Tom Watson hosts annual golf event to remember caddie, fight ALS
Saturday, July 5th 2008, 9:31 PM

Martin/Getty
Tom Watson (l.), who lost his caddie Bruce Edwards (r.) to ALS in 2004, hosts an annual golf tournament with proceeds going to fight the disease.

It's impossible not to enjoy oneself at the Masters, to soak up spring and bask in the traditions of the great game coming to life again.

Except, for me, this past one.

That's when the e-mail came from Larry O'Rourke, who covers the Philadelphia Eagles for the Morning Call in Allentown, Pa. Usually a correspondence from Larry comes with a laugh. This one came with a slug: Larry O'Rourke Illness. Rather than put himself through the ordeal of making individual phone calls, Larry was letting his many friends know that the reason for the weakness in his left foot (and his lost distance off the tee) had been diagnosed. Larry had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. ALS.

It felt as if a giant hole opened up at Amen Corner and sucked in the pines, the azaleas and every bit of good feeling about the week. There could be no greater feeling of helplessness. Sixty-seven years after Lou Gehrig's death, there is still no cure for this hideous disease that strikes down good people such as Larry.

The golf world has had its share of victims. PGA Tour player Jeff Julian died in 2004 at age 42. Tragically, fellow Vermonter Bob Labbance, a celebrated golf author who joined the fight against ALS on his friend's behalf, himself was diagnosed at age 55. Labbance is now in the throes of his battle.

And, of course, there was Bruce Edwards, whose career as Tom Watson's caddie outlasted both mens' first marriages. Watson got the news of his best friend's death at 49 at the 2004 Masters, 15 months after Edwards received his dreaded diagnosis, less than a year after the emotional day at the U.S. Open at Olympia Fields in Illinois where together they walked the fairways en route to a round of 65.

"Damn this disease, dammit," Watson blurted out at a press conference that day.

"They are going to find a cure," he vowed.

His passion is still there. This past Monday, Watson, along with Edwards biographer John Feinstein, was back at Caves Valley Golf Club north of Baltimore, hosting the annual golf tournament that raises funds so vital to ALS research.

That night, thanks in part to a $50,000 bid for two Masters badges and a spot as Watson's caddie in next year's Par 3 Contest, they handed a check for $500,000 to the Robert Packard Center at Johns Hopkins University, where Dr. Jeffrey Rothstein is at the forefront of progress being made toward a cure.

Because ALS affects relatively fewer people than other diseases do, it doesn't attract the research bucks that flow toward more-widespread scourges. Rothstein, who is determined to find a cure in his lifetime, devotes all of his energies toward ALS research. He coordinates independent research efforts around the world and sees that funds are distributed where they can do the most good.

Watson's efforts in bringing ALS awareness to the forefront are instrumental. The entire Edwards family was there Monday, knowing he would never let his old friend down.

"Just after Bruce got the diagnosis, his parents were in church that Sunday and their pastor told them something good would come of it," Feinstein recalled. "Naturally, Jay (Edwards, Bruce's father) wondered what good could possibly occur.

"When we had the first of these golf tournaments, Jay told me, 'I now know what he was saying.'"

Larry's friends have also come to his support. Last month, the Eagles' beat writers organized an auction to help with his medical expenses and Philly head coach Andy Reid was there to sign autographs in exchange for donations. On July 20, his co-workers are putting on a golf tournament for him.

He will be donating a portion of all the proceeds to ALS causes.

Tour getting testy

Everyone knows how hard Tiger Woods prepares. That also extends to the PGA Tour's drug-testing program. Woods tested himself - "twice" - in order to familiarize himself with the procedure. The policy went into effect at the Tiger-hosted AT&T National, which ends Sunday.

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem was the first to go through the procedure at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md.

"I don't view it as anything meaningful from a symbolism standpoint, but I just think it's important that we understand it in the detail of it," Finchem said. "By doing that, you can kind of see what player reaction will be, what players' questions will be."

There was no room for resistance among the players after an ambitious education program. The PGA Tour seemed almost forced into it but is resigned that this is the only way to prove itself clean.

"It may be uncomfortable for some, but that's the price we're paying to have a credible system and deal with the issue," Finchem said. "A rigorous testing program will add credibility to the general notion there isn't any significant issue here. Credibility requires that we have the program."

The commissioner also anticipates criticism if no one turns up positive.

"Somebody is going to write a blog that says your testing is screwed up: 'How can that be? You have a testing program; you must have had a problem to begin with or you wouldn't have done it.' There are going to be naysayers regardless of what happens," he said.



http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/mo...ent_to_re.html