HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. – Truthfully, the emotions came crashing down in unexpected waves 23 Aprils ago. Jeff Julian was a friend. The disease with which he was living, ALS, was insidious. To know that he was saving all his energy just to offer quotes for my story cut me to the core.
Combined, those facts weighed heavy and several times it occurred to me that the words would never come, at least not through a stream of tears and the pounding heartache. Then, a thunderbolt of reality arrived. Jeff Julian, helpless against ALS but so in love with this opportunity to play PGA Tour golf, moved from the clubhouse area to the media center and with every courageous step he took, another smiling face said hello.
John Farrell, the head golf professional at Harbour Town, and Steve Wilmot, the tournament director, made sure everything about Julian’s visit would run smoothly and the joy they helped spread was palpable.
Julian gushed at how a team led by Farrell and Wilmot team had opened its hearts to him. “Look at this. How could you not be happy?” said Julian. “I need this. I want this. And fortunately I have the chance to have it.”
For all the times when Jeff Julian crosses my mind – and they are plentiful – never is it of him losing his life to ALS in 2004 at the age of 42; always it is of him on those days on Hilton Head Island when people with big hearts and warm embraces welcomed him.
Thus is every pilgrimage to the Masters capped off by a visit to Hilton Head Island. Yes, the RBC Heritage commands the spotlight, but what pulls me in is the opportunity to be among a group of people who share a sense of family and a commitment to hospitality.
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To study the nucleus of the team that makes the RBC Heritage work so successfully is to realize they are friends and quasi-family members first, co-workers next. “It’s very personal, very intimate,” said Carol Bartholmew about living on Hilton Head Island, which she has done since the 1980s.
Her passion for being involved in the world of pro sports goes back to the Family Circle Cup, a tennis event at Sea Pines circa 1986, but here’s one of the neat twists that comes into play when you get to know these folks. Her ties to her childhood area, Atlantic City, N.J., brought her in contact with a Philadelphia kid named Steve Wilmot who loved the pro sports world, too. Why not reach out to him and tell him the PGA Tour tournament on Hilton Head was looking for help?
“I teach my kids that relations are everything,” said Bartholomew, now the media relations chairman of a tournament she cherishes, one that that is played on the coziest of stages, Harbour Town Golf Links, that you can find.
John Farrell, now the Director of Sports Operations at the Sea Pines Resort, shows he has his pockets of sunshine . . .
. . . and Carol Bartholomew still has her mother's badge from one of her many volunteer experiences -- as well as her favorite golf ball, a No. 4 Chaos identified with a red "B."
When a young man from a close-knit family in Western Massachusetts, John Farrell, arrived on Hilton Head Island in 1984 and eventually became head golf professional at Harbour Town in 1989, the foundation had been poured for a team that would operate this PGA Tour tournament with a profound sense of community ownership.
To add in Angela McSwain, the marketing and communications director since 2003, and Christina LoBello, who has been on staff for 31 tournaments, gives you five people with about 165 years of experience, a huge reason why it’s a tournament with a rich soul that is hard to match.
The glimpses into what makes this team work so beautifully are heartfelt and plentiful.
Consider the beauty of a non-profit called “Pockets Full of Sunshine,” which Bartholomew founded in 2015 with the help of two special educators (Dayna Dehlinger, Laurin Rivers). Carol and her husband, RJ Bartholomew, are the parents of a daughter, Sally, with special needs and they became aware of how access to school-based services are lost when these young adults turn 21.
Nothing short of a community miracle, “Pockets Full of Sunshine” strives to help young adults with special needs integrate into the general public and grow their independence. Partnerships with businesses, schools, and civic groups are formed and a series of fundraisers throughout the year maintains the strong community ties.
Carol Bartholomew’s spirit is immense and her passion for the annual RBC Heritage is inspiring. That she has worked alongside NBC legend Marv Albert and Tom Place, the late PGA Tour Director of Information, and was with NBC during the eight-week NFL strike in 1982 provides a sense of the depths to her professional experience. That she received letters of condolences from CBS executives, PGA Tour employees, and a host of media personnel after the deaths of her 95-year-old parents, Ken Fetter (Jan. 16) and Bobbie Fetter (Feb. 6) within a three-week span earlier this year gives you an idea to the sort of world in which she resides.
“Everybody cares about one another,” said Carol.
Indeed, the family support is astounding when it comes to the RBC Heritage and the Hilton Head Island community.
“My kids grew up working (at the tournament),” said Carol, whose parents retired here from New Jersey and became part of the Hilton Head fabric. Everyone called Ken Fetter “coach” and he worked as a ranger at Harbour Town. Bobbie? Well, she seized every opportunity to work at the tournament and Carol proudly displayed a plant in which she placed her mother’s badge from the 2002 WorldCom Classic.
That was the tournament in which Jeff Julian shot 74-74. He missed the cut, of course, but won hearts and forced others – yours truly – to choke back their emotions. It struck me those days 23 years ago how compassionate were these tournament staff members when it came to Jeff Julian and years later the insidious ALS disease again became the topic of conversation on a visit to this incredible tournament.
John Farrell’s older brother, Fran, was my publisher at Golfweek and our spirits were crushed when he stepped down after being diagnosed with ALS. The Farrell family, like the Hilton Head community, is awe-inspiring and John told me on a tournament visit that “you should send a message to Fran.”
It seemed wild to learn it was possible, but through technology Fran was able to respond to messages via eye contact to a computer. In response to what my heart helped write, Fran sent a message that was deep, sincere, and lovingly personal. He preached an embrace of faith and family and not surprisingly, John is much like his brother Fran.
“He is a better husband, a better father, and a better friend than he is a golf pro,” said Wilmot. “And that’s saying something because he’s the best golf pro around.”
They are a special group of people, dedicated to their families, their friends, and to a tournament that galvanizes their community.
Images of their passion to one another are told in the stories – how Carol’s daughter is helping John Farrell’s daughter plan her wedding; how when it was high school prom time, John Farrell’s son showed immense character and took Carol’s daughter Sally as his date; how when Carol was going through the pain of losing not one, but two parents, she wiped away tears and looked up to see Steve Wilmot and John Farrell asking what they could do.
“Everything matters,” said Carol Bartholomew. “That’s the vibe we have here.”
