There are times, subtle as they might be, when we become spoiled by glitz and excesses and a media’s obsession with only a handful of golfers and tournaments. The end result is a drifting away from simpler pleasures and our lack of appreciation for how much golf is loved.
The upcoming Massachusetts State Open (June 9-11 at Oyster Harbors) should help with that.
It arrives on the calendar at a time when the PGA Tour is more disjointed than ever, when the floodgates to absurd amounts of money have been opened to a few dozen tournaments while dozens of other events are being ignored. Weird happenings, to be honest, and for as much as this Track 1 and Track 2 structure will alter the PGA Tour landscape, it won’t change the fact that the essence of golf – its heart and soul – will remain the amateur game and professional tournaments such as the Mass. Open.
Oh, the changes in our world are massive and we’ll never return to the climate of 91 years ago when two months after becoming the first player to complete what is now considered to be the pinnacle of professional golf – the completion of the career grand slam at the 1935 Masters – Gene Sarazen traveled to Fitchburg, Mass., and rolled to a 14-stroke triumph in the Massachusetts Open at Oak Hill CC.
He shares impressive company, by the way, as legends named Francis Ouimet, Walter Hagen, Byron Nelson, Horton Smith, and Julius Boros are also on the rollcall of Mass. Open winners.
Simpler times, yes, but there are an awful lot of people who still embrace the purity of golf and base their joy not on how much money is in the purse but on how much fire is in their belly.
“I’m so fired up. I really care about playing in this tournament,” said Evan Harmeling, whose pro career includes 169 tournaments and one victory on the Korn Ferry Tour, but whose spirit is ignited by the mere chance to challenge himself.
“I’m playing to compete, to be part of a tournament.”
At 37, Harmeling has a firm grasp on reality. He has a wife, Arial, and two young daughters, Naya, 5, and Alva, 2, so committing to a job in the world of industrial real estate speaks to his character. Life moves you in different directions; just offer cheers to him for being respectful to his competitive fire and true to the dignity he has always had.
That 2013 State Open, for instance. It was played weeks after the tragic bombing at the Boston Marathon and Harmeling vowed before Round 1 that he would donate his winnings to the One Fund Boston charity. When he won and was presented a $15,000 check, Harmeling didn’t say, “Ooops, maybe I should re-think that.” No. He took the trophy but gave all the cash away.
It wasn't so much that he won the 2013 State Open; it's what Evan Harmeling did with the top prize that put a shine on his character. (David Colt photo.)
That’s the sort of character that is part of your DNA and so it’s no surprise that when Harmeling made a hole-in-one on a KFT tournament in South America and won a car, he made sure it went to his caddie. Thus, he speaks of his respect for the history of the Massachusetts Open and how “I wanted to go to a qualifier” to earn his way in because “feeling the heat” is what the Tour used to be about but is getting away from.
Harmeling was 3-over when he birdied the 16th at The Orchards to be where he thought the cut would be. He made par at 17 then “yanked my shot into jail” at the 18th. It was as big a gut-check bogey as he’s faced in a while but at 3-over he was told he made the cut on the number.
“Now that was fun,” he laughed, but it’s a sentiment that competitive golfers will identify with. James Driscoll, for instance.
His heralded golf career includes being a two-time State Amateur champion, runner-up at the 2000 U.S. Amateur, a qualifier for the Masters and U.S. Open in 2001, and twice a playoff participant in PGA Tour tournaments. Had he won either playoff, who knows where his PGA Tour career would have gone, but the greater truth is, Driscoll, now 48, was good enough to make it and to play in nearly 400 PGA Tour and KFT tournaments.
But if you want a golfer who can vouch for the up-and-down nature of competitive golf, it is James Driscoll. “There was a time when if I didn’t ever play again, I’d be happy with that,” said Driscoll, who can speak to the rigors of golf at the highest level.
“But now, I see the game differently. A golf shot is a golf shot and when I’m standing over it I have one kind of mission, whether it’s in the Masters, a PGA Tour tournament, a Minor League golf tour, or a State Open qualifier. It’s pretty much fun again.”
Like Harmeling, Driscoll got through his qualifier at Walpole CC and is excited about playing at Oyster Harbors. “Honestly, I’m enjoying competitive golf more than ever,” said Driscoll.
That’s a sentiment that resonates emphatically and widespread because at municipal golf courses, private clubs, amateur tournaments, and competitive events such as the upcoming edition of the 116th Massachusetts Open, the game is quite well and quite unspoiled, thank you.
Lads such as Harmeling and Driscoll demonstrate that, their competitive fires built upon the simplest of concepts. It’s fun. And it's pure golf.
