This one means more for Hurley

Dwight Eisenhower, five-star general, 34th President of the United States, and 24/7 golf nut, knew all about it. Ditto for the military-minded Bob Hope, who carried a golf club onto the stage during his USO tours; and 1969 U.S. Open champion Orville “Sarge” Moody (U.S. Army); and World Golf Hall of Famers Lee Trevino (Marines); and Larry Nelson (Army).

Billy Hurley III hears about it every day, the deep and multi-faceted connection between golf and the military that will be in the spotlight this week as he defends his first PGA TOUR title at the Quicken Loans National at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm.

“I’ve talked to guys who say golf saved their life,” says Hurley, the only active veteran on TOUR after serving for five years as a Surface Warfare officer in the Navy. “Because they were depressed and didn’t have an outlet, and now they have community and camaraderie and a way to compete and something to work at and get better at.

“You don’t join the military not being a fairly competitive person; it doesn’t really work out if you’re not there to win. When that gets taken away from you, that can be hard to deal with, and golf has replaced that, filled that competitive outlet, for a lot of people.”

No one better typifies the spirit of the tournament he won than Hurley. Although the TOUR’s far-reaching Birdies for the Brave initiative supports military causes all year long, the golf-military connection is especially prominent at the Quicken Loans. Voicing what many were thinking last year, Tiger Woods, the tournament host and son of a veteran, said, “To have a serviceman actually win the event, it doesn’t get any better than that.”

But maybe it will. Because this week’s Quicken will be a week-long celebration of not just the Washington D.C. region, the troops and America. It will serve to further strengthen the already abiding bond between golf and the military, which goes back generations and which Hurley solidified last year. It’s a bond that will only get stronger at Avenel Farm, with Hurley assuming “the golf pulpit,” as he says. And it’s a bond that will grow beyond this week, too.

Hurley has announced the first Billy Hurley III and the Brave Golf Tournament, in which he will host 18 active duty servicemen and servicewomen from east coast Navy golf courses. The event will be held at the United States Naval Academy Golf Club on Monday, July 31, and will feature 18 military golfers picked to play with Hurley by a raffle drawing. It will also a feature a two-day junior tournament. The new event will benefit the Anchor Scholarship Foundation and Naval Academy Athletics, and will fund one junior golf scholarship.

“The objective is twofold,” Hurley says. “One, to raise some dollars for a few charities, and two, to provide an experience to 18 active-duty service members who wouldn’t otherwise have access to something like this, guys and gals who are out there working hard for our country. We’re going to do a high-level event that the Naval Academy and this course has never seen.”

LISTENING TO THE CADDIE

Hurley hears stories like these wherever he goes on TOUR. He wears a Navy visor when he plays, so he tends to stand out.

“It started with just Naval Academy people,” he says, “and now it’s starting to grow into all branches.”

Other players recall meeting service members around the world; oftentimes they’re not easily forgotten.

“I think of Hawaii and the guys who are stationed over there,” says Mark Wilson, whose father Les was in the Army. “They come and caddie for us for a hole over there.

“The time away from the family for the soldier is amazing, and you’ve got to commend the mom back home with the kids, plus the mom and dad of the soldier who are worrying if he’s safe. That caddie-for-a-hole thing, you have 15 or 20 minutes to get to know ’em and hear their story a little bit. It’s always very moving.”

There’s hearing, and then there’s doing—or at least getting a taste of what it’s like to serve. Johnson Wagner once flew on a cargo plane from Norfolk, Virginia, to the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman, where he marveled at the manpower and logistics required to run such a vast operation.

“One of the greatest experiences of my life,” Wagner says. “I never had the appreciation for how many different jobs there are, how many people, and just how big an aircraft carrier is. It really is like a floating city.”

This from a guy who was steeped in the military -- Wagner’s father taught at West Point --- and who always has a quip at the ready for when he sees Hurley.

“I always give Billy a hard time,” Wagner says with a smile. “‘Go Army, beat Navy.’”
Hurley laughs, but he’s always taken the rivalry seriously.

“Every sport has an Army-Navy game,” he says, “and in golf it’s a match play thing sort of like the Ryder Cup, with four four-ball matches and seven singles matches. First to six points wins. We won all four years while I was in school, not that we were counting.”

PAYING IT FORWARD

This week’s Quicken Loans National will feature the Lockheed Martin Military Pavilion, plus a heroes’ tribute wall, and military caddies, starters and announcers.

Active and retired military and National Guard will receive free or discounted tickets.

As defending champ, Hurley will direct some of the week’s charitable contributions to the Travis Manion Foundation. Manion was killed in Iraq in 2007, and is remembered partly for his rhetorical question before leaving for his final deployment: “If not me, then who?”

The comment has become the rallying cry for his foundation, and inspired many.

“He was the captain of the wrestling team when I was captain of the golf team,” Hurley says. “His foundation is doing a lot of great stuff with Gold Star Families [who lost family members in Iraq] and character development in high school kids. So, they’ll have [tournament] passes that they can give to whoever they want within their organization, veterans.”

Other stories will come to light this week, stories of sacrifice and fellowship, and golf.

“I really count it as a privilege and an honor and take it very seriously to be the only veteran on the PGA TOUR,” Hurley says, “and to represent the Naval Academy and the military at large as a player on the PGA TOUR. I’m excited that my brand is getting out there enough to impact the entire military, not just the Naval Academy.
We’re trying to figure out exactly how to use that, because for a couple days, anyway, I’ll kind of have the golf pulpit as defending champion. We’re looking forward to it.”