Gratitude, memories will flow for pros on Mother's Day

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Since THE PLAYERS moved to a May date, the Stadium Course has become the site for a Mother's Day celebration on TOUR.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Most professionals will tell you that playing golf this Sunday on Mother's Day will be a good thing, indicating another cut survived on the PGA TOUR, and perhaps a chance at victory when THE PLAYERS Championship reaches the back nine.

But even though the competitive juices will be flowing, the significance of the day won't be far from their minds. Indeed, there will be a wide range of emotions flowing with the arrival of Mother's Day at TPC Sawgrass. That goes for those players who make the cut ... as well as those who don't.

It was on Mother's Day 15 years ago that Fred Couples lost his mother, Violet Couples, to cancer. Not a day goes by, according to Couples, that he doesn't think about her.

"To me Mother's Day is a great day," said Couples, who won two PLAYERS Championships when the tournament was still held in March. "But I won't really think of my mom any more than I usually do because I always think about her. I've been talking for the last four or five days with my girlfriend about my mom and what a great person she was. Her mom lives about 30 minutes from her and I was telling her how lucky she is to have her so close by."

Couples' father Tom -- who died in 1997 -- worked two jobs with the Seattle Recreation and Parks Department and didn't have as many opportunities as his wife to watch his son playing golf as a child. It was mostly Violet who shuttled young Freddie to the tournaments, where she truly began to get to know and understand her son.

She also worked overtime at the Boeing plant in Seattle to earn extra money for her son to travel to junior tournaments against top-level competition.

"I would talk to my dad about my golf, but he worked so much," said Couples, noting that his father introduced him to the game at the city-owned Jefferson Park golf course in Seattle.

It was tough for Couples' father to see his son choose golf over baseball, having himself been a standout baseball player. "He understood," said Couples, "but was still disappointed."

Just weeks before his mother's death in '94, Couples suffered the first episode of what has been a chronic back problem in his career. He took 97 days off from tournament competition. But it was the 10 final days spent with his mother that meant the most.

"When I was told she wasn't going to be around long, I had gone up to be with her and was glad I did," Couples said. "I returned to play the Buick Classic at Westchester Country Club and the U.S. Open in June."

Couples, who had not yet won in 1994 at the time of his golf sabbatical, won four times upon his return, including three of the last four events of the year to earn PGA Tour Player of the Year honors for the third time in his career.

Today, he devotes much of his charity efforts to the Millie Medlin Violet Sobich Couples Fund, set up in honor of his mother.

In a similar situation growing up to Couples, Boo Weekley and Jim Furyk also pointed to their moms as playing a key role in their careers.

"Mom was my greatest influence," said Weekley, who grew up in Milton, Fla. "Daddy was a pharmacist and was so busy trying to take care of his own drug store. My mother only worked part-time and was always available to drive Heath Slocum and I around. Everything I ever had to do in sports, she was always there."

During the conversation about his mother, Weekley answers her text on a ticket request for the week for a friend. "Sure, I'll do it," Weekley said, "because I remember no matter how bad I ever messed up, mom was always there."

Furyk, who grew up in West Chester, Pa., had a father who was a club pro and later worked as a sales representative. But he had to rely on his mom, Linda, to drive him to the course as well.

"She did a lot of little things," he said. "It helped that she was a huge sports fan and watched all my sports events as a kid."

What isn't widely known, however, is that Linda went back to work to help earn money for Jim to travel on the junior circuit.

"I wanted to play junior golf and be able to try to earn a college golf scholarship," he said. "She used that money to get me out there and it worked out well." The extra effort helped earn Furyk a golf scholarship to Arizona, where he was a two-time all-American and three-time all-Pac-10 selection.

For Ben Crane, the leader after Thursday's first round, it wasn't so critical what his mother was going to get him to the golf course, but what was happening away from the golf course that he believes shaped him as a person.

"I was always closer to mom growing up and she was the voice of balance in my life," Crane said. "I would get very one-dimensional with golf and other things. I remember watching her and just observing as a kid. She worked full-time, took care of two kids -- yet never complained. Plus, she did it all with joy."

Crane, a two-time winner on TOUR, said that had it not been for his mom's consistent love, he is certain of two things: "I wouldn't be the husband that I am and I certainly wouldn't be on the PGA TOUR."

In Florence, Ala., Stewart's Cink's mother also took on extra work to help pay for junior golf. "It was pretty expensive back then and she began working as a bookkeeper at my elementary school," Cink said. "That's a pretty good sacrifice. But, the one thing that both my mother and father gave me from the experience was passion for the game."

Cink and fellow touring pro Jerry Kelly were scheduled to have their parents in this week at THE PLAYERS, making Mother's Day for them a little more special.

"They're still coming to my tournaments and supporting me," said Kelly, who noted that his mother, now 73, is not far off from shooting her age. "She plays every single day. It's only a matter of time before she does it again. I can't play handicaps with her, because she'll take me down."

Kelly's earliest golf memory growing up in Wisconsin was his mom sitting him on the practice range as a toddler while he'd watch her hit golf balls. "She was just starting out at the time," Kelly said. "My dad was a scratch golfer and was working all day. It was also mom's way of getting out of the house.

"It obviously made an impact. I wouldn't be here without her or my father. They were lean years starting out and it took me six years to get on TOUR. The support was so great."

Meanwhile, Kenny Perry had the mountainous task of remaining focused this week while keeping in his thoughts on his cancer-stricken mother as she battles for her life back in Kentucky.

"Things are not good," Perry said. "We're struggling. We'll try to get through this Mother's Day but her body is really starting to give away on her. She'll never have the quality of life that she used to and that's sad."

Perry praised his mother, calling her "the one that made me who I am."

"She was the one person at an early age that took me around to pursue my dream," he added. "She influenced my demeanor, my attitude, and my Christianity. I can't thank her enough."

Perry spent last week back home with his mother and is grateful for that. "I think back to when I was young and just keep remembering that she was always there through thick and thin," he said.

On Wednesday, as he walked off the 18th green, having finished his final preparation for THE PLAYERS, Perry was greeted by a large group of fans, many who bypassed the autograph to offer kind words of support about his mom.

When Zach Johnson put the finishing touches on his final practice round Wednesday, someone asked him where he learned his work ethic. His answer: "Mom"

Said Johnson: "The beauty is that at the end of the day, she doesn't care if I shoot 85 or 65. It simply doesn't matter to her. However, she was very organized and structured and that has encouraged me in my golf to budget my time, personally and on the golf course. Her foundation in life is her faith and that has influenced me as well."

England's Luke Donald, like many of his fellow touring pros, admits to forming that bond early on with his mother as they travelled together to golf tournaments. Even though Great Britain celebrates a similar day for mothers in March, Donald assured that this Sunday, "I'm going to call her anyway."

Perhaps South Africa's Retief Goosen said it best when reflecting on Mother's Day. "I'm sure I was a hard child to look after for my mom," Goosen said. "Mom deserves more than just one day."