To understand Kevin Hall is to let your eyes listen and to keep your imagination fresh.But Hall knows the deal. He knows he possesses a great story on paper, the feel-good stuff that PGA Tour sponsors throw dollars at and fire off press releases about.Despite having every reason to be taken seriously for his heady play on the course and his inability to pause that infectious smile, Hall strategically placed two important words on his letters to tournament directors -- "deaf" and "black."Those words helped him play in five PGA Tour events with a sponsor's exemption from 2005 to 2006, though he stresses in letters that he wants the opportunity to compete against the best, not because of his background.
"In the beginning, his story was booming," said Percy Hall, Kevin's father. "It's a little different now."Those same opportunities don't arise these days, maybe from the Nationwide Tour, but not the attention from the "big boys" that Hall has craved most of his life.After missing all five cuts on the PGA Tour and nine of 11 on the Nationwide, which serves as the PGA's minor leagues, Hall was left to shoulder the emotional burden of that great story.Now that Hall, 25, is grinding out his dreams on the independent Hooters Tour -- a step down from Nationwide where many money-strapped golfers play in front of alligators instead of galleries -- you'd think it would be time to drop the symbolism for quiet fairways. For Hall, however, the two must coexist. Only Hall's version of the story is a little different, one where key words such as "inspiration" and "achieving dreams" overshadow the predictable marketability of a deaf, black golfer in a sport without much African-American presence outside of Tiger Woods.It's hard to argue with a guy who almost died at age 2 from H. flu meningitis, losing all hearing and many of his motor skills that he had to relearn. Instead of moping about his condition, he relies on inspiration from a John F. Kennedy quote fueled by the Bible -- "To whom much is given, much is required."
"I know those opportunities come for a reason, so I can't let the pressure get to me," said Hall through e-mail. "I have to deal with it the best I can because I know with those opportunities I can have the power to inspire other people to dream big and achieve greater things."So the Cincinnati product with Cleveland Golf clubs keeps swinging, four years removed from his Big Ten championship at Ohio State that garnered praise in the golf world.
In college, Hall went from a private school with 120 deaf students to a campus of 50,000-plus hearing students. These days, Hall still acts like the big man on campus, greeting people who might not know he's deaf, shaking hands, having a beer with fellow Hooters players.Hazards aboundLife is enough reason to smile, says Hall, who doesn't need the sound of the ball's contact with a club to shoot a 67.When Hall won a Hooters event on Jan. 17 at Forest Lake Golf Club, one of a handful of Orlando-area events during the Tour's winter series, Hall's name didn't exactly light up Google news.The attention was even less on an uncomfortably hot Thursday afternoon in April at the Magnolia Plantation course in Lake Mary. Hall walked the 18th-hole fairway with Percy on his bag, working on his game in relative obscurity.Before approaching his ball that landed in the water trap to the left, the shoes and socks came off. A low-pitch strain leaves Hall's voice box that only Percy could understand."Move back please," Percy said.
Hall's splashy swing was enough to push the ball into playable territory, but he took a two-stroke penalty after grounding his club into the water before impact.He finished 2-over for the day after saving double-bogey on the 18th, which prompted a two-minute session of privacy to cool down. Then he perks up, smiles on cue and heads to a Lake Mary Panera Bread for a Turkey Bravo sandwich -- hey, Woods told him to eat healthy -- and a flurry of e-mails on his Blackberry.The rat-tat-tat quickness on the keyboard is how Hall has mastered communication, and it probably rivals the pace of most conversation.Hall's tired thumbs don't tire his zest for life, he said.
Video
Sometimes people are more amazed by Hall's affable demeanor than his athletic prowess that helped him become the first deaf golfer in a PGA Tour event."He has that aura around him that it brings out the good in people," said Neal Grusczynski, one of Hall's best friends from the Hooters Tour. "If everybody could play with Kevin, it would help everybody's game. If you can't get along with Kevin, you can't get along with anybody."The attitude comes from Percy and mother Jackie, who taught Hall at a young age that a loss of hearing doesn't have to create pessimism. Hall took that advice to heart, first mastering the sport of bowling before fully committing to golf as a teenager. Hall was a former 205-average bowler.Dreaming big on the cheapNow a retired Hillshire Farms meat cutter, Percy travels every week with his son in a blue Nissan Altima. Flights are expensive these days. They drive to Hooters and Nationwide Tour events across the country and typically stay in Comfort or Ramada Inns.The Hooters Tour won't make a player rich, but Kevin made more than $31,000 during the 3 1/2 -month winter series in 2007. He also has help from sponsors such as Cincinnati Bell, which pays for the phone expenses, and Cleveland Golf, which provides equipment and apparel. Other sponsors might emerge in the coming months, Percy said.
The big picture, the one Kevin is convinced will one day come, is a little more glorious, PGA Tour glorious.Just as Earl Woods once forecasted that his son Tiger will help "change the course of humanity," Percy believes his son can help shape the blueprint for deaf athletes."Families can look at this child and see how he did it and use it as hope," Percy said. "There's a parent that might have a child whose hearing is impaired, and they don't really know where that might go or what can happen. Having our story out there helps them."Steep climb aheadReaching golf's highest platform might seem like a steep climb at this point. Only a handful of Hooters Tour guys qualify for the Nationwide. Some guys play until their 30s and never make it.Hall admits he feels he should be further along."When I came out of college, I was riding a very hot hand," Hall said. "Everything came easy. But in golf, nothing is guaranteed."Grusczynski said if his buddy worries about his game more than the pressure around him, he might only need a year to meet his goals.Making it this far without hearing in an intricate game might be impressive enough. Players such as Paul Azinger have applauded Hall's ability in the past for overcoming what would normally neutralize a golfer's game if they couldn't hear the sound of a shot.Golfers often complain about gallery noise, but they also rely on hearing the quality of a shot and learning from those sounds.
"He's got all the shots, the on-course demeanor, all the natural ability," Grusczynski said."It's just that he wants to do so well for everyone and he feels that pressure. Once he learns to release that, watch out."Hall said he's determined to overcome the disappointment of letting down the people who support him."The day I have no desire to work out or go to practice or play golf is the very day it's the end of my dream," Hall said.
Video
Golf will always be a career move for Hall, who said he would be coaching golf if he wasn't playing.Little does he know he's already coaching in the game of influence.In the parking lot of that Panera Bread, Hall eyed two women who were performing sign language to each other as his face lit up.He approached them without hesitation and sparked a conversation. Percy chuckled."That's how Kevin always is," Percy said. "He has an effect when he doesn't even know it."
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/orl-deafgolfer1608may16,0,650778.story?page=1
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment