5 January 2023|Thoughts about
When marshalling at the 150th Open last year, I found it amazing how many people talked so openly about their life stories or experiences of St Andrews when I stopped them crossing the 17th fairway! During my Saturday shift, I spotted someone with a very distinctive hat. At the back of my mind, I knew there was something familiar and significant about the logo. Fortunately for me, but unfortunately for the chap wearing the hat, I had to close the crossing just as he approached. It gave me the chance to ask about the hat.
Some Australians reading this post might immediately recognise the hat as the mascot for the charity challenge.org.au which is a children’s cancer charity in Australia. We got to talking and it turned out that the chap wearing the hat was involved with one of the partner charities, Jarrod’s Gift, which was set up by the Australian golfer Jarrod Lyle, who sadly lost his own long battle with leukaemia in 2018 aged 36. We briefly spoke about my daughter and her fight with leukaemia as well as the good work done by charities both here and in Australia. When you make a connection with someone it’s amazing how much can spill out in just a few minutes!
By this time the golfers coming down 17 had cleared through so I opened the gate again, exchanged goodbyes with this chap and he went on his way. But 5 mins or so later he came back. He said he couldn’t get the conversation out of his mind and gave me his hat to give to my daughter. It was a lovely moment, and the hat now sits on the bookshelf in her bedroom.
One important thing the two of us didn’t exchange though was our names! I would love to be able to contact this gentleman and thank him for the gift. I know it’s a small thing, but it meant a lot.
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