A Winning Marriage

It was one of those Florida days where the birds stay in the trees, and sand from the bunkers become dangerous projectiles. The battering wind made some of the fairways at Greg Norman’s Champions Gate Golf Club look like walking paths. Carrying a bag into the walls of wind was difficult; a staff bag was a cross to bear for a caddie. It was the qualifier for the 2021 Butterfield Bermuda Championship, and I was playing with John VanDerLaan, whose fiancée at the time, Hannah, was carrying his hefty bag. 

John and I had played together a handful of times on the Korn Ferry Tour that season. His game was consistent and reliable. He drove the ball very straight, putted well and smiled often. He always seemed to know what he was doing, a decisiveness that helped him play quickly. Hannah added sharp wit and interesting conversation to the on-course conversation. They were always a delight to play with. Hannah worked as an accountant and almost always caddied for John then. While the bag rivaled her in size, she usually looked very comfortable and carried it with ease. The job looked easier on her than it should have. On this blustery Florida day, however, the bag was heavy. 

With the difficult conditions, it was evident that a few under par had a good chance to earn a spot in a PGA Tour event. John grinded through the first 10 holes around even par. On the long par-3 11th, John pushed a mid-iron, which bounded into a bush on the short side of the hole. He came away with a fate-sealing double bogey. The couple walked slower on the following hole as disappointment set in and the headwinds howled. Hannah was always trying to stay positive for her partner. Some days, that’s the most challenging part of the job.

My wife spent a season pushing and carrying my golf bag around Asia. During one particularly frigid and wet week in China, we piled into a player shuttle after a round and she wasn’t able to hold back tears. Her shoes were soaked, her feet were frozen and covered in blisters. She didn’t say anything on the course because I was playing well and she didn’t want me to worry. We all have a breaking point. Her job was a true labor of love.

John had taken three 54-hole leads into final rounds prior to the one-shot advantage he carried into Sunday at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Open in Columbus, Ohio. Hannah, now John’s wife, was watching from outside the ropes this time, and John was asked after Saturday’s round at OSU’s Scarlett Course, what he would do differently while now holding the lead. “I don’t want to reveal my secrets,” he joked before saying something about patience. What you learn through experience isn’t easy to articulate into a meaningful, punchy soundbite. 

John had taken a four-shot lead into the final round of the Bahamas Golf Classic at Atlantis Paradise Island to start the season. Hannah carried the bag around for a crushing final round where John shot 42 on the closing nine, finishing T9 with five other players. Hannah couldn’t hold back tears after that round. “He just works so hard,” Hannah said after that round to Monday Q Info’s Ryan French. “I’m just frustrated for him. No one works harder than John.”

How many times had the two come away disappointed and woeful? How many times had John taken it out on the dirt of a practice area the following day? How many times had he and Hannah reached their breaking points and not let anyone see their distress? 

John had made his last eight KFT cuts prior to Columbus and told Hannah he was going to win one of the final tournaments of the season. His certainty showed in the final round at the Scarlett Course.

On Sunday, John birdied the opening hole and added four more in his opening nine holes to go out in 31. The menacing 11th took two strokes back from him, but he bounced back with consecutive birdies on 12 and 13. John held a four-shot lead on the 18th tee as a torrential rain began to pelt the final group. For the briefest of moments, the weather threatened to be the final obstacle, but then the horn blew. Skies eventually cleared, the final group returned, and John closed with a par to tie the tournament scoring record of 17-under par and pick up his first Korn Ferry Tour win. 

Hannah and their excited rescue dog, Bunker, celebrated on the final green. “I’m so proud of you,” Hannah said through tears, clutching tightly to John as if she’d never let go. “I told you,” John said happily. John earned $270,000 for the win and moved to 15th on the season-long points race where the top-20 advance to the PGA Tour. John looked satisfied, and though it wasn’t the cathartic celebration you might expect, he looked like a golfer reborn; a man who knows something others don’t. A man who knows how to win.

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