- November 4, 2024
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Brian Sheekey’s father (also named Brian Sheekey) texted him Saturday to touch base and remind him that his mother was baking Lasagna for Father’s Day. The younger Sheekey said his dad’s not prone to sentimentality, but he made one request of his namesake, who’s a 2 handicapper in golf.
“He said, ‘Hey, how about a good round of golf for Dad’s day tomorrow?,” Sheekey, 34, recalled.
Sheekey shot better than good Sunday, posting a career-low nine-hole score of 32 on the back at Grand Haven.
“I felt good all day,” he said. “Outside of a few wayward drives on the front nine, I would’ve shot even par or maybe even 1-under (going out).”
Sheekey shot even par 72 on the day, hurt by a double-bogey six on No. 6. After the turn, though, he kicked his game into high gear. On the 372-yard 10th hole, he smacked a three-iron off the tee, knocked it close with a wedge then drained a six-foot birdie putt. Heading into the final hole, a 525-yard Par-5, Sheekey stood at 4-under. It was uncharted territory.
“A lot of thoughts crossed my mind in 60 seconds,” he said.
A few were flickering snapshots of his upbringing in the sport — long, hot days spent with his grandfather playing in the Knights of Columbus League at Pine Lakes. From the time Sheekey, a third-generation Palm Coast resident, picked up a club at 13, he could mash the ball.
His second shot left him just short of the green. He had a choice to make — throw his approach shot high into the air and try to spin it within a few feet, or pitch it more conventionally — a safer shot. He opted for the latter and flew it 18-feet past the pin.
Still, Sheekey could two-putt for his 32, a career low. But after an anemic first putt left him with seven-feet to negotiate, the prospect of saving par became a shaky one.
“I made a remark about that first putt that you probably can’t put in the newspaper,” he said.
Potential expletives yielded to relief when he sank the par putt. If Sheekey had missed the putt, “it would have ruined a really good day,” said Lou Paolucci, who played in Sheekey’s foursome. “It would’ve been a major disappointment, but he made the putt and it wasn’t.”
At the family gathering later that afternoon, Sheekey relayed his news in his “inimitable” fashion, Sheekey Sr. said, and father and son cherished the moment.
“Being from an athletic family, those kinds of achievements are big,” Brian Sr. said. “It was the best father’s day gift I could’ve got. It’s like pitching a no-hitter. He did something extraordinary.”
