Louis Oosthuizen takes one-shot lead into Sunday at The Open Championship

Former NBA guard J.R. Smith is set to make his collegiate golf debut next week for North Carolina A&T State University. RELATED: NBA champion J.R. Smith is headed back to school The now 36-year-old hit the headlines when he enrolled at the school over the summer after finishing up his 16-season NBA career and joined the school golf team as a freshman walk on. North Carolina A&T announced that Smith will play his first collegiate tournament next Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 11-12 at the Phoenix Invitational hosted by Elon. The tournament will take place at the par-71, 6,867-yard Alamance Country Club. All team golfers must qualify for each tournament in practice unless they finished first or second in the previous tournament. Smith qualified for next week’s tournament by one stroke. “He has a good enough golf game to put up some good numbers,” N.C. A&T coach Richard Watkins said on the school’s website. “But this is what I tell people. If you want to find out how good a golfer really is, put the word tournament or money in front of the round. “Playing when there is nothing on the line is one thing. But, put meaning to it, and the heart rate changes. The grip on the club changes, and we get to see who you really are.” Earlier this summer Smith said he was excited for his new challenge in life having missed out on college after going straight to the NBA from high school. “Golf is one of those games that has you feeling really high and or can bring you down to your knees and humble you,” Smith said in August. “And to have that feeling and knowing that all of the game’s pretty much on my own hands and I don’t have to worry about teammates to pass the ball and receiving passes and playing defense so, I can play my game and just have fun.”

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Marc Leishman doesn’t have an office with four walls, where one might hang his kid’s art project. But tapping into infinite kid-wisdom, his oldest, Harvey, 6, came up with a solution: Why not scrawl the art directly on what passes for Leishman’s office, his enormous golf bag? This was in early 2017, and Leishman wasn’t thrilled. “At the beginning, I’m kind of like, ‘No,’â€� Leishman said after shooting 65 for a five-shot win at the CIMB Classic at TPC Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. “Then I was like, ‘Yeah, write your name on my bag,’ so he wrote his name. Then my other son (Ollie, 5) wanted to write his name. “So now every golf bag that I have, they write their name on it and they love doing it,â€� Leishman added. “They see it on TV. And then every time I look at my golf bag, I think of them doing that or I think of my kids and that’s never a bad thing to think of your kids. Yeah, that’s a pretty cool thing that they do, and it will keep happening.â€� Leishman, who was solo in Malaysia as wife Audrey looked after the kids back home in Virginia Beach, Virginia, said he was hitting it every which way on the driving range. He kept at it, though, and figured something out with his driver as he recorded scores of 68-62-67-65. His 26-under total tied the CIMB record at TPC Kuala Lumpur, and left him well clear of T2s Emiliano Grillo (66), Chesson Hadley (66) and Bronson Burgoon (68). Two-time CIMB winner and 2017 FedExCup champion Justin Thomas shot a final-round 64 to tie for fifth. Now the TOUR heads to THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES at Jeju Island, Korea, where Thomas beat Leishman in a sudden-death playoff last year. It’s helpful, sometimes, to view the TOUR as one long story with lots of similar themes. Last week, Kevin Tway, son of eight-time TOUR winner Bob, got his first win at the Safeway Open as Dad watched through tears on TV. The CIMB was also, in its way, about fatherhood. In April, 2015, Leishman’s wife, Audrey, nearly died from a combination of sepsis, toxic-shock syndrome (TSS), acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), and pneumonia. She was in a coma for five days and given a 5 percent chance at survival. Marc was nearly a single father, but Audrey not only survived, she also gave the couple a daughter, Eva, 1. Audrey and Marc started the Begin Again Foundation to support survivors of sepsis, TSS and ARDS. “I won’t say it made golf less important, but it made me realize that golf’s not life or death,â€� Leishman said from the CIMB, where he saluted his family’s willingness to forgo sleep in order to watch him win on TV. “We’ve been through that and that’s not fun. “Yes, I want to win trophies and lucky enough today to be leaving with one, which my kids will be very happy about, by the way,â€� Leishman added, “but if I wasn’t to walk away the winner today, that’s all right, too. As long as I give it my best shot, that’s what it’s all about.â€� The CIMB was not life or death for Audrey and the kids, either, but it was still tense. Marc was tied for the 54-hole lead with Gary Woodland (71, T5) and potential Presidents Cup teammate Shubhankar Sharma (72, T10). Not surprisingly in Asia, Sharma, of India, was the fan favorite. Audrey took the boys to a theme park Saturday in order to think about something else. That night, she organized her schedule around the late telecast. After napping from 9 p.m. to midnight, she turned on the TV as Leishman birdied four of his first five holes while his playing partners struggled. He cruised from there, and she woke up Harvey to watch the last putt at 3 a.m. A year and a half ago, before Leishman won the 2017 Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, and the BMW Championship, Harvey put the pressure on. He’d seen Jason Day’s kids, Dash and Lucy, scamper onto the 18th green to celebrate Dad’s victories, and wondered aloud why he and Ollie weren’t doing the same to greet their own dad. Then came Bay Hill and Conway Farms, and the Leishman family celebrated. Last season saw Marc notch two runner-up finishes but no wins as he still made it all the way to the 30-man TOUR Championship. He must have sensed a win was imminent, though, because prior to the CIMB he booked the family plane tickets from Australia to Maui at the end of this year. “I just booked them for Maui thinking that I’ll either be playing in the (Sentry Tournament of Champions) or we’ll go for a vacation there,â€� Leishman said. “Now I’ll be playing a golf tournament.â€� (He tied for seventh at last year’s Sentry TOC, despite a third-round 76.) “I know Audrey will be very excited, as my kids will be,â€� Leishman added. “Hawaii’s an awesome spot, that’s one of my favorite places in the whole world. To be able to play two weeks there at two of my favorite golf tournaments is certainly something to look forward to.â€� Before he left Kuala Lumpur, Leishman pocketed a few toy airplanes to bring home to the kids, a gift of tournament sponsor Malaysia Airlines. Miniature airplanes? A trip to Maui? A fourth TOUR win? Yep, Marc Leishman banked some major Dad points even from half a world away.

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It had been an awful day, so far as Bob Goalby was concerned, so he took it out on the doors, the walls, the medicine cabinet. Anything that wouldn’t hit back was a target. “I was angry, so I was slamming everything,� said Goalby, whose first-round 75 at the 1958 Bing Crosby National Pro-Am at Pebble Beach left him well off the lead. There was a lot of golf to be played, but he was a 29-year-old PGA TOUR rookie – and a rather precocious one, at that. “I never paid attention to Doug (Ford), who I was rooming with. He had played earlier, and he just sat there watching me make an ass of myself. Finally, he looked at me and said, ‘Who do you think you are that you don’t think you can shoot 75?’ � Then 35, Ford was a PGA TOUR veteran who had already won the 1955 PGA Championship and 1957 Masters, but these were the days when money was tight, and roommates a necessity. “We went out to eat that night and finally I said, ‘Doug, what did you shoot?’ He said, ’77,’ and so I felt even worse. Here I was, acting like a jerk having shot 75. But that’s the way Doug was. He was always there for the guys who needed a little help.� The story personified Ford, a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame who died Monday evening at Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. He was 95 and to former “touring professionals� of the 1960s, Ford will always be remembered for the roles he played in forming the PGA TOUR as we know it and later the PGA TOUR Champions. “We cherish the rich history of our PGA TOUR, of which Doug Ford was an integral part,� said PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan in a statement. “In an era when giants of the game were building the PGA TOUR, Doug achieved remarkable success and never lost his unmatched love of the game. All of us owe a debt of gratitude to this great player.� Added former PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem: “Doug Ford was a gifted athlete who chose golf as his sport. It was my privilege to be in attendance and spend considerable time with him in 2011 when the World Golf Hall of Fame inducted him. His PGA Championship and Masters wins are a testament to the kind of player and competitor he was. Doug was a great champion and today we celebrate his life.� A winner of 19 PGA TOUR tournaments, “Doug was under-appreciated, perhaps, but not by those of us who played against him,� said Goalby. Ford won his PGA TOUR tournaments in a 12-year period (1952-63) when fame was difficult to come by. “But it didn’t matter,� said Goalby, “because Doug just loved to play. I think he played more golf than anyone. He’d leave a tournament on Sunday night, go home and play in a pro-am, then get to the next tournament to start practicing by Tuesday. I mean, he was always playing golf.� To Goalby’s point, from 1950 to 1963, Ford played in 429 tournaments, an average of nearly 31 per season. When in 2011 Ford was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame, Goalby enthusiastically accepted the offer to introduce him. “He was a great competitor, one of the toughest I ever played with,� Goalby said at the ceremony. “Sam (Snead) would call him Otis. I said, ‘What are you calling him Otis for?’ and Sam said, ‘because he’s like the Otis elevator, he’s up and down at every green.’ � If Snead’s assessment was true, Ford said it was owed to the way he spent much of his childhood in Manhattan where he acknowledged that he got his education in pool halls and ran with wannabe mobsters. “You had to be street smart,� he told Golf Digest’s Guy Yocum in 2007. “In that neighborhood, to survive you had to have guts.� Born Douglas Michael Fortunato on August 6, 1922, in West Hartford, Connecticut, Ford grew up in Manhattan where his father, Mike, a golf professional, operated a nearby indoor driving range. Mike and his three brothers – Frank, Jack and Joe, all of them golfers – finally changed the family name, reasoning that most jobs in golf were going to Scottish and British immigrants. “Ford� sounded better than “Fortunato.� They weren’t alone, either; Gene Sarazen had been born “Saraceni.� So different, these days. For proof, consider that Ford – who considered a professional baseball career before choosing golf – was like a lot of young men of the World War II era and put military service first. After a stint with the Coast Guard Air Division, Ford returned to playing competitive golf, but didn’t decide to turn pro until 1949, when he was 26. Why the delay? Ford said it was because he made a better living by playing money games. “In fact, he told me that (former USGA Executive Director) Joe Dey walked up to him at a tournament and said, ‘We know you play for money, so you can’t enter as an amateur,’ � said grandson Scott Ford, a teaching professional on Long Island. “My grandfather told me that’s pretty much the day he decided he was a professional golfer.� It wasn’t until his third PGA TOUR season, 1952, that Ford broke through for a win, one that came in a most unusual way. At the Jacksonville Open, Ford defeated Snead in a playoff – without hitting a shot. Instead, Snead forfeited. Seems Snead had hit it out-of-bounds in Round 2, only a generous official told him that because players hadn’t known that the white stakes had been moved, he didn’t have to take the penalty. Reportedly, some competitors were upset, so Snead, after finishing tied with Ford, refused to take part in the playoff. “I want to be fair about it. I don’t want anyone to think I took advantage of the ruling,� said Snead. With that, Ford accepted the $2,000 first-place prize and was off on a career that saw him win at least once each season from 1952 to 1963, save for 1956. Most memorable, of course, were his major championships, the first of which came by a 4 and 3 decision over Cary Middlecoff in the 36-hole, match-play final of the 1955 PGA Championship at Meadowbrook CC in Northville, Michigan. Renowned as a fast player, Ford later talked about his strategy against the notoriously slow Middlecoff. “The secret to my winning was a chair. I had my son (Doug Ford Jr.) carry a chair for me to sit in when it was Doc’s turn to play,� said Ford. “That chair saved my legs. You couldn’t rush Doc. But I didn’t care. I just sat in that chair.� Doug Ford Jr. was 10 at the time and vividly remembers the day. “I walked every hole, but it was my mother’s idea to carry one of those little folding chairs for the second round,� said the oldest of Doug and Marilyn’s three children. “It was a good strategy. It helped.� Two years later, Ford’s win at the Masters came with an exclamation point: He holed a bunker shot from a buried lie to birdie 18. “That was the greatest shot I ever played,� said Ford, whose closing 6-under 66 for 5-under 283 was three clear of Snead, the 54-hole leader. CQ, 283 is correct. If you use our PGA TOUR media guide for reference, 282 is wrong. “I remember feeling real bad for Sam,� Ford said years later. “I thought it was kind of sad that he started with a three-shot lead, shot 72, and got beat.� But Ford always opined that “Sam was the greatest player I ever saw,� and the two of them played countless times, usually for money. “When you beat him, you got paid off in the locker room,� Ford once laughed. “But if he beat you, he wanted to get paid on the green.� Ford made his debut in the Masters in 1952 and won it five years later. He last entered as a competitor in 2001 when he was 78. The club that year revised its policy and told past winners they couldn’t played beyond the age of 65. There were plenty of controversy, but Ford took it in stride. “It wasn’t a big deal to me, I was finished anyway,� Ford told Yocum. But in a fashion that was vintage Ford, he added, that there was a lesson to be learned. “Think twice before you put the words ‘lifetime exemption’ next to something.� Said Goalby: “He was a straight-shooter. Yeah, he could be kind of curt, but he was always good to guys who needed help.� “I think his fellow players respected him,� said Ford’s son Mike, “because they always elected him to their boards. He was low-key, never seeking out praise.� As a former Masters champ, Ford made the pilgrimage every April through 2017 for the Champions Dinner. His death leaves Jack Burke Jr. (1956) as the oldest living member of the World Golf Hall of Fame. Ford had three-win seasons in 1953, ’55 and ’57; was second on the money list twice; and Player of the Year in ’55. He played on four Ryder Cup teams, compiling a 4-4-1 record in 1955, ‘57, ‘59, and ‘61, and he was also inducted into the Connecticut Golf Hall of Fame and National Italian-American Sports Hall of Fame. Ford is also a member of the Metropolitan Section Hall of Fame, a testament to his long association with that heralded chapter of the PGA of America. He won the Met Open once and the Met Section PGA four times and had associations with four different clubs in the area – Putnam CC, Tam O’Shanter, Vernon Hills and Spook Rock GC, where he and his son, Doug Jr., had stints as head professional. But to Goalby and other players of that era, Ford will always be fondly remembered for how he helped shape what is the PGA TOUR and the PGA TOUR Champions. “He was a tower of strength when (The Tournament Players Division) split from the PGA of America. We owe Doug thanks for that,� Goalby said at Ford’s Hall of Fame induction. Years after leaving the PGA TOUR, Ford got a charge out of his win over Snead in the 1981 Merrill Lynch/Golf Digest Commemorative Pro-Am at Newport CC. He was instrumental in the formation of the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf, playing in the debut in 1978 and annually through 2013. He teamed with Jerry Barber (1987) and Art Wall (1996) for Liberty victories. His wife, Marilyn, with whom he traveled the PGA TOUR circuit with their three children – Doug Jr., Mike, and Pam – died in 1988. Both Doug Jr. and Mike played in some PGA TOUR tournaments after graduating from Wake Forest and Rollins College, respectively. They are both PGA of America professionals – Doug Jr. still teaches at Deer Creek Golf Club in Deerfield Beach, Fla.; Mike owns Jack O’Lantern Resort in New Hampshire which features an 18-hole golf course. But to show that golf continues to run deep with the Fords, Mike said he’s about to finish a deal to purchase Silver Creek Plantation in Morganton, N.C., where his brother Doug will be the director of golf. Doug Ford is also survived by his daughter, Pam, an Assistant State Attorney in West Palm Beach, Fla., seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. “He had a great life,� said Mike. “You can’t ask for anything more than that.�

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