The most inspiring player at the Sony Open is a 60-year-old club pro
Michael Castillo, who is battling cancer, qualified for the Sony Open when he won the Aloha PGA Section in September.
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Michael Castillo said he hit the ball nicely in his Sony Open debut on Thursday, although he admits he didn’t score very well. Any critique of his play ended there.
“Doesn’t really matter,” he said. “I had a great time walking with my brother on the bag. My family is here. It was all good. I couldn’t draw it up better than maybe the score.”
Castillo, at age 60, is the most inspiring story of the week at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu. The head pro at Kapalua Resort’s Plantation Course — where the Tour played last week — Castillo qualified for the Sony Open when he won the Aloha PGA Section in September (he birdied the final hole to win by one).
This is his PGA Tour debut, and it comes at a course Castillo and his family have a long history with.
But first, let’s talk about how he got there. According to the Associated Press, Castillo only entered the Aloha Section PGA Championship because his assistants at Kapalua talked him into it, since it was played at Poipu Bay, where Castillo worked as head pro for 12 years. This has all played out as Castillo has battled colon cancer, which he was diagnosed with about five years ago. The disease has moved to his liver and lungs. He’s been through chemotherapy and radiation. Next month he has a PET scan and says if everything looks good doctors will consider him in remission.
“That’s a good thing,” he said. “I will probably be doing some, what they call maintenance or preventive treatments to keep it at, keep the lid on it, but it looks pretty good. I’ve got great doctors. There is great medicine out there.”
Castillo comes from a famous golfing family, and much of it has to do with Waialae Country Club, too. His dad, Ron, was an assistant there in the 1970s and played in 10 Sony Opens. He’s in the Hawaii Golf Hall of Fame and coached the Hawaii women’s golf team, as did his daughter, Lori, who has triumphed in the U.S. Junior Girls and U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links on her way into the Hawaii Golf Hall of Fame. Castillo has three bothers, and all four of them worked at Waialae while in high school. Two of those brothers have already played in the Sony; all of them work in golf.
Castillo’s mom, Dorothy, age 84, walked all 18 holes with him on Thursday. Brother Joey was caddying. Michael shot 79, last in the field, but as he said earlier, that “doesn’t really matter.”
“I guess the surprising thing is I was very comfortable playing golf today,” Castillo said. “Didn’t feel like I needed to settle nerves I guess. I think my life journey maybe is part of it. Maybe it’s the fact that everyone is making me feel comfortable here. Maybe playing this game for such a long time you figure out how to make it work even though it is an important round of golf.”
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