Remembering a day at Stonewall when Justin Riegel's character was revealed

   It is often said that nowhere is the character of any man or woman revealed better than on the golf course.

   I didn’t play golf with Justin Riegel, the director of golf at Philmont Country Club who died tragically when Wednesday’s weather event toppled a tree onto the golf cart shed at the Lower Moreland club.

   But I did caddy for him four years ago in a one-day Pro-Partner tournament at Stonewall, “across the street” in northwest Chester County from French Creek Golf Club, where Riegel was the head pro before moving on to Philmont last year.

   It has been obvious from the outpouring of grief from Riegel’s fellow club professionals and from the tight-knit Philadelphia area golf community and in a typically professional story by golf writer Joe Juliano on Riegel’s stunning death in Saturday’s Philadelphia Inquirer that this was a guy held in high regard by just about everybody whose path he crossed.

   What I remember most about my four or so hours on the golf course with Riegel that day at Stonewall was how typically devoted he was to promoting the game he loved and, at the time, to the day-to-day operation at French Creek.

   I seem to recall Riegel mentioning that it was the first time he played a full round in golf in six weeks or eight weeks, it had been a while. With French Creek’s proximity to Stonewall, I can almost guarantee you Riegel was “in the office” for a few hours before sneaking across the street to tee it up in the Pro-Partner.

   It was one of the great ironies of the life of the club professional that they rarely have time to play golf. It was obvious that Riegel’s chief concern that day was whatever was going on at French Creek, whatever club event was next on the schedule, whatever his next lesson was.

   And Riegel struggled early in that round. But eventually he started to get more comfortable just being on the golf course playing a round of golf, in competition no less.

   We didn’t particularly bond that day. But I thoroughly enjoyed being out there with a pretty good player.

   I do, however, have one very distinct memory of that day. It was a shotgun start and we started on either the second or third hole. So, the par-5 first hole at the Old Course, 511 from the tips, was either our last or next-to-last hole. It’s a reachable par-5 for a good player and Riegel had in the neighborhood of 230 to 240 yards left to the hole after a good drive.

   Pretty sure he went with whatever was his fairway wood in the bag, a 4- or 5-wood type club, maybe a 3-wood. The green at the first on the Old Course isn’t the easiest target to hit from that far away, there’s water on the right and bunkers on the left.

   Riegel hit a majestic shot into the green, the ball finishing 12 feet from the hole, one of the two best approaches I’ve seen among those attempting to reach the hole in two.

   Riegel missed the pretty good eagle look and settled for a two-putt birdie, but that second shot, it was a shot that said: I spend nearly every waking hour trying to enhance the golf experiences of golfers young, old and in between, but I can still do that.

   It’s golf and in golf there are certain shots you remember. And I certainly remembered that one the moment I heard it was Riegel who had died so tragically at Philmont Wednesday. Sounds like it was typical Riegel, hustling to help people get off the golf course with a sudden storm approaching.

   I noticed on the T Mac Tees Off dashboard this week that my post on the 2017 Haverford Philadelphia PGA Classic at Sunnybrook Golf Club, the Philadelphia Section PGA event that offers the biggest first prize of any section tournament in the country, a whopping $100 grand windfall, had been viewed a few times.

   Sunnybrook assistant pro Andrew Turner won the big prize that day with a 4-under 68 on his home course.

   Six months or so after I had looped for Riegel at Stonewall, he got it to 4-under through 12 holes that day at Sunnybrook before giving some shots back in the closing stretch, finishing in a tie for 12^th place at even-par 72.

   I was a little surprised to see Riegel had taken a day away from the French Creek pro shop. Not surprised in the least that he had himself in contention for a long time that day.

   As Joe Juliano reported in Saturday’s Inquirer, one of Riegel’s closest friends in the club pro fraternity, Bryan Kienke, the head pro at Cohasset Golf Club in Massachusetts, has set up a GoFundMe page to help Riegel’s girlfriend.

   Riegel met Kate Hannon at French Creek, where she is the banquet events manager. She is expected to deliver their first child, a boy, later this month.