Dustin Johnson earns 19th TOUR win; Keegan Bradley makes major progress

For J.J. Spaun, it was a no-brainer. He had just won the 2020 Travelers Championship’s Umbrella at 15/12 Charity Challenge, getting closest to the hole from 85 yards to a floating umbrella-shaped green at TPC River Highlands. After hitting a delicate wedge to 19 inches, Spaun knew exactly what he would do with the $10,000 prize. He gave it to the JDRF, which is dedicated to finding a cure for Type 1 diabetes. The donation was particularly important to Spaun, who had been diagnosed with diabetes in 2018 after an unexplained weight loss sent him to the doctor. At the time, he was diagnosed as Type 2, but he would find out after further tests in February 2021 that he had Type 1, late onset. A day after the charity competition, Spaun was in the player dining room when Andy Bessette, EVP and Chief Administrative Officer for Travelers, introduced himself. Bessette told Spaun that his son Chris, who is now in medical school, had been diagnosed as Type 1 before heading off to college. “He gave me a big hug and was like, ‘Thank you for donating,’” Spaun said. “That was so awesome because his son is a diabetic as well. And he and his wife, they donate a lot of money to this foundation trying to give people the resources to find cures and find ways to battle this disease.” Bessette also told Spaun that he and his wife Cherrie would match Spaun’s donation. “It meant the world to me,” Bessette said. “J.J.’s a nice young man and I was very impressed. We had more of a conversation. And then I said to him, ‘J.J., if I can ever help you, let me know.’” Bessette got that chance earlier this year at THE PLAYERS Championship. He was sitting in a golf cart with Harold Varner III, waiting to film some promos for the Travelers Championship, when the amiable pro from North Carolina received a disheartening text from Spaun. “I said, ‘Well, what’s up, what’s wrong?’” Bessette said. Varner told him that Spaun wasn’t feeling great and was having some issues managing his Type 1 diabetes. “I said, ‘Harold, you tell him to call me.’” Bessette said. “So, Harold texts and he showed it to me: ‘Call Andy. He might be able to help you.’ So, I love Harold to death because you know what a big heart Harold Varner has. … And he connects me back with J.J.” A few days later, Spaun reached out to Bessette, who set up a call with Aaron Kowalski, the president and CEO of JDRF, who is also a Type I diabetic. Kowalski told Spaun about a new inhalable insulin that is absorbed quickly and could be used on the course, if necessary, rather than an injection. During their conversation, he also texted a doctor in Los Angeles who works with elite athletes on how to handle their blood sugar levels. “I’m learning all these new things through Andy and his connections,” Spaun said. “It’s been great. Definitely something that I didn’t think would happen for me, but that’s the beauty of golf. “You kind of meet all these people and next thing you’re being helped out in an extraordinary way.” Spaun is essentially a self-taught golfer, and he has taken a similar approach with researching and learning to manage his diabetes. Having the counsel of people like Bessette and Kowalski helps, and while Spaun is the first to admit he doesn’t have it 100 percent figured out, sometimes everything comes together. Take the Valero Texas Open, for example, which was played about two weeks after that conference call. The 31-year-old was rock steady as he won his first PGA TOUR event, besting Matt Jones and Matt Kuchar by two strokes and earning his first Masters invitation in the process. “I was crying,” Bessette said. On the golf course, Spaun wears a Libre blood sugar monitor that he checks with his smartphone every 30 minutes or so. “It’s part of my golf bag now,” he said. If the number is too high, he can have blurry vision and fatigue; when it gets low, he’ll feel lightheaded and shaky and reaches for something with sugar or carbs to eat. Spaun is back up to a healthy weight of 175 pounds after losing more than 50 pounds during the first three years he lived with diabetes. He has worked hard to get his strength back and together with instructor Andy Patnou has found the “magic move” in his swing from when he played his best golf. “He kind of gives me the recipe, and I kind of bake the cake my own way,” Spaun said. Bessette knows what it’s like to play sports at the highest level. He made the 1980 U.S. Olympic Team as a hammer thrower, although he did not get to compete in Moscow due to the American boycott. His experience as an athlete provides a particular appreciation for Spaun has accomplished while dealing with Type I diabetes. “I don’t know that I could have done it,” Bessette said. “I don’t think I’m that tough. It’s just amazing to me. That’s why I love J.J. I’m going to help him as much as I can. I so respect what he goes through, not just the struggle of being a world-class athlete and being competitive on the PGA TOUR, but just what he’s dealing with on all fronts of his life. He’s a young man, he’s got a young family and that has its own set of challenges, too.” Since his victory at the Valero Texas Open, Spaun said he has been contacted by diabetics around the world who tell him how much they appreciate him sharing his story. “They have made me feel like the biggest winner of all because they are saying that I was like a hero to them or inspiring to them or a great ambassador of what this disease does to them,” he said. And the communication works both ways. The unassuming Spaun made it a point to go over and talk with a young girl in his gallery at the Sanderson Farms Championship last fall because she was wearing the same glucose monitor that he does. He signed a glove for her and told her not to let her diabetes hold her back.

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Follow live: The big names are on the course at the PGA Championship

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Against a backdrop of sports stories so often built around athletes in the phenom mold, J.L. Lewis was always an easy embrace if you preferred your players to be studies in resiliency. In a fitting description written in 2003, Doug Smith of the American-Statesmen in Austin, Texas, said that Lewis was “one of those overnight success stories that was about 20 years in the making.� Lewis not only approved of that description, he had a profound sense of pride in the long and arduous road that made it accurate, and the way in which he handled the ups and downs of a pro golf career that included 626 tournaments from 1990-2012 across the Korn Ferry Tour, PGA TOUR, and PGA TOUR Champions. After the first of his two PGA TOUR wins, the 1999 John Deere Classic, Lewis told reporters that “I can’t even describe the hurdle I had to get over to do this,� and when a second win unfolded at the 84 Lumber Classic in 2003, he turned the spotlight where he felt it belonged, on his wife, Dawn. “She’s been right with me all these years,� he told Smith. “She has made a lot of sacrifices for me to pursue this thing. She is now and always has been the biggest influence in my life and she is the reason for my happiness today.� When Lewis’ nine-year struggle with multiple myeloma came to an end New Year’s Eve, Dawn was by his side along with their son, Cole, daughter Sherry Lewis-Ramirez, and other family members. In an obituary the family wrote to confirm the death of Lewis, 59, it was said that “he epitomized the essence of a PGA golf professional . . . and for the past nine years while J.L. battled cancer, he focused on teaching golf in his local community (Austin, Texas) to make a difference in the lives of golfers of all ages.� Few of his PGA TOUR brethren bridged the playing and teaching world quite like Lewis, whose name was John Lee, but he preferred J.L. That was a byproduct of the long and colorful road he traveled to make it in the big leagues and stay there. Though he had some successes early in his career – he led Southwest Texas State to the NCAA Div. 2 Championship in 1983 and was second in the individual competition, then he captured the Austin City Championship – Lewis was like a lot of talented players who couldn’t synch his best play to when the PGA TOUR Qualifying Tournament rolled around. So, in conjunction with Lewis’ pursuit of the PGA TOUR and several seasons on the Korn Ferry Tour, he held teaching jobs at various clubs in and around Austin, Texas, and even at Las Vegas Country Club. A proud member of the PGA of America, Lewis played passionately in whatever events he could, determined to keep his competitive juices flowing. He and good friend Wes Short – who would win on the PGA TOUR in 2005 and has two victories on the PGA TOUR Champions – combined to shoot a final-round 59 as staff members of the Ben White Golf Center in Austin. It earned them the 1994 Southern Texas PGA team title. Later that year, Lewis made a stunning 50-foot eagle putt on the 18th hole at PGA National to help the United States beat Great Britain in the biennial PGA Cup. Representing Perdernales Country Club at the time, a nine-holer in Austin, Lewis used the excitement of his 1-up singles win to give a shout out to his good friend and avid supporter, country music superstar Willie Nelson. The owner of Perdernales, Nelson, had he seen Lewis’ improbable heroics, “probably would have written a song,� the player mused. “And it would probably have been a hit.� A mega hit from years earlier, Nelson’s rollicking anthem entitled “On The Road Again� could have been used as the music intro to the years 1998 to 2006 when Lewis finally achieved the PGA TOUR consistency that he had passionately pursued for years. He played the huge bulk of his 355 PGA TOUR tournaments in those years when at least 30 starts per season were the norm. His first win came in his 114th PGA TOUR start, the 1999 John Deere Classic at Oakwood Country Club. Three behind Brian Henninger after rounds of 66-65-65, the then 39-year-old Lewis birdied the 18th hole to shoot a third straight 65, then beat Mike Brisky in a playoff. A chance to win a second John Deere Classic was squandered in 2003, Lewis settling for a share of second behind Vijay Singh, but the very next week he authored an emphatic comeback. Forced to play 36 holes Sunday at the Mystic Rock Course at the Nemacolin Resort in Farmington, Penn., Lewis was three behind to start the day, but fell seven back with a third-round 68. Then, in soft conditions he caught fire and with a sizzling 62, Lewis passed 10 players and posted a two-stroke victory. Lewis was 43, but if the excitement of his victory could be overshadowed by anything, it was his perspective and humility. He and Dawn had been raised in Emporia, Kan., roughly halfway between Kansas City and Wichita where blue-collar roots run deep. “I wasn’t raised around a lot of money and some people go their entire lives and never see this much,� he said of the lavish first-place checks and comfortable life that he had earned with diligence and doggedness. “When I was 29, I didn’t think I could ever have this much.� When in his third season on the PGA TOUR Champions, Lewis was diagnosed with cancer, he maintained that humility and perspective. The family obituary noted that Lewis was a firm believer in The First Tee and the life lessons he knew golf would provide youngsters. He had a teaching academy in Austin and a website, jllewisgolf.com. According to the obituary, in the final month of his life, Lewis wrote: “In the past 52 years I’ve been playing or teaching golf to players of all levels and ages. What I love the most about teaching is that I’m always learning. Every day, something new emerges in terms of how to make the improvement easier for the student. Helping the student know their best swing is the number one priority . . . this is the essence of golf.� In addition to Dawn, Cole and Sherry, Lewis is survived by three grandchildren; his father, John; and a sister. The family said that donations can be made in honor of J.L. Lewis to The First Tee of America, the Flatwater Foundation, or the Austin chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

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