Hlas column: No handicap for golf's tireless walking man

SILVIS, Ill. - “Does it not look like I should be 20-under-par?” Zach Johnson asked a man Saturday who has seen him play all of his 54 holes in the John Deere Classic.

“It does,” D.J. Gregory replied after Johnson's 4-under 67 left him at 11-under overall and tied for ninth-place entering today's final round. Gregory has seen enough high-level golf the last four years to know of what he speaks.

This week, Gregory and Johnson are partners of sorts. Each week on the PGA Tour, Gregory walks the course and follows a selected player who has agreed to make a donation to his Walking For Kids Foundation for each birdie or eagle the player makes in that tourney.

That would be impressive enough given all the travel is required, since the Tour has events every week except during major championships.

But given that Gregory was born with moderate cerebral palsy, has crisscrossed legs, and requires a cane to walk, it's really something.

For the first two rounds here, I had no idea who this man was who followed Johnson's every shot. I saw this 33-year-old guy locking his knees to take each stride, using a painstaking pace all the way around the 7,257-yard TPC Deere Run in the July heat.

I really didn't fathom how he could climb the steep cart path from the tee to the green at No. 3. This course needs to install an escalator there for the cardio-challenged among us.

But Gregory always keeps up.

“He's just a horse, man,” Johnson said. “He's unbelievable.”

This all began in 2008. Gregory had a goal to walk every hole of a PGA Tour season to raise awareness about cerebral palsy. He wrote a proposal to the Tour that CBS announcer Jim Nantz delivered to Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem.

Gregory got a season pass from the Tour. He also kept a blog for the Tour's website.

“It's going to take an awful lot in golf to be a better story than D.J. Gregory,” Nantz said during that 2008 season.

Gregory wrote a book about his experiences that year. After 2009, he felt he could do more. And has.

“This is the second year of the foundation I started,” Gregory said. “When I started this I never thought it would expand the way it has. At first I did it more to accomplish a personal goal, living out a lifelong dream.

“But as I went along, people told me ‘Keep up the good work, you're inspiring me in my own life.' At the end of 2009, I decided to start the foundation. We're raising money for kids and giving money out to children's charities. Last year we gave away $85,000.”

Gregory is from Savannah, Ga. He earned a Masters in sports marketing from Springfield (Mass.) College, where he was student manager for the women's basketball team.

He has sponsors, including Southwest Airlines, to cover his weekly expenses. He basically lives on the road.

“I do a lot of speaking engagements around the country,” said Gregory. “And I play golf in some pro-ams. I kind of keep a busy schedule. I've been home eight days this year. But I love it.”

After taking some questions from reporters about his golf Saturday, Johnson seemed to light up when the topic was switched to Gregory.

“It's foundations supporting foundations,” he said, “and D.J. is the epitome.

“He gets a little bit of credit. I'm not sure he's getting enough. I know where his heart is and I know he's doing it for all the right reasons, just trying to help people.”

“Through hard work, anything is possible,” Gregory said. “Don't take no for an answer.”

If you come to the Deere Sunday to follow Johnson's final round, don't be worried about the man in the gallery with the cane and the wobble. He's going slowly, yes. But he never falls behind.