Players engaging fans while grappling with virus

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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For Justin Thomas, no time to celebrate

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The first leg of the bonding trip with his sons last summer was a cruise. But Boo Weekley doesn’t remember the island destination, or any other ports of call, for that matter. “We just went, and we came back,â€� he says with a shrug of his shoulders. After the cruise, Weekley and his boys went to Disney World and Legoland. In total, the trip lasted seven days. Or maybe it was eight. “I can’t remember that either,â€� Weekley grins. What he does remember, though, is the fun he had with Parker (now 17) and Aiden (now 10). But despite all the theme nights and the cartoon characters roaming the decks and those Disney movies shown on board, the trip wasn’t completely carefree. Not after his doctor told him just as the trip started that tissue samples taken after removing that angry cyst from Weekley’s left shoulder had shown signs of cancer. The doctor’s next sentence was just as alarming. You need to come back to the office – now. But Weekley said no. He and the boys were already on their way. The trip would go on as planned. “I ain’t gonna turn around,â€� Weekley told his doctor. Upon his return home to Jay, Florida, Weekley finally met with his doctor. The small incision made to excise the infected cyst was replaced by a bigger scar as the surgeon dug back into his shoulder to remove the cancerous cells. “They cut it all out and here we are — we’re back to normal,â€� says Weekley, who makes just his fourth PGA TOUR start of the season this week at the Charles Schwab Challenge, a tournament he won in 2013. Before you think that Weekley is the ultimate optimist or the master of the understatement all rolled in one, he was concerned. But he knew whatever happened was out of his control, and quite frankly, golf’s ultimate country boy doesn’t particularly like talking about his feelings and the like. “Yeah, it worried me, but I mean what’s the worst thing, I couldn’t play golf again?â€� Weekley wonders aloud. “The good Lord is gonna take care of us the way he wants to take care of us. I believe in him so I’m gonna just have my faith and it is what it is.â€� But still, when they say you have cancer … “It scared me. I was worried,â€� Weekley admits. “But I mean, I don’t know, it’s just kind of like one of them things like all right, how serious is it? I didn’t know how serious it was, and then when he said, ‘Oh, I can cut all this out, and we’ll be done in about a day, about three hours,’ I was like ‘All right.’ “So sure enough, they did it all, and I mean it was over with.â€� Well, not exactly. In reality, the cancer diagnosis was just part of a series of setbacks that kept the three-time champion off the TOUR for 18 months. Weekley has worked hard to get back, though, and he has hopes of more starts this summer that will allow him to get back into a competitive flow. Tendinitis in his right elbow originally forced Weekley off the TOUR after he missed the cut at the RBC Canadian Open in July of 2017. Just a month earlier, he had tied for fifth at the Travelers Championship, his best finish in more than a year. Weekley underwent various kinds of treatment for the next few weeks. But after a month, nothing had worked. Only one option remained – surgery. “We done tried shots,â€� Weekley says. “We done tried everything; iced it, we done just let it rest for a month and that didn’t do nothing. It wouldn’t heal up right. It wouldn’t nothing. “So they went in there and just they did a little old cut. He just jabbed that thing down in there and fixed it all up.â€� Weekly didn’t hit balls for nearly six months. He says it was the longest he’d gone without playing golf since he was about 13 years old. He went to rehab, using a rubber band stretched around his fingers to regain strength and mobility in his tendon. Even hunting on those 400 or so acres he owns in the Florida panhandle was problematic. “I couldn’t do a whole lot cause I had to climb, and I couldn’t climb and stand ‘cause I couldn’t pick nothing up,â€� Weekley says. “You know what I mean? It ain’t that I wasn’t strong enough, I just couldn’t get my hands on it. So I didn’t really do a whole, whole lot.â€� Weekley – who first learned to play golf left-handed — was able to fish, though, transferring the reel to his opposite hand. The bass cooperated, and he was able to spend plenty of time with his sons. “I figured out a way to fish,â€� he says. “I promise you I did do that.â€� Once Weekley started playing golf again, though, the cyst in his shoulder flared up, filling with pus and causing him considerable pain. In truth, the shoulder had bothered him off and on for several years. So he went to the doctor and the decision was made to remove it. “I’d been hitting balls,â€� Weekley says. “I wouldn’t say I was all the way ready to come back out and play but yes I was close enough to where I felt like I go out and should’ve shot even par easily.â€� But then came the cancer diagnosis. Another surgery and a big scar across the top of his shoulder. And another delay in getting back out on TOUR. His future might’ve seemed uncertain, but Weekley also recognized it as a reality check. “I don’t know, adversity is a good thing to have sometimes,â€� Weekley says. “It’s a good thing to have ‘cause you just, it is what it is. It’s how you deal with it. Every day in life, there’s something new, so take your time, be patient, let it happen. I don’t know, it’s been crazy the last two years for me. “The way I look, my outlook on life, it’s different, way different than it used to be. … I guess I have a different outlook on when all this came about and well, the worst thing that can happen if I don’t play golf, then I’ll at least be home every day with my boys.â€� In his lowest moments, Weekley admits that he considered the possibility that he might not play golf again at the highest level. But he missed the grind, and the desire was still there. Whatever happened, he wanted it to be on his terms, so he stayed determined to give himself another shot. “It wasn’t because of an injury — that was gonna be my decision,â€� Weekley says. “It still might be my decision, I might play this year and say ‘You know what, I don’t want to do this no more.’ “This is right now, still in my gut I got a fire and I still want it and that’s the only reason why I’m actually sitting right here right now ‘cause I still want it. I could be sitting at home, just chilling out. I could go get a job down there working as a farmer, whatever, don’t matter to me.â€� But right now, he wants to play golf. For him it’s not very hard because that guy’s one of the greatest ball-strikers that ever lived, you know? Scott Hamilton, who is the director of golf at Cartersville Country Club just north of Atlanta and “instructor to a bunch of cool guys on the PGA TOUR,â€� according to his Instagram account, has taught Weekley since 2010. He considers the pro one of his closest friends and kept in touch during his layoff. “I’d just call him every once in a while, and you know I’ll call and ask him about golf and the next thing were talking about fishing or something,â€� says Hamilton, who also works with Matt Every, Scott Stallings, Hudson Swafford, Peter Uihlein and Harold Varner, to name a few of those “coolâ€� guys. So when Weekley told him the doctors were going to take the cyst out of his shoulder, Hamilton wasn’t particularly concerned. After all, Weekley had his shoulder drained before, so why should this be any different? “I thought he’d go to like a little in-patient thing that they lance it,â€� Hamilton says. “Have you ever watched that ‘Dr. Pimple Popper’ (show)? “I just thought it’d be like something like that when you got in there and found it, they gotta cut that out. And then they found cancer around it and was like, oh s—, you know.â€� Hamilton remembers telling Weekley he was “insaneâ€� when he decided not to delay the Disney cruise and have the surgery. “I mean I know he’s frugal but that’s borderline ridiculous,â€� he says, thankful he’s able to chuckle now. As Hamilton, a kindred spirit to Weekley if there ever was one, puts it, the doctors had to cut a chunk of “meatâ€� out of there to make sure they had removed all the cancer cells. He knows Weekley was frustrated by the second setback. but he rarely let it show. “He was pretty nonchalant about it but I could tell he was pretty nervous about it because … a) it made the heal on the shoulder take so much longer, and he had just been through the elbow thing, you know, (and was finally) feeling good, and then b) he didn’t know what kind of post-op treatments he’d have to have, which he didn’t end up having to have any,â€� Hamilton says. “I think it scared the crap out of him.â€� Once the shoulder healed and Weekley was able to start hitting balls again in November, Hamilton says it didn’t take his student long to get his game back. “For him it’s not very hard because that guy’s one of the greatest ball-strikers that ever lived, you know?â€� Hamilton says. “People just don’t have an understanding of how good of a ball-striker he is. I mean, when he hits balls on the range, other TOUR players will watch him hit.  “If he was a great putter, the guy would’ve won … no telling how many times.â€� Normally when an elite player has been injured and away from the game, Hamilton says the hardest thing is to get his speed back. Weekley came up to Cartersville twice late last year to work on his game, and the results were almost immediate. “We got him back up to 112-113 (mph) or something like that with his driver which is — you know he’s a 115 guy,â€� Hamilton says. “It was really close. The biggest challenge is the shape of his swing and his golf swing stays simple. “I work on it a little bit on the posture stuff and a couple different little small things, but that golf swing he’s got is ingrained. It’s more training — trying to get him on a pressure mat and shifting with the right time limit and that kinda stuff.â€� Hamilton says there’s an added, unexpected benefit. Weekley has lengthened his swing and has more range of motion than he had before the shoulder surgery. In some ways, the surgery may have been a blessing in disguise. “I always equated it to the tendinitis, but I think we really might have had to deal with the impingement that he had in his shoulder,â€� Hamilton says. “But yeah, we didn’t do a ton of stuff to him. He’s got a real strong grip, he’s super rotary, he’s a torque guy, he spins around in real tight circles and he hits way down on it.â€� Weekley admits he missed the game, the grind, while he was sidelined. Not that he watched it on TV or anything. In fact, on the Sunday last month when Tiger Woods won the Masters, Weekley wasn’t even aware of the news until later that day when he arrived at Hilton Head for the RBC Heritage. “My caddy’s like, ‘Did you hear what happened?’â€� Weekley recalls. “I said, ‘No, what happened?’ I was thinking something bad. He was like, ‘Tiger won.’ I said, ‘Tiger won what?’ He said, ‘The Masters’. I said, ‘No way’. He’s like ‘Yes’. I was like ‘No s—? I didn’t even know he was even in the hunt.â€� Weekley tied for 25th that week at a course on which he’s won twice. This week, he’s at the other course he’s experienced success. Colonial Country Club — home to one of the best ball-strikers the game has ever seen and Weekley’s favorite player, Ben Hogan — offers another opportunity to gauge the progress he’s made. He has high expectations for himself, and Weekley won’t be satisfied until he meets them. “I just want to play good golf,â€� Weekley says. “I want to prove to myself. I ain’t worried about proving anything to anybody else. I just want to prove myself that I still got the game first to play. “As long as I get myself in contention, to where at least I can get myself an opportunity to try to win or to try to do something special. The way I look at it, that’s all it is, just being able to do something special.â€�

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