Shinnecock Hills Golf Club played host to the second U.S. Open. That was back in 1896, five years after the club’s founding. Since then, four more Opens have been contested at the storied Southampton, N.Y., club. So, too, has a Walker Cup and three other USGA national championships.
But over two days last month, a less heralded event was decided at Shinnecock, one that pitted 13 wounded military veterans from the U.S. against 13 of their counterparts from Great Britain. The occasion was the 12th playing of the Simpson Cup, a Ryder Cup-style contest at which the camaraderie is every bit as important as the competition.
“There’s no separation between countries,” said U.S. Marine Sergeant (Ret.) Nick Kimmel, who played on the U.S. side. “If you chose to stand up and raise your hand and serve your country, you have that natural internal bond.”
While Kimmel was deployed in Afghanistan in 2011, he stepped on an improvised explosive device and was knocked unconscious. Days later, when he awoke in the Walter Reed National Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., Kimmel learned that he had lost his left arm and both of his legs.
During his recovery, he discovered the healing powers of golf.
At the Simpson Cup, the camaraderie is every bit as important as the competition.
“Probably one of the best things I’ve come across for physical and mental rehab,” he said. “The is the best way for me to just turn it all off and shut off all the noise and the garbage.
“For four hours, it’s just me and the golf ball on the golf course.”
What the game means to Kimmel and his fellow veterans is writ large at the Simpson Cup, which has become a stage for some of the world’s best adaptive golfers.
Founded in 2012 by John Simpson, a former International Management Group executive who suffered from complications from childhood polio, the event alternates annually between host sites in Great Britain and the U.S. And not just any sites: TPC Sawgrass, Royal Lytham & St Annes, Congressional, Royal St. George’s, Baltusrol (to name just a few), and earlier this fall…Shinnecock Hills.
The U.S. had a two-point lead after the first day of four-ball play, but with 13 points still up for grabs in the second day’s singles matches, Great Britain was still very much in contention.
GOLF.com video producer Connor Federico was on site to chronicle the thrilling conclusion. You can check out the action in the video above.
