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USA Today
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
This caddie at Florida's top-ranked private golf course wants to follow in dad's footsteps
This caddie at Florida's top-ranked private golf course wants to follow in dad's footsteps With strawberry blonde hair, blue eyes and a tall, slender frame, it's impossible not to recognize the resemblance between Chandler Cantwell and his father, Tim. Turns out they share more than DNA. After initially choosing baseball as his sport, Chandler followed his father into golf at 12. Tim was a longtime caddie at the famed Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach and is the PGA teaching professional at PGA National Resort. Chandler said watching Rory McIroy win the 2019 Players Championship spurred him to become serious about golf, but being exposed to the sport by his father made the move inevitable. Chandler started caddying at Seminole when he was 14. 'I definitely want to be in the golf industry like my dad,' Chandler said. 'There's always hope of playing professionally, which is very tough, but something I want to work toward. Even if I can't play golf for a living, I want to be in the business, whether that's being a club pro or working for an equipment company.' More: IN HONOR OF MOM: Bella Cecere dedicates her life to late mother Kristin Hoke What started as an after-school job has turned into a full-time pursuit, especially when Chandler recently learned he had been awarded a full Evans Scholarship worth more than $125,000. Chandler, an 18-year-old senior at Dwyer High School, becomes the fifth Seminole caddie to have his college tuition paid for by the Evans Scholars Foundation. 'I never thought about getting a scholarship my first few years of caddying,' Chandler said. 'It wasn't until last year that I started to really mature and realize, 'Wow, I can get my college paid for,' which is pretty remarkable.' And fitting. Grandfather Bill Topp a founding contributor to Evans Scholars Foundation Tim's grandfather, Bill Topp, was one of the founding contributors of the Evans Scholars Foundation, an Illinois-based nonprofit that was started in 1930 by famed amateur Chuck 'Chick' Evans. Operated by the Western Golf Association, the program has helped almost 12,000 caddies graduate from college, based on financial need, a strong caddying record, academic success and overall character. 'For Chandler to be a part of this, when my grandfather was one of the contributing founders, is pretty incredible,' Tim said. 'It was humbling and pure elation when we found out he had been selected because there's a lot of great candidates. He's put in a lot of hard work the last four years.' It's not easy being a caddie at an iconic course such as Seminole, especially when you're younger than some of the clubs in the members' bags. Seminole has a high-profile membership – think names like Tom Brady – who take their golf very seriously. The last thing they want is a bad read on a putt or an incorrect yardage. When Chandler started looping at Seminole four years ago, he felt like he was walking into a three-club wind. While he had his father guide him off the course, caddies are on their own at Seminole, where constantly changing wind conditions off the Atlantic Ocean, not to mention the crazy-difficult greens, make looping a constant challenge. Yet working for Seminole has a host of advantages. Club President Jimmy Dunne, head PGA professional Bob Ford (now retired), Matt Cahill and longtime Seminole member John Hand – who started a youth caddie program at the club and is now a Western Golf Association director – have been extremely supportive of young caddies such as Chandler. 'It's a credit to Seminole how well they took him under their wing,' Tim said. 'They beat him up a little bit, but that made him better with his maturity and got him out of his shell. He's a late bloomer, like me.' There is plenty of prestige that goes with wearing the Seminole caddie bib and being exposed to a place that values the game's history and tradition as much as any U.S. club. But with that honor comes responsibility. 'You want to make sure you provide the best service to the member because they expect great service,' Chandler said. 'That pressure really helps you being able to deliver under pressure. 'I feel like I have an obligation to help the member play the best they can play. When I hit a perfect read, and they make it, that's a lot of fun. You need to know what to say at the right time and getting your point across quickly. At Seminole, there's a rule: You want to get your point across in about seven seconds.' Chandler Cantwell joins Bella Cecere as Evans Scholarship winners Chandler joins North Palm Beach resident Bella Cecere, a senior at Dreyfoos, in receiving Evans Scholarships. Cecere, the daughter of late WPBF-Channel 25 anchor Kristin Hoke, will attend the University of Delaware and study nursing in honor of her mom. 'As we continue to expand access to youth caddie opportunities across the state of Florida, we are so proud to have two academically strong caddies receive this life-changing gift,' said Hand, Seminole member and WGA director. 'We hope they will inspire more young people from Florida to seek out the best summer job there is – caddying.' Chandler will attend the University of South Carolina, where he plans to study business and try to walk on to the golf team. Regardless of whether he makes the team, Chandler is certain he will take the same golf path as his father. 'My dad has helped me so much in this journey,' Chandler said. They look alike, although Chandler's recent growth has gone beyond his maturity. When asked who was taller, the 6-foot-3 Tim laughed. 'We're the same height,' he said, 'but I'm not going to admit that.'
USA Today
24-04-2025
- Business
- USA Today
The incredible story of Seminole Golf Club includes E.F. Hutton and Donalds Ross and Trump
The incredible story of Seminole Golf Club includes E.F. Hutton and Donalds Ross and Trump When the 1929 stock-market crash caused economic turmoil and hardship, Palm Beach VIPs were excited about the upcoming debut of an exclusive golf club. It's not that the Oct. 29-spawned financial meltdown that year didn't affect any of the wealthy in Palm Beach — the town's then-mayor, for one, stepped down, citing financial stress — but social affairs and pet projects continued. And plenty of buzz surrounded the new golf course on the horizon. Along with expectations that Seminole Golf Club would boast one of America's best golf courses, its founding members amounted to a Palm Beach Who's Who. At the helm was E.F. 'Ned' Hutton, who wintered on the island with his famed cereal-heiress wife, Marjorie Merriweather Post, in their 1927-completed estate, Mar-a-Lago, now owned by President Donald Trump. Talk about a power couple: Hutton, an avid sportsman, had founded his well-known New York-based investment firm in 1904; Post was a hostess extraordinaire, businesswoman and philanthropist. They entertained lavishly and could always be counted on to don elaborate garb for the Everglades Club's then-annual Costume Ball. They were instrumental in the 1927 founding of Mar-a-Lago neighbor The Bath & Tennis Club. Hutton loved golf. At the same time that he commissioned a 9-hole mini course for Mar-a-Lago's 17 acres, he began planning for an 18-hole course on 140 acres in his possession. That land about nine miles north of Palm Beach, had formerly been owned by Lake Park founder Harry Kelsey and extended from U.S. 1 to the ocean. This would become the home of Seminole Golf Club. Once work began on the project in spring 1929, it was dubbed 'Palm Beach society's latest stronghold' thanks to Hutton and his VIP friends rallying behind it. Car-company founder Walter Chrysler, publishing-heir Herbert 'Tony' Pulitzer, and financier sportsman Henry Carnegie Phipps were among charter members who wintered in Palm Beach. Why were they all eager for a new golf course? It's not as though Palm Beach didn't have enough golf holes to play. What's said to be the oldest continuously played golf course in Florida was opened in Palm Beach in 1897. Never mind that its founder, Standard Oil partner and Florida east-coast developer Henry Flagler, once declared golf 'a passing fancy' in America. He established the 1897 course between two Palm Beach hotels he developed (including The Breakers and a now-long-gone lakefront resort property). Two more golf courses debuted in Palm Beach by 1920: the original 1917 course at Palm Beach Country Club and a 1920 course at the Everglades Club. But clearly Hutton and friends wanted to enhance the golf scene with a new exclusive club centered around golf. The Juno site for it was punctuated with swampland and sand dunes, but most of the area — including Palm Beach — remained largely undeveloped, too. Some of the topography could be advantageous for a golf course. At the same time, it's not as though Juno was no-name hinterland. Before Palm Beach County's inception in 1909 after it broke away from what was then called Dade County, Juno was the seat of a county stretching from the Florida Keys to Stuart. When work began on Seminole Golf Club, the club's officers included, of course, Hutton as president, but also vice president Jay F. Carlisle, a financier and Palm Beach winter resident; and secretary-treasurer Martin Sweeney, a well-known Palm Beach hotelier who'd overseen Flagler-connected hotels. Among numerous notables on the organizing committee: Barclay Warburton, Palm Beach's so-called 'first society mayor' who resigned from that position after the stock-market crash. Hutton tapped famed Scottish golf-course architect Donald Ross for Seminole. Ross had designed Hutton's mini course at Mar-a-Lago, but more importantly, he'd conceived numerous nameplate courses in the country — from famed Pinehurst in North Carolina to Oakland Hills in Michigan and Scioto Country Club in Ohio. He also designed the original course at Palm Beach Country Club. Once Seminole debuted on Jan. 1, 1930, it received gushing kudos for the challenging golf course by Ross, and for the clubhouse. Then-described as a Mediterranean building with an unpretentious 'Spanish farmhouse' look, it was designed by Palm Beach architect Marion Sims Wyeth. With a huge terrace and patio overlooking a large swimming pool, the clubhouse originally was painted red, according to accounts, with white ornamental trim, green shutters and blue-green awnings. What awed most: an immense men's locker room with a 20-plus-foot ceiling, new-American furnishings and 72 knotted-pine lockers — details that today make it a 'gold standard' for such spaces, golf experts note. Architect Wyeth, who'd been part of the architectural team behind Mar-a-Lago and other Palm Beach estates and projects, was the first in Palm Beach inducted into the American Institute of Architects in 1954. In the end, the cost of creating Seminole was estimated at around $500,000 (the equivalent of around $10 million today), although it may have been closer to $750,000, as some estimates suggested. The club's reputation quickly grew. In time, staff pros included Masters champs. Joseph P. Kennedy, Henry Ford and the Duke of Windsor became members. The club's daily closing time of 6 p.m. may also have had a Palm Beach connection: Local lore has it that Hutton's wife Post and other influential club-members' wives (who enjoyed a much smaller locker room at Seminole than the men) wanted their spouses home in time to ready for evening soirees on the island. Today, Seminole still ranks high in golfing circles. In Golfweek's 2024 list of the top Classic courses, Seminole is No. 12.
USA Today
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Here's why Rory McIlroy's parents were missing from the 2025 Masters
Here's why Rory McIlroy's parents were missing from the 2025 Masters Rory McIlroy flew to Belfast last Friday to celebrate his Masters victory with his parents. Gerry and Rosie have been living in Florida for several years now – with Gerry a regular at famed Seminole Golf Club – which made it surprising they weren't in attendance at Augusta National Golf Club to see their pride and joy complete the career Grand Slam. It's not unusual to see the McIlroys among the patrons following their only child during his previous 16 appearances at the Masters. It led at least one member of the media to joke that even his parents had given up on Rory's chances of winning a green jacket. But as McIlroy detailed in Butler Cabin during the presentation of the green jacket and later during his winner's press conference, his parents were back home in Ireland glued to the TV set. What were they doing there? On Wednesday, Rory explained during an interview with PGA Tour Radio's Michael Breed they just bought a new house there and were busy moving into it during Masters week. 'Which they said was a good thing,' recounted McIlroy during the interview from the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, where he and Shane Lowry are the defending champs. 'They were glad they had something to do to take their mind off of what was happening at the Masters.' Gerry, a barkeeper at Holywood Golf Club where Rory learned the game, and Rosie, who toiled on an assembly line's graveyard shift, funded their son's dream of winning majors the hard way and have every reason to be proud of their son completing the career Grand Slam. 'Gerry McIlroy is one of those agreeable Irish souls with sparkling eyes, a shock of Spencer Tracy hair, and an infectious grin. He has the bearing of a seanchaí, the wiseman in an ancient Irish village who was the keeper of folklore and the teller of tall tales,' writes Timothy Gay in his forthcoming unauthorized biography of Rory, titled 'Rory Land,' which is set to be published next month. 'They believed that their gifted son could reach a distant shore if only they gave him a skiff, a pair of oars and a nudge. 'On that conviction, they upended their own lives. And not just in some peripheral way. Their faith in Rory's potential drove them to take on multiple jobs, work literally around the clock, forsake social lives, save every penny, get their child the best possible coaching, and travel to junior tournaments in exotic locales (Miami, San Diego, Honolulu, Milan) about which most of their blue-collar neighbors could only dream.' If the back nine on Sunday was an all-time nail-biter for those just pulling to see history made and an 11-year winless streak in the majors come to an end, imagine what it must've been like for Rory's parents watching an ocean away. Rory gave us a window into what that was like, too. 'Mum couldn't stop crying and dad said it was the first time ever he's watched me play golf on TV and he's had to pour himself a drink,' McIlroy said. Once a barkeeper, always a barkeeper. "To be able to share this with them was incredibly special," Rory said.
USA Today
07-04-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Meeting Rory McIlroy in 2017 sparked journey that led to Tuesday practice round at Masters
Meeting Rory McIlroy in 2017 sparked journey that led to Tuesday practice round at Masters AUGUSTA, Ga. — The week of the 2017 U.S. Open was an abject failure for Rory McIlroy, who packed up early and was among the truck slammers who missed the 36-hole cut. But before he departed, he took about five minutes to chat with Noah Kent, the 13-year-old stepson of Dana Fry, who was among the course designers at Erin Hills in Wisconsin, and changed the trajectory of a young man's life. Kent looked up wide-eyed at McIlroy, who is listed as 5 feet 9 inches tall, and said, 'You're so small, how do you hit it so far?' McIlroy laughed and said, 'Noah, I'm living proof that you can teach yourself to hit the ball. Power comes from your legs.' And then he demonstrated for Kent how he tried to squat into the ground and push off to create power. It was a short visit but about a week later Kent received a gray Nike shirt autographed by McIlroy across the upper-right chest in the mail, which still hangs framed in his room. Two night's later he barged into his parent's bedroom and pronounced he knew what he was going to do with his life. He wanted to become a professional golfer like McIlroy. Fry remembers thinking this won't stick. Kent's biological father works in the golf industry too as the general manager of a golf club in Florida and introduced him to the game, but Kent was more interested in other sports, particularly hockey. Trading in ice skates and a stick for golf clubs It turned out Kent meant business. He proceeded to quit his traveling hockey team and for the next two years he never missed a day of going to the golf course. A few months short of the eighth anniversary of meeting McIlroy on June 17, 2017, Kent will tee it up in a practice round at the 89th Masters on Tuesday with McIlroy. 'It just shows the power that athletes have,' Fry said. 'That little bit of time can change a life. It completely changed the course of this kid's life. Because of Rory, Noah's playing in the Masters. I know it means something to Rory, I know it does. It has to.' What happened in between that first meeting at Erin Hills and the 2025 Masters is remarkable in its own right. Guided by McIlroy's swing tip, Kent holed up in his bedroom most nights for the next two years watching McIlroy's swing on an iPad along with the powerful moves of Tiger Woods and Adam Scott and learned by osmosis. On March 10, 2020, Fry took Kent to play Seminole Golf Club with director of golf Bob Ford, one of the most respected pros in the game. Kent drove the first green at the famed course and as the round concluded, Ford put an arm around Ford's shoulder and told him don't let anyone mess this kid up, except he used a different four-letter word than 'mess.' 'It's the first time I ever heard him curse,' Fry said. In 1988, Fry was on the golf team at the University of Arizona when he met a member of Tom Fazio's design team at a bar, who offered him a summer job flagging cacti for transplant at a course being built in Tucson. He's worked as a golf course designer for the past 41 years with Jason Straka in the firm Fry-Straka Global Golf Course Design. He asked Ford what he could do to help Kent develop into the golfer he dreamed of becoming. 'He just needs to be taught how to play golf,' Ford said. 'Surround him with people who have been there, done that and have succeeded. Do not let him get around people who have been there, tried, failed and now are trying to teach him what they couldn't do.' He suggested that Claude Harmon III, the son of famed instructor Butch Harmon, who had his own stable of major winners, could help polish Kent's self-taught swing. Fry tried calling Harmon for a week to no avail. Eventually, an email floated back that one of his assistants could fit him in for a lesson. But that wasn't good enough for Kent. He wanted Harmon, not one of his acolytes. So, Fry called John Cook, a 10-time PGA Tour winner whom he had teamed up to design three courses together in the 1990s, including Cook's Creek in Ohio, to see if he could open any doors. As a child prodigy, Cook took lessons from World Golf Hall of Fame member and former CBS Sports golf analyst Ken Venturi. He was a fountain of knowledge, who had learned at the feet of Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson, and never charged Cook or his father for a single lesson. 'My dad tried to pay him numerous times, but he refused,' Cook recalls. 'He had only one stipulation. He said when you find someone who could use this help, it's your duty to pass it on.' Cook had taken Patrick Cantlay under his wing previously, and he told Fry to send him three swing videos of Kent. Minutes later, Fry's phone buzzed. Color Cook impressed. 'He hit it miles,' Cook recalled. 'I've never seen anything like him. And he's just going to get stronger and stronger.' Don't dabble in swing mechanics but do work on fitness Cook offered to lend his expertise, and they began by working backwards. 'We work from, OK, I know you can hit it far. Let's figure out when to use it, and how to control trajectory and distance a lot easier.' But he didn't want to dabble in swing mechanics. For that, he seconded Claude Harmon III and reached out to him personally. Suddenly, the instructor who helped Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka, raw talents who could bomb it, win multiple majors and achieve world No. 1, emailed back that he had an opening for a lesson in his schedule to see Kent at The Floridian, where he teaches. After watching Kent hit balls, he sat him down in his office and asked about his fitness. Kent said he had been working out before COVID but hadn't been as dedicated of late. Harmon was blunt. 'I don't need a story,' he said. 'If you don't take your fitness as seriously as your golf it's not going to work because if you don't, kids you are competing with will and they are going to outwork your ass.' 'I'll do whatever you say,' Kent replied. Harmon has become the most important person in Kent's golf life. Fry has pulled every string and called in every favor to help surround his step-son with an incredible group of mentors that also includes former U.S. Amateur champions Jay Sigel and John Harris, putting help from Brad Faxon, who tutors McIlroy, and mental coaching from Bhrett McCabe, who works with several Tour pros including Billy Horschel, and turned Kent's biggest weakness into a strength. 'He's got the inner belief that he always lacked,' said Fry, who also arranged for Kent to meet Fry's hero, Tom Watson, in Kansas City, and play golf with Ben Crenshaw in Austin, Texas. 'He knows he can beat any amateur on any given day.' As a freshman golfer at the University of Iowa, Kent followed around the No. 1 player on the team 'like a duck' the first semester, telling his coach at the first day of practice that he wanted to play him at practice. He beat him that day and led the team with a 72.8-stroke average in the spring, recording five top-25 finishes in seven events. After opening the U.S. Amateur with 77, he rallied in the second round with six birdies and posted 64 to make the match play portion. Kent rolled all the way to the championship, where he fell 4 holes down with seven to play. He made a furious comeback to trail 1-down with one hole to play only to bogey the final hole. Despite the defeat, it is customary for both of the U.S. Amateur finalists to be invited to play in the Masters. Kent returned to Iowa for his sophomore season, posting four top-13 finishes before hitting the transfer portal after the fall and selecting Florida – he's sitting out this semester – because he believes coach J.C. Deacon and assistant coach, Dudley Hart, a former Tour winner, can help him achieve his goal of making it in the play-for-pay ranks. In the ensuing years, McIlroy and Kent's relationship has grown organically and in January they teed it up for the first time at Grove XXIII, Michael Jordan's course. Kent still looks up to McIlroy, the world No. 2 and two-time winner on Tour this season, but he towers over him by a good seven inches. Asked if he is longer than McIlroy, Kent turns modest: 'Might be,' he said. 'But I wouldn't be where I am without him.' Kent got his first taste of the big league's at the Tour's Texas Children's Houston Open two weeks ago. What's did he learn? 'To not eat seafood.' Kent got food poisoning, had to skip a practice round with Scottie Scheffler, and missed the cut. But he's got practice rounds at the Masters lined up with Masters champions Dustin Johnson and Patrick Reed as well as Koepka and possibly Phil Mickelson. But it's the practice round with McIlroy that presents a full-circle moment with his hero who flipped his mind that golf should be his game. Earlier this year, when they played, Kent realized that McIlroy hits it significantly better than him and he has work to do. But after spending seven hours together, Kent left encouraged, telling Fry that McIlroy 'really thinks I can do this.' 'It just means more coming from him,' Fry said.
