PLAYING FOR PARKLAND
Journeyman Thompson raising awareness, money for scarred alma mater
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — The first reports were jarring to everyone. Whether you had familiarity with where the tragedy took place or whom it happened to, the news was a shock to your system.
Seventeen innocent people were shot dead, 14 of whom were students, last week at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.
The news was particularly disturbing to Nicholas Thompson and his wife, Christen, because they’re former students of the school, having met there, graduated together in 2001 and married in 2012.
So before night’s end a week ago Wednesday as local authorities were still sorting out the tragedy, Thompson, a professional golfer on the PGA Tour and Web.com Tour, hatched a plan to help the victims and families from his former high school.
By Thursday morning, just hours after the shooting, Thompson had ordered more than 3,000 ribbons in the school colors of maroon and silver and they were already being distributed around the PGA National grounds on Wednesday for this week’s Honda Classic in an effort to raise awareness and funds for the victims of the massacre and their families.
So, when you watch the tournament, which begins with Thursday’s opening round, you’ll notice players and caddies wearing the ribbons, which will be distributed on the first and 10th tees.
There, too, are thousands of rubber wristbands, which read: “#MSDSTRONG’’ and “EAGLE PRIDE’’ being distributed to fans at the tournament, with some 5,000 more scheduled to be delivered to the course by Thursday.
There’s a gofundme.com page through the Broward Education Foundation, where donations can be made to help the victims and their families: www.gofundme. com /stonemandouglasvictimsfund. As of Wednesday, $1.8 mil
lion had been raised. Thomp- son and his wife have started a similar page to add donations to that.
So Thompson, a 35-year-old quintessential journeyman grinder, who since 2006 has played in 288 PGA Tour events without a victory and 126 Web.Com Tour events with one win, is making the biggest difference of his career right now — and he’s doing it off the golf course.
Thompson, whose 23-year-old sister, Lexi, is one of the biggest stars on the LPGA Tour, tried to qualify Monday for the Honda Classic, but failed to get into the field. Had he gotten in, it would have helped strengthen his profile with this worthy cause thanks to the added exposure he could have generated.
Thompson might not be one of the 156 players in the field, but his actions are making more of an impact than any of those playing the tournament.
“Our goal is to bring in awareness and bring in as much money as possible to help the victims’ families, the local kids who need counseling who were there and are affected by it, and people in the community that need counseling,’’ Thompson told The Post on Wednesday. “It’s to help more than even just the victims, but it goes mostly to the victims’ families.’’
Thompson, who lives minutes from PGA National, where the tournament is being played this week, was at home with his wife and 4-year-old and 9-month old sons when the shootings took place.
“My phone blew up with texts and I watched it on TV,’’ he said. “I was born and raised in Coral Springs, the school is 5 or 6 miles from where I lived. I spent 28, 29 years there. I met my wife there. I bought my first house there.
“It’s tough to believe that something of that nature could happen there. It’s quite safe there. It makes it even more difficult now that we have kids. We have to be aware that this could have happened to our kids. It’s just a really tough thing to think about.’’
So Thompson — who for two of his years at the high school was a classmate of Aaron Feis, the assistant football coach and security guard who was killed while shielding students from the shooter — did something about it, quickly getting the Honda Classic people and PGA Tour on board to help raise awareness and money.
His heart has been in a similar place to fellow MSDHS alum and Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo, who quickly went public to denounce the country’s gun laws after news of the shooting broke.
“That evening, we wanted to do something,’’ Thompson said. So he has. And, although it has nothing to do with having a golf club in his hands, it might prove to be the most powerful thing Thompson will have done in his life.