September 17, 2020 | BY MICHAEL WILLIAMS
The past year has been tumultuous, with a national reckoning on race. During that time I have been working on a story that begins at the 2019 U.S. Open and concludes at the current Open. It’s a story about two men who met in an ugly moment, and used that moment to create a lasting friendship and (hopefully) set an example for empathy, understanding and redemption.
“At last year’s US Open, Charles Howell III told a story that might have ended his career. Now, he says he’s a changed man.”
michael williams
There are many pro golfers who wax and wane, and there are a few players who endure. For two decades, Charles Howell III has been one of the most consistent players on the PGA Tour. Since turning professional in 2000, “Chucky Three Sticks” has amassed 90 top-10 tournament finishes, including three wins and 19 second-place finishes. He has accumulated $40 million in winnings while barely making a ripple on the general sports conscience because, at 5-foot-10 and 160 pounds, Howell has been playing in the shadows of Tiger Woods, Dustin Johnson and other bigger, stronger athletes.
As befits a player with such a strong record, Howell has made multiple appearances in the game’s major tournaments: the PGA, The Open, the Masters and the US Open. In 2019, Howell qualified for the US Open, which was being held at Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, California.
The competition on the course last year was amazing, with a resurgent Woods, fresh off a win at the Masters, in contention on the course where he had played perhaps the greatest golf ever in winning the championship in 2000. The combination of an iconic course and a stalking Woods made for a US Open that captured the interest of even the most casual of golf fans.
I had been invited to the tournament by one of the corporate sponsors of the USGA, the organization that owns and operates the US Open. One of the perks was the opportunity to attend private post-round interviews with players, including Howell, in the sponsor’s hospitality tent beside the 18th fairway. As a golf journalist, I was familiar with Howell as a player, but I didn’t know much about him personally. While he wasn’t a contender to win (Howell finished tied for 52nd, 17 strokes behind winner Gary Woodland), I decided to attend to get some insight into how a physically unremarkable guy had willed himself to a remarkable career.
Todd Lewis of the Golf Channel was slated to ask Howell and fellow pro Patrick Cantlay about how the players thought they did, what their chances were, the difficulty of the course, etc. Typically, the players’ answers would match the banality of the questions.
But after a couple of softballs, Lewis started describing a story that Howell had shared with him when asked for an amusing anecdote. “You all remember the night Tiger Woods hit the fire hydrant with his car, right?” The 75 or so people in the tent laughed nervously and nodded, unsure why the 2009 accident outside Orlando, Florida, that contributed to Woods’ tragic fall was being raised at the national championship.
You can read the entire story HERE
