On a Journey to Walk Every PGA TOUR Hole

CHARLOTTE, N.C.—By his own description, D.J. Gregory doesn't walk, he wobbles. It's a side-to-side motion, feet turned out, but somehow with his weight over an aluminum cane, he propels forward.

That he can walk at all is amazing to many. He was born 10 weeks premature and developed severe cerebral palsy that withered his legs. They grew so crooked his parents struggled to change his diapers.

Yet here he was Thursday, bouncing along the fairways of Quail Hollow Club as play began at the Wachovia Championship. Before it's all over Sunday, Gregory plans to walk every hole of every round -- at least 20 miles.

It's part of a journey that began the first week of January in Hawaii to chronicle a season on the PGA tour. He's determined to walk all 150 rounds of 38 tournaments. That's close to 700 miles.

He hopes to inspire

"I love the game and it's been a lifelong dream to experience the lives of these golfers," said Gregory, 30, who grew up in Greensboro and now lives in Savannah, Ga. "If I can inspire even one person -- that's an added benefit."

Kept his legs moving

His journey is no surprise to his parents, Don and Jackie Gregory. Despite their son's disability, they weren't ones to prop him in front of a TV."We sent him outside to ride a bike, or his Big Wheels or John Deere tractor," said Jackie Gregory, with her son this week in Charlotte. "Most kids pedal for fun. D.J. did it for therapy -- to keep his legs moving. He just wanted to keep up."

By the time he was 6, he'd weaned himself from a walker, to two canes, to one. He's never used a wheelchair, except for two weeks in first grade after doctors operated to straighten his feet.

His parents are golfers, so he taught himself to swing a club with one arm, using the other to prop himself on a cane. Now he has a 36 handicap, meaning he rarely breaks 100 on 18 holes.

"My golf handicap is worse than my physical one," he said. "I don't think of myself having a disability."

He didn't stay close to home for college, instead he went to his father's alma mater, Springfield College in Massachusetts. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees in sports management.

His father wanted him to take a scooter. D.J. said no: "I didn't want to be seen as different."

Gregory's competitive, even during the family putting contests down a carpeted hallway.

Four years ago, he and Jackie played seven days of golf and kept a running total. The loser bought dinner.

"D.J. was leading by 3 strokes going into the last hole," she said. "But then he choked and I won. He still hasn't gotten over it."

Touring the Tour

Gregory planned his PGA journey for three years, researching costs and finding sponsors. Last year, he showed his proposal to Charlotte-born TV sportscaster Jim Nantz, who Gregory had known for years.

Nantz, who will call the Wachovia this weekend for CBS, pitched it to the PGA.

Now Gregory flies to tournaments on Southwest Airlines, wears Ashworth clothes and FootJoy shoes, sleeps in Marriotts, eats at Outback Steakhouses -- and is assigned by the PGA to a different golfer each week. He doesn't have a favorite. He's befriended too many.

He blogs his weekly experiences and golfer interviews for the PGA's Web site. He also includes updated personal statistics: So far, he's walked 358 miles and 1,276 holes, consumed 127 bottles of water and 114 cans of soft drinks -- and fallen 14 times, never getting hurt.

Make that 15. He slipped on some pine straw along the 13th fairway. His mother helped him up.

Gregory always travels with either one of his parents, or a college friend.

At the Wachovia, he's tagging along with Zach Johnson, last year's Masters winner. Thursday, Johnson played with Boo Weekley and Charlottean Johnson Wagner.

By the time they'd teed off on each hole, Gregory was half-way down the fairway, with or without his mother. "He's easy to find," she said.

As he walked, other fans noticed. Rick Eckard of Tallahassee, Fla., struck up a conversation.

"I think it's amazing that he's taking a forum like this and using it to make awareness for people with cerebral palsy," Eckard said. "It's inspiring to see him get around.

"It's not easy with these hills. I'm having trouble walking 18 holes."

As Eckard talked, he gazed down the 10th fairway and shook his head. Gregory was already several hundred yards away, bopping down a path after Zach Johnson.

By David Perlmutt
dpearlmutt@charlotteobserver.com

Provider:
Knight-Ridder / Tribune Business News / Charlotte Observer, The (NC)