Day: November 4, 2020

Koepka says he feels ‘as good as ever’Koepka says he feels ‘as good as ever’

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After 11 days in isolation, Dustin Johnson is back on courseAfter 11 days in isolation, Dustin Johnson is back on course

HOUSTON - "My health is good. The state of my game is undetermined." Those were Dustin Johnson's opening words in his pre-tournament press conference at this week's Vivint Houston Open, his first start since testing positive for COVID-19. Johnson tested positive for the virus before the CJ CUP @ SHADOW CREEK. He also withdrew from the following week's ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP @ SHERWOOD, missing an opportunity to play a course that he knows well and where he holds the course record. Johnson's bout with coronavirus was mild, he said. "I felt like I had a cold for a few days, ... so I was pretty much asymptomatic," Johnson said Wednesday. "A little fatigue and things like that, but I couldn’t really figure out if that was because I was stuck in a hotel room for like 11 days not doing anything or it was COVID that made me feel that way." Johnson, the reigning FedExCup champion, last competed at the U.S. Open, where he finished sixth. It was his fifth consecutive finish of sixth or better, a stretch that included his dominant win at THE NORTHERN TRUST, victory in the TOUR Championship and runners-up at the PGA Championship and BMW Championship. He compared this recent run to his stretch in 2017 when he won three consecutive starts leading into the Masters. Johnson was unable to compete at Augusta National, however, after injuring himself in a fall at his rental house. This year, his pre-Masters prep was interrupted by his positive COVID test. "The most movement I made was to the shower and then I had a little outside area, so I would go sit outside for a little bit. That was it," Johnson said about his time in isolation. He binge-watched television shows, declaring "Yellowstone" as his favorite. He started hitting balls last Monday but had to cut the session short because of fatigue. "It was ... just over two weeks before I started practicing again. But then obviously not playing or doing anything for two weeks, the first day I didn’t hit balls for very long because I got kind of tired," Johnson said. "Then (I) practiced a little bit more each day. It's been going pretty well so far." Now we'll see if Johnson can pick up where he left off.

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Julie Blum’s long journey leads to general manager position at Memorial ParkJulie Blum’s long journey leads to general manager position at Memorial Park

To say Julie Blum has worked in some non-traditional jobs in her life would be an understatement. In college in the late 1980s, she was a disc jockey in some of the most popular nightclubs on Sixth Street in Austin, Texas. She'd work happy hours and sometimes on weekends, expertly sizing up the crowd to see whether to play rock and roll or techno music or country and western that night. Later, Blum's proficiency in Spanish - as well as Italian, Dutch and even a little Russian - brought her to the city of Houston's protocol department where she worked in the aviation arena. She'd meet with security personnel and help dignitaries like Mikhail Gorbachev, the former president of the Soviet Union, navigate the airport landscape after their planes touched down. And she has spent the last 25 years at Memorial Park golf course, starting out as an administrative assistant and working her way up seven years ago to become the general manager of the facility that will host the Vivint Houston Open for the first time since 1963 this week. As she walked toward her office for a telephone interview on Tuesday, Blum passed Phil Mickelson, who was preparing to tee off in a practice round. She'd seen Jason Day working on his short game for hours. She calls the experience of hosting the PGA TOUR's best players at Houston's municipal gem somewhat surreal. "When I saw all this come to light … the signage, the ropes, the tents, watching the sun rise and seeing all these people working, it’s just been unbelievable to me that this is Memorial," Blum says. "Like how really the dream came true, and what a gift for our Houstonians. "We’re so lucky that we can play this course that the pros play." Truth be told, though, Blum wasn't quite sure what she was getting herself into when she started working at Memorial. She had left the aviation department by then and was the assistant to Houston's director of purchasing, dealing with the city council and the mayor and learning the internal workings of the largest city in Texas. Then she fell in love with her boss' son, Brian Blum, the man she would later marry. Obviously, Blum needed to make a job change given potential nepotism and favoritism concerns given that relationship. Her soon-to-be father-in-law told her there was an opening at Memorial Park for an administrative assistant and suggested she apply. "So, I came to this place in 1995 and it was under renovation," Blum recalls. "It was kind of comical because I showed up in my business attire, which at the time was a suit and high heels. Well. this was a mud pit, and my heels kept getting stuck in the mud. I’m like, what kind of place is this?" During that first push to improve the property, Blum met Nancy Reynolds, a member of the Houston Parks Board who, along with Mayor Bob Lanier, spearheaded the push to upgrade the municipal golf course that is located in the heart of Houston near the Galleria shopping complex and downtown. "She was definitely my inspiration to stay here at Memorial and to fill her wish that this would be a place for definitely keeping our seniors happy and developing the game of golf by making sure our juniors are interested," Blum says. "That was always her goal is to make sure we promote the game of golf. So that was her wish. And I promised her that I would take care of this place for her as long as I was here." Reynolds likely has heard about a young boy named Brian who asked Blum for free range balls one day after school. She put him to work vacuuming the pro shop and doing other odd jobs. He grew up to be a lawyer, invited Blum to his wedding and now brings his three sons to play at Memorial. Blum, who calls herself a recreational golfer, learned about Memorial Park from the ground up - literally - and that helped her gain the respect of the people with whom she works. She helped the maintenance crew edge cart paths and lay sod. She's worked the driving range, rolled greens and figured out how to drive the golf ball picker and maneuver a Skid Steer. And Blum's boss, Jason Harsh, who has a degree in agronomy from Texas A&M has also shared his expertise with the Chicago native and University of Houston grad whose first love was geology. The two, who have worked together for more than two decades, talk chemical compounds, fairy rings, web worms and the merits of Arkansas sand versus river sand, among other things. "So that’s how I learned so much in the past 25 years about golf course maintenance," says Blum, whose hands-on experience also helped her understand the tools her staff needs to do its jobs. She calls grounds crew the unsung heroes of Memorial Park, particularly after the recently completed second renovation, this time done by renowned golf course architect Tom Doak, that brought the layout up to the standard a PGA TOUR event requires. The long hours and hard work will be showcased this week. "Without them we wouldn’t be anything," she says. "So, if there’s anything I want to get out of this conversation is our maintenance guys … doing these jobs in a hundred degrees and this morning it was 46 — hats off to those guys and girls." The eight-month renovation, of course, wouldn't have been possible without the support of the Astros Golf Foundation, which stepped in two years ago to rescue the Vivint Houston Open. Memorial Park, which hosted the tournament from 1951 to 1963, is now PGA TOUR ready again. "To me, it’s just unbelievable to see the metamorphosis, the change going from a local neighborhood, kind of like a "Cheers" bar where everybody knows your name," Blum says "And now … I was watching Jason Day and Phil Mickelson was on the other tee box. "So to me, our values are not going to change. We’re still going to treat everyone with kindness and great communication and encourage development. And we want our locals, but we also want to just maintain that PGA flair that we’ve been gifted. "And we’re very lucky to have the Astros Golf Foundation in our life and great partners." Astros owner Jim Crane appears to feel the same about Blum and her stewardship of Memorial Park. "The other day, Mr. Crane looked at me and he goes, well, Julie, how does it feel to be the CEO of this asset?" Blum recalls. "And I looked at him and I’m like, okay, I never really thought of it that way, but now you just made me a little nervous." While she is more comfortable staying in the background, Blum thinks it's important for women to support each other - "we have to at least let women know that we can do anything," she says. That fact was driven home recently when a PGA TOUR staffer stopped by her office. "She looked at me, she was like, you don’t see this," Blum says. "And I was like trying to see what she was pointing at. And she was like pointing at me and I’m like, I don’t know what you mean. I'm sorry. She goes, you don’t see this — a woman behind the desk. "And she goes, I’ve been to Thailand, I’ve been to California, everywhere, Australia. You don’t see this. And she said hats off to you."

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A win in more ways than oneA win in more ways than one

Nearly a decade ago, Lanto Griffin thought seriously about giving up the game of golf. With few positives to hang his hat on, a different career was becoming more enticing. After turning professional in 2010, he would endure years of losing money and gaining credit card debt. In his first 10 starts on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2017, he earned a collective total of less than $5,000. "I thought about quitting," Griffin remembers thinking. What overtook his skepticism, though, was a stubborn perseverance to succeed. Returning to this week's Vivint Houston Open as the defending champion, his determination clearly paid off. And, it has paid off in more ways - and to more people - than he ever could have imagined. In the same first few years Griffin was trying to find his place in the world, a then-12-year-old boy from Spring, Texas, was fighting the odds just to keep his place in the world. Before his 13th birthday, Travis Arnold was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, a fast-growing cancer of white blood cells. Following two failed stem cell transplants from matching donors, on April 25, 2014, Arnold underwent a haploidentical stem cell transplant, which is a half match as opposed to a perfect or near-perfect match. The donor was Arnold's father. As fate would have it, the third time was the charm. Arnold would recover, go on to become a standout high school golfer and graduate in May 2017 in the top 2 percent of his class. Cancer free, he now attends the University of Texas in Austin. "Travis is such a good kid, and for him to come down with cancer at the age of 12, well, you can only imagine," Griffin said. "With his amazing attitude and positivity, he seems more like a veteran adult. He's just really mature for being a college kid." Arnold was diagnosed at the age of 12. Griffin was virtually the same age when he lost his father to the same disease. "I've been through it on the other side with my dad, losing a parent and best friend," Griffin said. "At that age, I just don't know that there's anything worse that can happen to you than losing a parent or loved one. I'm sure his parents felt similar to how I felt in terms of being scared and not knowing what was going to happen. Thank God he's healthy now and thriving at the University of Texas." One of the results of Griffin's win in Houston last season were 500 FedExCup points, which translated to a big step to the FedExCup Playoffs and season-ending TOUR Championship. Griffin did, in fact, make it to East Lake for the TOUR Championship, finishing T18. More significant than his spot in the elite 30-man field that week, though, was the opportunity to learn of Arnold's story and meet him for the first time, albeit virtually through a computer. Introduced by the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and fellow cancer survivor Mark Rolfing, Griffin and Arnold connected immediately on their love for golf, as well as the devastating impact cancer left on their families. "First, having MD Anderson put in as much time and research into such a terrible disease to try and make lives better and healthy is really amazing," Griffin said. "But, seeing his strength and the manner in which Travis has dealt with it is something I just cannot imagine. Cancer is a deadly disease and is going to do what it wants to do. It creates the loneliest, most helpless feeling in the world." Griffin was so moved by the pediatric cancer survivor's determination and resolve that a socially distant, in-person meeting at Arnold's home was arranged by the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center for Monday of this week. Arnold, though, was not privy to the meeting. It was to be a surprise. "I thought I was going to be sitting down with Mark Rolfing, who works with MD Anderson. That alone is a cool opportunity," Arnold, now 21, said. "In my mind, we were going to talk about the relationship of MD Anderson with the Houston Open." In addition to golf, the two spoke at length about their respective survivorship anniversaries and life as a cancer survivor. "Going through something like that at a young age will really give you a unique perspective on life," Griffin said. "On top of that, there are things in the world right now like COVID and the election. But, when you meet someone like Travis, who has been through what he has been through, it just really opens your eyes. There is more to life than golf and elections. It's just a good perspective." In addition to speaking to tournament officials about having Travis play in next year's Vivint Houston Open pro-am with him, Griffin capitalized on a relationship with Dormie Network to treat Travis and his family to a complimentary golf vacation at Briggs Ranch in San Antonio, home of a Korn Ferry Tour event. "The look on the faces of he and his mom, Gina, when they got that news was just so cool," Griffin said. "They're just so excited about that. It was just really cool looking at someone who has been through hell for years and years to have that kind of excitement on his face." As a teenager, one of Griffin's best friends was diagnosed with bone cancer. He remembers being there for him as he went through it all. The friend was a Make-A-Wish Foundation recipient and chose a new set of new golf clubs. "That changed his whole outlook and perspective," Griffin said. "So, when you can do anything to lift someone's spirit up, you just never know how much it can mean to them or even change a person's mentality." "Perseverance is extremely important in all aspects of life. Whether you're in school or business or athletics, things can get to where it feels really easy to give up. It takes a lot of gut and strength to keep pushing through. It's no different with Travis. He could have easily just rolled over and given up. But he never did. I can't ever imagine going through chemotherapy, radiation and surgery at any time, let alone when I was 12. For him to persevere like that, beat cancer and now be healthy and in college is incredible." "It felt to me like we just hit it off immediately," Arnold said. "Given what happened to his father when he was my age and when I found out about my cancer, in a weird kind of way, gave me the feeling of an instant connection." During the 2019-20 PGA TOUR Season, Griffin won a combined $200,000 from the RSM Birdies Fore Love program - $50,000 for being the weekly winner with the most birdies (or better) at the Vivint Houston Open, and $150,000 for a second-place finish in the program overall last fall. Griffin used the funds to start the Lanto Griffin Foundation to help aspiring athletes achieve their goals and dreams. He has since also donated $25,000 to the Astros Golf Foundation - $5,000 to Project Joy and Hope, a Vivint Houston Open beneficiary, and $20,000 this week to the Astros Golf Foundation itself. Because Griffin powered on, now others in need of help can, too. "The fight Travis won puts what I went through into perspective, too, in terms of never giving up," Griffin said. "I know what it's like to get frustrated and want to quit, give up on your dreams. But, when you're literally fighting for your life, like Travis did, it's a completely different battle.” "I can sympathize and understand to a degree, having witnessed my father going through it. Even though things turned out differently with my dad than it did for Travis, perseverance is always a very powerful thing. I tell that to kids all the time. It's not a sprint, it's a marathon. ... It is possible beat cancer, and Travis is a perfect example of someone who did just that without ever giving up."

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Best bets for PGA Tour: Vivint Houston OpenBest bets for PGA Tour: Vivint Houston Open

It’s one week before the Masters, and the PGA Tour heads to Texas for the Vivint Houston Open. Our experts offer their best bets.

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