OAKVILLE, ONT. -- D.J. Gregory bent over to walk under the ropes and onto the grass as he made his way toward the seventh green yesterday morning during the first round of the RBC Canadian Open at the Glen Abbey Golf Club. He was wearing a PGA Tour media badge, which allowed him just inside the ropes. But then Gregory, who has cerebral palsy but doesn't let it interfere with walking tournament courses, turned around from the slippery, soggy ground and returned to the cart path.
"Sometimes it's just easier to walk on the path," Gregory said. He continued to walk uphill to level ground so that he could view the action on the seventh green. He's following Carl Pettersson this week, every hole he plays. Gregory, 30, has been following one golfer every week this year to challenge himself and raise awareness for cerebral palsy; he works with United Cerebral Palsy. Last week, he followed Sean O'Hair in the Open Championship at the Royal Birkdale Golf Club, where the wind blew a gale every day.
Gregory would never use the word, but let's try courageous as one word to define him. Or brave. Or determined. His goal this year is both simple and complex. He means to walk every hole of every PGA Tour event. This is his 30th tournament. He falls. He gets up. The PGA Tour decides the player he'll accompany each week. Gregory works closely with PGA Tour official Doug Milne in particular.
"I've been a golf fanatic all my life," Gregory said while following Pettersson on the second hole. "I love coming to tournaments, and went to six or seven each year the last few years on my own, following players I know [Aaron Baddeley, for one]. I wondered what it would be like to go to every event."
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But how does somebody make that happen? What motivates a person who was born 10 weeks premature and whose lungs weren't fully developed to take on such an arduous journey? After he was born, too much oxygen was forced into his collapsed lungs. The increased pressure burst blood vessels in his legs. His legs were too close together; his feet pointed at right angles. Doctors had to cut his adductor muscles. His balance was compromised, and so he uses a cane to help him walk.
There was a time, however, when it appeared Gregory would never walk. Doctors at a hospital in Washington told his parents he'd be in a wheelchair the rest of his life. He was two years old. "His legs were turned in," D.J.'s dad, Don, said while walking along. "The doctors told us he'd be able to walk if they broke his lower legs to turn them out. So they did that and put him back together. He was in a cast to his thighs."
Gregory graduated to a walker with four wheels, then two and then to clamp-on crutches. He moved on to two canes and finally one after about seven years. He can't walk straight, but he sure can walk, even if he calls his gait more of a wobble.
But still. Walking a golf course? Every tournament? Every day? Gregory is enjoying every step, which isn't to say his task isn't strenuous. Of course it is. As he said, he's a golf fanatic.
Gregory's father introduced him to golf when he was 9. He was 12 when his dad, who taught special education in high school for seven years before becoming an executive for Reader's Digest, took him to his first tournament, the 1990 Greater Greensboro Open. There, Gregory met Ken Venturi, the 1963 U.S. Open champion who later worked for CBS on its tournament telecasts. Venturi introduced him to CBS's golf anchor, Jim Nantz.
Nantz helped Gregory when he decided to walk every tournament. He asked Gregory if he had thought of involving the PGA Tour. Gregory liked the idea, but didn't know how to get to anybody at the Tour.
"Jim said I should put together a package and that he would get it to the right people," Gregory said. The PGA Tour embraced the idea, but asked that Gregory walk two consecutive tournaments to ensure he had enough stamina. He tested himself at last year's Barclays and Deutsche Bank tournaments, where he followed Mark Wilson and Tim Herron.
"We decided to go ahead after those two weeks," Gregory said. His parents welcomed the idea. They knew that their son, who holds a master's degree in sports management from Springfield (Mass.) College, was up for the challenge. His father knew about challenges from teaching special education.
"I was told that the law was that [the school] could no longer teach anybody who was past 21," he said. "They said I had to stop teaching a young woman who was trying to finish her last year of high school. She had Down syndrome. I fought for her, and they allowed her to stay. The kids gave her a standing ovation when she graduated. That was heartwarming for me, and those kinds of experiences helped me with my boys. I look at them as normal."
Don Gregory said "boys" because his older son Ken also has cerebral palsy. Their sister, Ann, wasn't affected. Then again, as their father says, he sees both boys as normal. And of course D.J. is, in all the important ways.
"I do a blog for the PGA Tour [at pgatour.com], and I interview the players I follow before the tournament and after each round," Gregory said. "It takes me about an hour to transcribe eight minutes of tape. I'm not a very fast typist."
His longest interview was 1 hour 9 minutes, with 2003 PGA Championship winner Shaun Micheel. Gregory said that transcribing interviews is the hardest part of what he does. Go figure. He thinks nothing of walking the four or five miles it takes to complete a course. If his player misses the cut, he walks with another player he knows for the weekend.
He's followed Boo Weekley, Bob Tway, Chris DiMarco, David Duval, Jim Furyk, Robert Gamez and other players. Kenny Perry asked that D.J. follow him at Bay Hill last March.
He plays golf with his right hand and has shot as low as 102. Meanwhile, he aims high in his life.
"I didn't start out doing this for attention," Gregory said as he worked his way along Glen Abbey's valley holes. "But I appreciate all the support and attention." Ninety minutes later, Gregory watched Pettersson putt out on the 18th green for three-under par 68. He interviewed him a few moments later.
"It was a good day for both of us," Gregory said. "No falls for me, which is always a positive."
D.J. Gregory is a positive. The Canadian Open is just beginning, but it already has one major champion.
*****
Canadian standings
T1 Mike Weir, Bright's Grove, Ont. (65).
*T42 Ian Leggatt, Cambridge, Ont. (one under, through seven); *Michael Knight (a), Calgary (one under, through five); *Jon Mills, Belleville, Ont. (one under, through four); *David Hearn, Brantford, Ont. (one under, through four); *Dustin Risdon, Strathmore, Alta. (one under, through three).
T63 David Morland IV, North Bay (71); *Jim Rutledge, Victoria (even, through four); *Brad Fritsch, Ottawa (even, through four); *Wes Heffernan, Calgary (even, through three).
T95 Andrew Parr, London, Ont. (72); *Stephen Ames, Calgary (one over, through nine); *Nick Taylor (a), Abbotsford, B.C. (one over, through four); *Todd Halpen, Calgary (one over, through four).
T122 Charlie Woo, Markham, Ont. (73); *Adam Short, Vineland, Ont. (two over, through five).
T137 Bryan DeCorso, Guelph, Ont. (74).
*T153 Eric Landreville, Melocheville, Que. (five over, through six).
T155 Jacob Scriven, Uxbridge, Ont., (81).
*Did not finish first round
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