More than golf on Scott Harrington’s plate as he returns — for now — to web.com Tour

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, August 15, 2018

NORTH PLAINS – The idea was to write a column about playing in Tuesday’s pro-am event for the WinCo Foods Portland Open on the at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club.

You’ll read a little about that here, but much more about the real story involving pro Scott Harrington and stuff that is eminently more important than negotiating a course with a ball and a golf club.

Harrington, a Jesuit High grad and veteran on the web.com Tour, was the pro in a fivesome that included crafty Mike Young of web.com in Florida; Jason Swygard, sandbagging executive producer at “The Fan” (KFXX 1080 AM), and Ben Sherman, director of sports at The Oregonian/Oregon Live.

Young has the best one-armed chip shot this side of Pete Gray. Swygard has been playing entirely too much golf this summer. Sherman treaded water for 14 holes, then played so well the final four he was crying, “Let’s go another 18!” at the end of the five-hour round in near-100-degree heat at Witch Hollow.

Me? Your favorite veteran scribe fully enjoyed the day with a fun group featuring Harrington and his older brother, Adam, who caddied for Scott and shared a few stories with reporters during the round.

With Harrington contributing a pair of eagles off his own ball, our group finished at 14-under-par 58, but still out of the money on a day when five fivesomes compiled an even better score.

“I played pretty well,” says Harrington, 37. “I like how I’m hitting the ball. I haven’t been on a golf course hardly at all the last three months. I get to hit balls most days; I just don’t have much time. Getting used to things on the golf course again take a little time.”

Harrington hasn’t been on the course much the past three months because his wife of two years, Jennifer, has been dealing with the effects of Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Jenn, who sells commercial real estate around their home in Scottsdale, Arizona, was first diagnosed a year ago. With her husband by her side, Jenn underwent chemotherapy treatments from September until mid-December, when she was pronounced “free and clear” of cancer, he says.

Harrington returned to the web.com Tour in January and played well, his best finish a tie for 11th place at the United Leasing & Finance Championship in Newburgh, Indiana, in April, winning $11,200.

Then in May, a CT scan revealed that the cancer had returned.

“It was a big shock to the doctors, and to us,” Harrington says.

Harrington has been off the web.com circuit since then, helping care for his wife, who is on her third round of chemo.

“She is doing well,” he says. “The treatment has been effective. It’s working. But it has been extremely difficult. This type of chemo is really hard on the body. The side effects are severe.”

Harrington estimates Jenn has spent about half her time during treatments in the hospital — “eight to 10 days every three-week cycle,” he says. “There are more downs than ups, but we’re doing OK.”

Jenn is scheduled for another CT scan on Monday. If results show she is clear of cancer, she will schedule a bone-marrow transplant.

“She has to be in remission to go ahead with the transplant,” Harrington says. “That’s what we hope is next. It’s a daunting ordeal. We’re looking forward to progressing through it.”

Several factors led to Harrington’s participation in his first web.com Tour event since mid-May.

“It’s my hometown event, and it means a lot to me to come up here,” he says. “It’s my favorite event of the year.”

The top 25 money-winners on the web.com Tour after the WinCo Foods Open get an automatic PGA Tour card for 2019. Harrington, who has played only 11 web.com Tour tournaments, ranks 115th on the money list with $34,627 in earnings. If he were to win this week, though, he would vault into the top 25.

“Despite everything that has happened, if I win this tournament, I can still get a PGA Tour card, which is my lifelong goal,” says Harrington, who has played mostly the secondary web.com Tour since turning pro in 2003. “Also, the timing happened to work out. Two of (Jen’s) every three weeks are miserable. The third is tolerable. She doesn’t need as much help; she’s more independent. This week happens to be one of those weeks.

“She knows how much I miss playing, how much I love competing, how much I enjoy this tournament. I was only going to go if she wanted me to, and she told me that a week ago, so I took her up on the offer.”

Normally, Harrington would not be eligible to play the WinCo Foods Portland Open since he has been out of action for so long. The web.com Tour granted him a “family crisis medical extension” that enabled him to play this week.

That’s not all the web.com Tour has done for Harrington. By recommendation of the Player Advisory Committee, it created a GoFundMe page on its website to defray the family’s medical costs.

“One thing this tour prides itself on is that we’re one big family,” Harrington says. “It’s something I’ve seen first-hand these last few months. It starts at the top with our commissioner (Dan Glod) and his top guys.

“Dan told me they wanted to step in and essentially cover all of our medical costs and cost-of-living expenses, because I wasn’t going to be able to work until next January. When I heard that, it was a pretty emotional moment for me. It doesn’t cure Jen, but it takes a lot of stress off of us.”

The goal was to raise $150,000. The drive surpassed that during last week’s Ellie Mae Classic in Hayward, California, thanks in no small part to $15,000 from the tournament and a $25,000

donation by Stephen Curry.

The Golden State Warriors superstar was playing the Ellie Mae Classic on a sponsor’s exemption. Curry had never met Harrington, but explained the contribution from his foundation during a 15-minute phone call to Scott last Friday.

“Steph said before he decided to play in the tournament, he was looking for an opportunity to help out in some charitable way,” Harrington says. “He heard about our situation and said he and his wife wanted to help out. We had a good conversation. It was very personal and genuine.”

The Harringtons have been touched by the response they’ve gotten from the pro golf community.

“The groundswell of support that has been driven by the Tour has been really healthy for Jenn mentally,” Scott says. “The monetary aspect is a huge burden lifted from us, but the overall feel of support, the goodness and the compassion we’ve seen over these last few months, has been astounding.

“I truly cannot say enough about how they’ve handled things with us and grabbed the bull by the horns and driven this thing and haven’t let it die. They’ve followed through on every single thing they said they would do. They’ve made sure we’re taken care of. We’ll never forget it.”

On Wednesday, Harrington announced that with the $150,000 goal met, 100 percent of the money raised on the GoFundMe page from now until the end of the web.com Tour championship will go to the Children’s Cancer Association of Portland, one of the beneficiaries of the WinCo Foods Portland Open.

“Seeing how much people have come through for us, we want be able to do some similar charitable work and fundraising for others once Jenn is through (her medical crisis),” Harrington says. “It opens your eyes a lot.”

Harrington shot a 5-under 67 during what amounted to a practice round on Tuesday, remarkable considering how little he has played since May.

“Last Saturday, I played a round at my home course (Whisper Rock in Scottsdale),” he says. “About three weeks ago, I played the Colorado Open in Denver. Before that, I hadn’t been on a course in more than two months. When we talked about playing (the WinCo Foods Portland Open), though, I told my wife, ‘If I’m going to play Portland, I need to play something. I can’t show up in Portland having not played any golf.’ She was cool with it.”

During Tuesday’s pro-am session, Harrington couldn’t walk a hole without being greeted by someone with a smile and a few words of encouragement. Many of them were fellow tour players who had missed him during his hiatus from the tour. It was heartwarming to see.

“The reception I got was something else,” he says, his voice choking. “I was kind of nervous to go out there. I didn’t know if people were going to be wondering why I’m playing this week, or questioning whether I should be.

“I’m a fairly introverted guy a decent amount of the time. I was a little uncomfortable, but whether it was players or staff (approaching him), it was really nice. I felt like everybody was truly happy to see me out there, interested and wanting to know how things are going. There were even a few people I don’t know well tapping me on the shoulder and offering support.”

All the while, his brother was taking in the scene with a wide range of emotions.

“It just doesn’t get more difficult than what Scott has had to go through at home the past year,” says Adam, 40, an investment banker in Portland and a four-time Portland Golf Club champion in his own right. “Going through all of it has divided his attention in ways he has never had to before. You have stuff lingering at home that is hard to deal with, and that’s been challenging. He was playing well earlier in the season, waiting for that breakthrough, and then he had to take a leave.

“Scott is a great golfer, but a better husband. There was never a doubt he would take as much time away from his game for as long as he needed to. It’s really impressive the type of man he is. As an older brother, I’ve always admired him as a golfer and as a person. I’ve never been more proud of him than I have over the last year, seeing how he has responded to adversity and how they have responded as a couple to life challenges that put everything in perspective.”

With a top-five finish this week, Harrington could finish among the top 75 on the money list, which would qualify him for the four-tournament web.com Tour playoffs. With his wife’s health, it seems unlikely he would be free to participate.

“I am fully expecting this to be the last (web.com Tour) tournament I play all year,” he says. “The next two months are looking pretty difficult. I’ll need to be around pretty much full-time. But we’re in a good place. We have a really good team of doctors and have brought in a lymphoma specialist who will be doing the bone-marrow transplant.”

So this week is very likely it for Harrington. A victory would be a Cinderella story, of course. His brother thinks it’s not out of the question, with the long break working in his favor in one way.

“Scott usually loses weight in the summer sweating it out on the golf course at all the hot places on tour,” Adam says. “This summer, he hasn’t burned the calories, because he is spending so much time in the hospital.”

On Monday, Scott played a round at PGC with Adam and their father, Bob, an outstanding senior amateur. Scott talked Adam into playing him even up, “and he smoked me,” Adam says with a smile. “He had seven birdies and an eagle in one 10-hole stretch.

“His swing speed and ball speed numbers are really good,” Adam says. “He is hitting it a long way. He’s a little bit rusty, but his swing looks really good, and his putting looks as good as I’ve seen it. He has a lot of reason to be confident this week.”

“I kind of like where my game’s at,” Scott says. “It’s funny, because I’m a guy who grinds very hard at it and practices a lot. The last few months, I haven’t done a heck of a lot of that. I’m quietly optimistic about my chances.

“But really, I just want to have fun with my brother on the bag and enjoy it. I just love this tournament, and I love this area. I want to play well, and I think I can, but my mentality is a little different than in years past.”

That’s not a bad thing, says his brother.

“He can go into this tournament with all upside,” Adam says. “He is just happy to be out there. He is happy to be around his friends. Maybe that’s what frees him up to have a great week. And one great week on that tour can change your life.”

keggers@portlandtribune.com

@kerryeggers