An officer, a gentleman and a victorious golfer
BETHESDA, MD. — Billy Hurley III barely celebrated after his final par putt fell into the 18th hole to win the Quicken Loans National at Congressional Country Club.
Perhaps, if he had let himself go, he had no idea what he would do. Few men have won a golf tournament — or any sports event — that wove together more powerful personal emotions, more conquering of self-doubt and more vindication of a still-grieving family.
He did nothing on Sunday because he felt so much. He kept his dignity and poise because, as in his whole life, as an officer, gentleman and golfer, those are the qualities he has chosen as his running lights.
Perhaps others might even have taken a dive into Congressional’s lake to celebrate their first victory on the PGA Tour, especially after torching this famous track with four impeccable days of 66-65-67-69 golf for a stunning 17-under-par 267, including a 35yard chip-in at the par-4 15th hole and a 28foot birdie putt at the par-5 16th that put him in a commanding three-shot lead. And even prompted a modest double-fist pump. “Probably the most emotion I have ever shown in my life,” he said.
This $1,242,000 win vaulted Hurley from the fringes of the sport, a fellow stuck at No. 607 in the world with half of his career spent in golf ’s minor leagues, to the secure status of a tournament champion.
Now, after playing the minor league Web.com Tour in three of his six years as a pro, he will be exempt on the PGA Tour through the 2018 season. He probably will play in the British Open next month and the Masters next year. He will ... he will get to do it all. And without the weight of the world, of trying to keeping his tour card with a short-hitting game, always on his shoulders.
“Getting to Troon for the British (Open in two weeks), that may be tough,” Hurley said. “My sister is getting married that weekend. Seriously, I’m not sure about that.” Has any golfer ever passed up the Open for a wedding? Maybe. Probably. But it would suit the stand-up-guy Hurley perfectly.
Or perhaps, while hugging his wife, three children and mother on the final green, he might have burst into tears of joy at his victory, mixed with the sadness that he says never entirely leaves when he thinks about the suicide of his father last July.
Last June, Hurley gave a news conference at this same tournament, which was then played at Robert Trent Jones Golf Course, to ask for help because his father had gone missing for nine days — just got in his truck and drove a way. “I’m just hoping that there’s a story — that maybe he goes to PGATour.com to check my tee time or check my scores — and sees this and understands that, Dad, we love you and we want you to come home,” Hurley said.
Contact was made, but within weeks, Hurley’s father, a policeman for 25 years and a golf pro for 30 years, had died of a self-inflicted wound at a remote location in Wisconsin. For the rest of the year, at least, Hurley and the rest of the family tried, to the degree anyone can, to get their minds around an event that seemed to bear no relationship to the rest of a life they had known so well.
“I think now more than ever, we have a better understanding medically of how traumatic events affect your brain,” he said last winter in an interview with ESPN, reflecting on his father’s life as a policeman. “Sometimes we don’t understand the impact that stuff like that has on us.”
On Saturday, as he held the lead at Congressional, Hurley noticed that there were policemen following him, protecting him, so to speak. “Obviously I think about my dad a lot,” Hurley said after his round. “I was walking from 9 to 10, and I’ve never really had a whole lot of police officers following my group. You know, I’m not like that cool. But playing in the lead, they have a couple police officers following you around. It dawned on me, ‘Hey, this is what my dad did.’ He walked inside the ropes and did this at Presidents Cups (and other Washington area events).”
As soon as Hurley sank his final clinching putt, partner Ernie Els, with whom Hurley had battled and finally outdueled head-tohead, came to the winner, put his arm on his shoulder and said, “I think your dad is looking down, really proud of you.”
Does a child who copes with the tragic death of a parent from depression or a similar disease have a dual desire to remember and remain true to the best of what that parent gave, while at the same time proving that the final chapter does not permanently stop the family from functioning? “All of the above,” Hurley said. The military training and background probably didn’t hurt any, either. After that final putt, Hurley might even have felt an impulse to show his gratitude for the toughness under pressure and ability to focus when surrounded by distractions that he learned as a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy.
“So mental toughness is kind of a big thing (in the Navy),” Hurley said dryly. “You either learn it at the Naval Academy, or you’re not there very long. So that definitely helps in adversity on the golf course.
“Then focus, too. When you’re driving a ship through the Suez Canal, it’s like ‘all eyes ahead,’ focused exactly on what we’re doing. Land on each side. You’re trying to keep it in the middle,” Hurley said.
At his victory news conference, Hurley was asked whether he really “drove” a ship through the Suez Canal or whether that was perhaps a slight exaggeration. “I see two Navy guys in the back” of the room, Hurley said. “One’s saying I can’t drive a ship. The other’s saying I can. Actually, I was really good at driving a ship — I won two ‘shiphandling awards.”
To understand Hurley’s passion for golf, you have to grasp all the options he has passed up to pursue it. He was an academic all-American. As a student, with a major in quantitative economics specializing in game theory, he was so outstanding that the academy had him teach economics for two years. As an officer, he served five years in the fleet, including two years in the Persian Gulf, where he learned to consider “110 degrees in the shade a normal day.”
In an event where he supposedly had no chance, where his entire career record as a golfer said that, while he was accomplished, he was not going to beat the like of Els and Vijay Singh in a head-to-head shoot out at Congressional, the ramrod straight 5foot-10 Hurley stood taller than he ever has.
And considering all he has accomplished, everything he has been through in the past year and everyone he felt he was playing and winning this tournament for, that is mighty tall indeed.