GOLF FAN’S DISABILITY IS NO HANDICAP
Can't walk or talk, but he can root - and smile
GIVEN his temperament, David Finn would make a pretty damn good golfer. He has a smile that never leaves his face. There isn’t a triple bogey, three-putt, buried lie in a bunker or a ball lost in a lake that can wipe the smile away.
But David has never struck a golf ball. The 23-year-old native of Ramsey, NJ, has been immobilized in a wheelchair his entire life with a form of muscular dystrophy that has been complicated by severe respiratory issues that nearly killed him just five months ago. He can hear you in conversation and understand the words, but he cannot speak.
These unfair conditions dealt to David at birth do not define him, though. Golf does.
It all began at the 2005 PGA Championship at the Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, NJ, where his father, John, took the family to see a golf tournament for the first time.
Eleven years later, in what will be an emotional full-circle moment, David —aka “Golf Fanatic to the Bones’’ via his impressive Facebook page — will be back at Baltusrol to watch this week’s PGA Championship and cheer on his favorite players, beginning with Phil Mickelson.
This week’s PGA will mark the 47th tournament David will have attended.
That includes seven major championships (four US Opens, two PGAs and one Masters). He has also been to a Ryder Cup.
WHAT has transpired since that magical week at Baltusrol has been a special series of kismet moments — one after another — that have turned David into one of the most recognizable figures in golf.
There probably are fewer players on the PGA Tour who don’t know who David is than who do. Some of them, beginning with Mickelson and including Justin Rose, Rickie Fowler and Zach Johnson (to name only a few), call him a friend.
The real catalysts to David’s love affair with golf, though, are two prominent PGA Tour caddies — John Wood, who used to caddie for Hunter Mahan and now works for Matt Kuchar, and Jim “Bones’’ Mackay, Mickelson’s caddie.
It was Mackay who spotted David and his dad outside the ropes during a Tuesday practice round at Baltusrol. He introduced them to Mickelson, who immediately gave David a signed glove and posed for pictures.
The rest of that week, as Mickelson was en route to winning the PGA to capture his second career major championship victory, they kept bumping into David. And, when Mickelson putted out for victory on the final hole, he and Mackay spotted David at the back of the green and brought him with them to the trophy presentation.
“We met him on Tuesday just short of 14th green in the right rough,’’ Mackay recalled. “And then we just ran into him all week. So Phil wins the tournament on Monday, birdieing 18, and one of the first things we did was to look for David. There he was again, right behind the green. Something kind of special was really forged there.”
Those moments would lead David to more golf tournaments. Many more.
“When you finish a tournament on the 18th green with Phil Mick- elson and the Wanamaker Trophy you say, ‘That was kind of fun, let’s do that again,’ ” said David’s dad, John. “So we’ve done it for years.”
David’s mother, Vanessa, said her son’s relationship with golf “has become so much bigger than anyone ever imagined.”
“He’s part of it . . . he’s really part of it,” she said.
THIS week will be a particularly special one for David and his family, because of the five months David spent at Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia from winter into spring.
“He suffered some respiratory failure, related to his overall condition, spectrum of muscular dystrophy,” said John Finn, who is a golf coach at Don Bosco Preparatory HS in New Jersey. “He wasn’t breathing well enough. He almost died several times. They had to get him intubated on a respirator for breathing support. That was all very rough.”
David had a tracheostomy in March and breathes with the aid of a ventilator now, meaning a lot more complicated equipment with which to maneuver. Throughout his difficult winter into spring, David never took his eye off Baltusrol this week.
“This is his biggest anniversary in golf,’’ John Finn said. “It’s something we’ve been looking forward to for years. It’s an important thing for him . . . to get back to that place and get back to doing what he used to do so much of. We consider it a real big event for him. We’re just hoping he’ll be able to enjoy it.’’
Oh, he’ll enjoy it. Just look at his face if you see him there. Guarantee he’ll be smiling.
“That smile,’’ Wood said. “It’s magnetic. His smile just draws you to him — like this guy’s having the greatest time of his life watching these guys play golf. You don’t ever get the sense he feels sorry for himself.’’
Wood has become closest to David and his family, having been to their house along with Mackay for dinner several times when they’ve been in town for The Barclays championship. Wood actually flew from Florida to Philly on a day off between Florida swing tournaments to see David in the hospital.
Although David cannot speak, Wood said, “Somehow, it seems like I can communicate with David.”
“I understand what he’s thinking and what he’s saying when he’s motioning or making sounds,” Wood said. “I feel like I’m around him enough to know his mind. He’s so smart. You can tell he’s a very intelligent person. If you pay attention to him you can kind of figure out what he’s talking about, what he wants to talk about, what he’s saying.’’
JOHN Finn said that “the overall effect golf has had on Dave has really defined his life.”
“It’s given him an identity,” he said. “He’s not just a kid in a wheelchair. When people usually see a kid like Dave — and he doesn’t usually make the greatest first impression, he’s usually slumped over in his wheelchair with his head down — most people, at the least, feel sorry for you.
“But the whole association [with golf ] has completely changed people’s outlook on him, the way he’s seen by people, and it’s given him an interest in life that he’s passionate about. It
would be very difficult for us to imagine life without this whole relationship with the PGA and many, many of the players.”
David’s bedroom has been described as a golf museum, bedecked in signed pictures, flags, caddie bibs and other memorabilia sent to him by golfers and caddies.
Mickelson, when informed David is planning to be back at Baltusrol this week, recalled their first meeting.
“He’s a cool guy,” Mickelson said. “I remember meeting him for the first time earlier in the week, randomly saying hello and the rest of the week seeing him. When I saw him on 18, it felt like he was a big part of my success that week and we ended all having a picture with his dad.”
MACKAY remembered John Finn driving David from New Jersey to Pinehurst, NC, to see Mickelson play in the 2014 US Open.
“Phil was in like 25th place and David didn’t care; he just wanted to see Phil,” Mackay said. “John Finn pushed David around all 18 holes that day and they’re walking in sand on that turf down there. It’s like pushing someone through a bunker. And he did for 18 holes, seven or eight miles. I thought to myself, ‘That is a dad that loves his son.’ It was one of the most impressive things I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Mackay got tickets for David and his family to the 2013 Masters. Mackay, too, pushed David in his wheelchair inside the ropes during the Saturday afternoon Ryder Cup matches in 2012 at the Medinah Country Club in Illinois.
“David is the most lovable kid in the world,” Mackay said. “Right away, we loved this kid. He’s incredible. I love him. The thing about David is, despite what he may be dealing with from a health perspective, no one will ever hug you harder than David will. There’s nothing I won’t do for him.
“The cool thing is there’s a ton of guys out here now that know David,” Mackay added. “Now, when everyone sees him at tournaments it’s like, ‘There’s David Finn.’ ”
David will show up this week. He plans to be at Baltusrol on Tuesday, Thursday and then the weekend. And he’ll be rooting hard for Mickelson, his favorite.
When Mickelson spotted David at the Merion Golf Club in Pennsylvania moments after he failed to win the 2013 US Open — the only major championship he has not won — he said, “Dave, sorry I couldn’t get it done for you.’ ”
Perhaps this week, Mickelson will get it done for David once more at Baltusrol, where the legend of the Golf Fanatic to the Bones all began.