Wounded veterans compete, inspire at Shinnecock Hills event: WATCH
Shinnecock Hills Golf Club hosted its second US Open. That happened in 1896, five years after the group was founded. Since then, four more Opens have been contested at the Southampton, NY, club. So, too, it has the Walker Cup and three other USGA national championships.
But over two days last month, a little-publicized event was decided in Shinnecock, which pitted 13 military heroes from the US against their 13 counterparts from Great Britain. The event was the 12th running of the Simpson Cup, a Ryder Cup-style tournament where camaraderie is as important as competition.
“There is no division between countries,” said US Marine Sergeant (Ret.) Nick Kimmel, who played on the US side. “When you choose to stand up and raise your hand and serve your country, you have this natural connection within.”
While Kimmel was deployed to Afghanistan in 2011, he stepped on an improvised explosive device and was knocked unconscious. Days later, when he woke up at Walter Reed National Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., Kimmel learned he had lost his left arm and both of his legs.
During his recovery, he discovered the healing power of golf.
In the Simpson Cup, the encounter is as important as the competition.
“It’s probably one of the best things I’ve come across to rejuvenate the body and mind,” he said. “It’s the best way for me to just turn it all off and shut out all the noise and trash.
“Four hours, me and the golf ball on the golf course.”
What this game means to Kimmel and his veterans is writ large in the Simpson Cup, which has become a platform for the world’s best golfers.
Founded in 2012 by John Simpson, former CEO of the International Management Group who suffered from childhood polio, the event rotates annually between host locations in Great Britain and the US And not only. anywhere sites: TPC Sawgrass, Royal Lytham and St Annes, Congressional, Royal St. George’s, Baltusrol (to name a few), and before this fall…Shinnecock Hills.
The US had a two-point lead after the first day of four-ball play, but with 13 points remaining in the second day’s singles, Great Britain was still very much in contention.
GOLF.com videographer Connor Federico was on hand to cover the happy ending. You can check out the action in the video above.
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