By ALAN SNEL
LVSportsBiz.com
While three-time major champion Jordan Spieth was teeing off at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open’s seventh hole, there was 15-year-old amputee Rachel Sumrada holding a golf club for the first time and preparing to strike a golf ball at the edge of the PGA Tour event’s driving range.
“She wants to be a voice, lobby for people with disabilities,” said proud mom Barb Sumrada, explaining her daughter’s left leg was amputated above the knee. “It’s amazing here. She tries everything.”
While the PGA pros were putting and driving at TPC Summerlin on day 2 at the Shriners Open in pursuit of $7 million in prize money, the golf clinic put on by the U.S. Adaptive Golf Alliance is a slice of golf action you won’t see on the national NBC broadcasts. But in some ways, the Shriners kid standard bearers and the adaptive golf instructors who were missing legs, arms and hands while playing and learning the sport represented a purity of sport as much as the Rickie Fowlers and Bryson DeChambeaus did on the 7,243-yard course.
Brandon Canesi, a 26-year-old adaptive golfer who was also a Shriners kid at the Shriners’ Philadelphia hospital because he was born without hands, showed the teen-ager, Sumrada, how to strike the golf ball. Canesi became known for a viral video showing him hitting a hole-in-one with his special 58-inch club and practiced this week at the Summerlin course along big-name pros like Fowler at the driving range and Jim Furyk on the practice green. Here’s a look at the hole-in-one video.
Canesi, attending a golf academy in South Carolina who started a foundation called “Hole High,” explained why he was there at the clinic: “If I have a chance to help a kid find passion in golf, I’m successful.”
Every year, the Shriners invest millions of dollars in serving as the title sponsor to this PGA Tour stop off Summerlin Parkway 12 miles west of the Strip. But they believe the contributions the Tampa, Florida-based non-profit receives justify the investment.
The Shriners also like partnering with the U.S. Adaptive Golf Alliance because it shows the Shriners kids that anything is possible, said Mike Babcock, a Shriners regional marketing director.
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“Our kids are different and they find kids with similarities here. The adaptive golf professionals are paired with kids and it’s naturally inspiring,” Babcock said. “It’s the motivation and inspiration that are the big factors.”
Mark Johnson, director of advancement at the U.S. Adaptive Golf Alliance, said his organization puts on golf tournaments but there is no official para-golf circuit for the adaptive golfers to compete on. The Shriners Open event was the ideal fit for his alliance’s members to meet up with the Shriners kids, Johnson said after the clinic that lasted nearly two hours.
While most of the instructors and kids had left the practice area, there was Canesi still working with a youngster.
“Here’s a man who started like one of these kids,” the Shriners’ Babcock said.
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