Hulin, Togisala Lead After First Day of Inaugural U.S. Seated Golfers Championship
Ben Hulin played his best round of adaptive golf ever.
He may owe most of it to a weekend spent with his dad.
Hulin and Max Togisala each finished with two-under par 71s and share the overall lead after Tuesday’s first round of the inaugural two-day U.S. Seated Golfers Championship at Whirlwind Golf Club in Chandler, Ariz.
Hulin leads the G9 classification (higher-level injury) by two strokes over Brock Leitner, while Togisala leads the Gclassification (lower-level injury division) by nine strokes over Larry Celano. Dark, rainy skies turned to sun, and Hulin heated up.
“I think I was just hitting the ball well. I was patient when a few holes didn’t go my way and then got back and scored on the back nine. I think it just went really well,” says Hulin, who sustained a level T5/T6 complete spinal cord injury (SCI) after a 2006 motorcycle accident with his girlfriend at the time in Indianapolis. “The caddie I was working with today did a really good job. He knew the course pretty well, and we had a great time out there together, so it was a lot of fun.”
But it’s some family time that may have energized and lifted the 44-year-old Hulin even more.
With Hulin’s dad, Jeff, diagnosed with spinal neuropathy and then recently Stage 4 cancer, the 44-year-old Salt Lake City resident flew to visit his dad and other family members, including his mother (Linda), two brothers (Tanner and Cason) and sister (Whitney), in Greenville, S.C., instead of playing in the Minnesota Adaptive Open.
It’s Hulin’s dad who helped him get back into adaptive golf. Back in 2007, Hulin tried out adaptive golf with a SoloRider adaptive device, didn’t like it how it felt and swore off the sport. Fourteen years later, Hulin found a ParaGolfer device in Greenville and asked if his dad could borrow it for the week so they could play together. Just five minutes into it, Hulin was hooked on the sport. And it came full circle when he went to his father’s recreation therapy appointment.
“So, the first day I got to go to his recreational therapy appointment, he and his [rec] therapist were gonna get into a ParaGolfer and golf. So, it was like the weirdest, most, like, it’s sad that he can’t walk anymore, but it was like a full-circle moment,” says Hulin, who also credited his wife, Christa, for her support. “Like, he got the ParaGolfer for me, and then I was able to be at a therapy appointment where he was able to be in a seated machine and standing up and hitting the ball. And he was my first call today to tell him how well I played and thanked him for all of his support and stuff like that.”
Meanwhile, the 22-year-old Togisala, thought he’d be in for some more brutally frustrating weather Tuesday.
Just two days after finishing second at the Minnesota Adaptive Open and playing in wet, cold and miserable conditions, it looked like he’d face some more rain and wind. But the morning dark gray skies and rain cleared up. And his game stayed sharp, too — despite some water hazards on the back nine.
“I didn’t know how much water was on that back nine. There was quite a bit of it that. I was kind of shocked. That was definitely the challenge on the back nine was just all the water,” Togisala says. “Yeah, greens were great. I mean, they were soft enough, too, which was super nice for, for me. at least. Being able to land the ball on the green and have it stay on the green was super helpful because I don’t hit the ball very high. And so, sometimes, when the greens are firm, it’s tough to hold the green.”
Togisala has played adaptive golf for the last four years, after sustaining a level T12 complete SCI while skiing at Sun Valley Resort in Sun Valley, Idaho. Hulin and Togisala are both Salt Lake City residents and friends.
He says he loved the inaugural sitting golfers tournament which, according to co-tournament director Celano, was the first to feature all seated golfers with all three major golf adapted mobility device manufacturers represented and all four adapted mobility devices (SoloRider, ParaMotion, VertaCat and ParaGolfer).
“I mean where they had us playing, from where Larry put the tee boxes, was so good. I mean, greens were amazing. I mean, good conditions,” Togisala says. “It’s awesome. And I saw a lot of the desert today, too. So that’s the Arizona golf right there.”
Celano is one of three tournament organizers, along with Justin Miller and Ben Brown. A Navy veteran and Paralyzed Veterans of America Arizona Chapter member, Celano served from 1988 to 1990 as a paratrooper and sustained an L1/L2 incomplete SCI from being shot twice in the left hip and once in the left lat in December 1989 during the invasion of Panama. Twelve years later, he picked up adaptive golf after seeing it in Phoenix. And he’s always wanted to start a seated golfers tournament. Now he has, as 22 golfers are competing.
“Our goal was to have a championship put on by seated players for seated players,” says Celano, who finished the first round with a seven-over par 80. “Me, personally, I’ve been in a wheelchair for over 37 years, and I’m sick and tired of able-bodied people telling me what I need and what I don’t need. So, this is the proof to the world that, you know, if we can do it, you all can do it.”
U.S. Seated Golfers Championship Whirlwind Golf Club in Chandler, Ariz. Sept. 29
Day 1
Overall
Name Score
Max Togisala -2
Ben Hulin -2
Brock Leitner E
Ian St. John +2
Mike Nicholson +5
Larry Celano +7
Mariano Tubio +8
Fernando Vega de Seoane +9
Tommy Paulson +10
Justin Miller +11
Mark Hartney +13
Trevor Kennison +13
Brandon Adam +13
Jerry Hazell +14
Amaro Sanfeliz Espinosa +15
Jelle Oosterwijk +17
Mac Graff +21
Haki Doku +22
Layne Kap +24
Richard Dahl +33
Jeffrey Odom +34
Kevin Patton +37
G9 Classification Division
Name Score
Ben Hulin -2
Brock Leitner E
Ian St. John +2
Mike Nicholson +5
Mariano Tubio +8
Fernando Vega de Seoane +9
Haki Doku +22
Richard Dahl +33
Jeffrey Odom +34
Kevin Patton +37
G10 Classification Division
Name Score
Max Togisala -2
Larry Celano +7
Tommy Paulson +10
Justin Miller +11
Mark Hartney +13
Trevor Kennison +13
Brandon Adam +13
Jerry Hazell +14
Amaro Sanfeliz Espinosa +15
Jelle Oosterwijk +17
Mac Graff +21
Layne Kap +24
Senior Division
Name Score
Larry Celano +7
Fernando Vega De Seoane +9
Mark Hartney +13
Jerry Hazell +14
Haki Doku +22
Layne Kap +24
Jeffrey Odom +34
Kevin Patton +37