Alex Noren had them on the left side of his white hat, on a pin. Michael Sims had them, too, though his were on the front of his cap.
Three hearts. A red one. A yellow one. A green one.
Just like how Brian Morris used to sign off his texts.
This week, they’re playing the Bermuda Championship, and Morris was a bit of a folk hero on the island. Maybe you remember him. In the space here, just about two years ago, Michael Bamberger wonderfully wrote of Morris, the head pro at Bermuda’s Ocean View Golf Club, who was making his one and only Tour appearance at the Championship. It was a scene. And that’s more to the story of Morris.
It’s not hyperbole to say that he was loved by everyone, folks will tell you. And vice versa.
“I mean, he’s life, man,” said Sims, a cousin.
So Sims wore the hat as he played this week at Port Royal Golf Course. Noren, the 36-hole leader, had the pin. The Royal Gazette website reported that there are shirts, too. In January, Morris died at the age of 55 due to cancer, and the memories are vivid.
“As everybody around here kind of knows, if you were texting with Brian, he always signed off with the triple hearts, red gold, green,” Sims said ahead of the tournament. “Well loved. You know, it was just his way of sharing love, spreading it, and sometimes that’s all it was. If he couldn’t talk, if he couldn’t do anything, he would send that over, [and] you kind of got the message.
“So just to have him — last year, I made it into the tournament, I was like, I have to do something for Brian so that he knows he’s here, because he wasn’t so sharp last year leading into the tournament. I was like, how can — walking around with him again on the golf course, this was the way that I thought I could do it.”
Said assistant tournament director Jevon Roberts to the Royal Gazette: “‘One Love,’ we all know that’s what Brian had on his car. He signed his messages, ‘One Love,’ with the three hearts. That’s what he does. It was his emblem and that’s what he believed in and that’s what he lived for.
“When Brian left in January, we thought the best way that we can honor him is by putting his emblem in as many places as possible. So for all to honor Brian, we have given all the players pins so that they can wear them in his honor, and that was something that tournament director Danielle Carrera thought would be fitting for this event.
“We miss him, we are thinking about him and we know he is with us.”
The Bermuda’s third round is Saturday, and Golf Channel’s coverage starts at 11 a.m.
