“Would you like to go out on the course?”
That was the question posed to me in spring of 2013 by Kevin Streelman. At that time, he was a rising, young PGA Tour professional and we sat on the clubhouse patio of the beautiful Scottsdale TPC golf course, just northeast of Phoenix, Arizona.
We had just finished an interview for my ministry’s Face to Face radio broadcast, and that offer was something I could not resist. He grabbed a cart and we rode around the last two or three holes, including No. 16 — the famous stadium hole. It’s a 163-yard par-3 hold surrounded by a 20,000-seat stadium.
It’s called “the loudest hole in golf” because, unlike any other hole on the PGA circuit, fans cheer or boo the golfer. I got out of the cart and walked up to the tee where the likes of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, and countless other professionals had stood. In the 1997 Phoenix Open, Tiger Woods hit a hole-in-one here.
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I would have loved to have had a club in my hand.
I was reminded of that moment a few weeks ago as I watched Streelman come within one stroke of winning the Traveler’s Open in Hartford, Connecticut. He won that tourney the previous year, and has had two first place finishes on the tour, including a win at the Tampa Open a few weeks after our time in Scottsdale. We have stayed in touch and we exchanged texts after his loss to Justin Thomas in Hartford.
Streelman came out of the Chicago area, but played college golf at Duke University. Like a lot of golfers, he came up through the various circuits, making money only when he placed or won in a tourney. It is a grind.
You finish up on Sunday, throw your clubs in your car and head on down the road to the next stop, which might not be so near. By Thursday, you are ready to tee it up and do it all again.
He told about his experience in the early years.
“I did the math one time,” he said. “I drove by myself, and I drove between 350,000 and 400,000 miles in six years. I burned out three cars. In the backseat, I had one of those racks between the two handlebars with all of my clothes. The trunk was stuffed with golf clubs and balls. The front seat was my office. I had my laptop computer and a map. Just looking for the next stop.”
Those days are long gone now. Today Streelman is ranked in the top 100 in the world, and a threat to win or place highly in every tourney he enters. He is also married now, and he and his wife are both followers of Jesus Christ. When he met his wife Courtney, they both decided that their faith was important.
“We started talking about faith, and we said, ‘You know what? If we believe that Christ is who He said was, and continues to be who He said He is, then we need to make some changes in our lives,’” he said. “We came to that realization together and our lives changed and our priorities changed. We were talking the talk, but we weren’t walking the walk.
“Together now, we have a purpose that is bigger than any golf course or tournament, or any money list.”
Pray for guys such as Streelman — that he will raise the banner for Christ whether it be to a cheering crowd or the guys he matches up with on the tour.
Columbus’ Tom Rust is founder of the national Face To Face sports ministry, a local radio sports broadcaster, and pastor of Sardinia Baptist Church. He can be reached at [email protected]. His podcasts can be found at facetofaceradio.com
