in,” he laughed. Nor did he have any clue that his victory in that competition was worth a $10,000 check, which was made even sweeter by the presence of another uncle, John Riordan, Tommy’s older brother, at the presentation.
“It was wild. My friends saw me on TV because ESPN+ covered it. It was all so random. I simply stumbled onto it.”
Upon his honorary discharge in late 2025, the real world beckoned and to the surprise of no one who knows him, Brendan Ridge chose an admirable route. He called his college coach, Drew Kayser, and agreed to become an assistant golf coach at his alma mater. The master’s degree he’s currently pursuing at BC consumes most of his time, “but it’s great to be back into golf this way.”
The competitive fires are still there, too. Brendan Ridge played in the Hornblower Memorial at Plymouth CC this year and hopes to be even more involved in 2027. The time spent on the bag for Cavaliere, especially at Merion “which blew my mind, it was unbelievable, no boring holes,” has only helped rekindle the golf passion that burns within Brendan Ridge.
All of which only helps complete this circle that fell into my world in a most serendipitous manner. Just as my conversation with a friend in early September involved a preview of my trip to Ireland which made me reminisce about Tommy Riordan, whose close group of friends called themselves “The Wild Colonial Boys” and made double-digit trips to Ireland and Scotland, Brendan Ridge mentioned matter-of-factly that he would be in Ireland late in September and the warmth in my heart overflowed.
Our trips would overlap for a day or two, but in different locales inside Èire. But as we texted best wishes and he answered some last-minute questions for the story, a sense of kinship embraced me because Brendan’s uncle had meant so much to me.
We had shared many conversations about this great game, how we all benefitted greatly from it and owe it tremendously. Always, he would gush about Brendan. Always, he would regale with me his love of Ireland.
So my curiosity brought me to the message in Gaelic a good friend had left on the on-line obituary page for Tommy Riordan in November of 2019. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam. Translation: May his soul be on the right side of God, or simply put, may he rest in peace.
A month away from the seven-year anniversary of his death, my message in Gaelic would be Feicim thú i do nia. Translation: In your nephew I see you.
