Lt. Col. Dan Rooney believes in the concept of life he called the divine echo.
It’s the idea that a meaningful coincidence points to a higher purpose and explains why he teed off on Friday thanks to a sponsor’s exemption at Warwick Hills Golf and Country Club in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan, just south of Flint, in the Ally Challenge, his debut in a PGA Tour Champions event.
“Just being inside the ropes is a boyhood dream come true,” he said on Thursday. “I love this concept in life called the divine echo. Our lives manifest based on what you put out into the world, and we’ve helped 74,000 families achieve their dreams at Folds of Honor and I look at this as a divine echo this week as God’s given me a dream, a boyhood dream to be able to compete alongside my golf heroes, watching them and getting out there to tee it up.”
Rooney, who founded Folds of Honor, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit foundation that provides scholarships for the spouses and children of military members who have been killed or disabled in combat, bogeyed five of his first six holes before making birdie at the last to shoot 6-over 78 in the first round of the tournament. He beat only one golfer in the field of 78 and stood 16 strokes off the pace set by defending champion Stewart Cink, who was dialed in en route to posting what he termed a stress-free 10-under 62. But there was something bigger at play here. A year ago, Rooney had played in the tournament’s pro-am alongside World Golf Hall of Fame member Ernie Els and made eight birdies. Afterwards, Els told him in the locker room that he should consider playing.
“That was the seed that kind of started the discussion of like, wow, that would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Rooney recalled.
Rooney, who is a PGA professional, got a chance to live his dream this week but his bigger purpose has been bringing Folds of Honor Friday, an initiative that his non-profit started a year and a half ago with the PGA Tour, to tournaments across the country.
“Golf was the only major sport that didn’t observe the national anthem, and to be able to bring the anthem now, it’s about 50 percent of the events across all three tours — PGA Tour, Champions Tour and Korn Ferry Tour — playing the national anthem,” he said on Thursday. “We’re asking fans to wear red, white and blue. Players will be wearing red, white and blue on Fridays to honor all those who serve.”
Nearly 20 years ago, Rooney was aboard United Flight 644 from Chicago to Grand Rapids, Mich., headed to his family-owned golf course in the tree-lined sand dunes on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. His flight had already been delayed, and passengers were restless to deplane. As they taxied to the gate, the captain’s voice came over the public address: “Ladies and gentlemen, we have an American hero on board with us tonight.”
As he paused, Rooney remembered the soldier in dress greens seated in first class.
“We are carrying the remains of Army Cpl. Brock Bucklin. His twin brother, Cpl. Brad Bucklin, has brought him home from Iraq,” Rooney recalled the captain saying. “As a sign of respect, please remain seated while we honor Cpl. Bucklin and his sacrifice.”
Rooney previously served as a fighter pilot whose call signal, Noonan, is from the movie “Caddyshack.” He dreamed of flying F-16s after watching another movie, “Top Gun,” and meeting a member of the Oklahoma Air National Guard at a golf tournament when he was 12.
From Seat 24A, Rooney, who logged three tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, watched the 28-year-old corporal’s final homecoming through the window. The siblings had made a pact that if anything ever happened to one of them, the other would carry the coffin off the plane. On the tarmac that night was Bucklin’s grieving family, including his then 4-year-old son, Jacob, in his grandmother’s embrace.
What Rooney had witnessed shook him. So did another realization: half the passengers had exited the plane anyway. Anger such as he had never experienced welled up inside him. Freedom isn’t free, and that night Rooney pledged to do something to help the Bucklin family and others like them.
“The only thing I knew at that point was how to run a little golf tournament,” he said.
A few months later, Rooney planned the West Michigan Fallen Heroes Golf Tournament, with proceeds earmarked to Michigan families who had lost parents in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sixty-eight golfers showed up. They raised a little more than $8,000.
“That was just a drop in the bucket,” Rooney said.
Fast forward and Folds of Honor recently awarded 12,000 scholarships for the fall, about $58 million in education going out to spouses and children who have had somebody killed or disabled as military and first responders.
“So there’s so many layers this week and the game has been such an engine for good,” he said.
That includes helping the families who have to pick up the pieces after losing a loved one. Folds of Honor, named for the way an American flag is folded in tribute to servicemen and women, has been a difference-maker. This week, Rooney is rubbing shoulders with his heroes in a world that is outside his comfort zone but he’s embraced the opportunity.
“As a fighter pilot, very comfortable in combat, comfortable in the cockpit, but something you learn there is when you go to uncomfortable places is where you grow,” he said. “Just like dropping bombs in combat, aim small, miss small. So hopefully we’ll hit a few targets out there this week.”
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