POTOMAC, Md. - Though his tee shot was a little high and left, 9-year-old Jeffrey Dahl showed a lot of composure as he teed off with pro golfer Fred Couples for the ceremonial first shot at the AT&T National Golf Tournament here at the Congressional Country Club July 2.
"Amazing," he said of the experience. Amazing too was that he's only started playing the game in May, taking lessons on Fridays.
It could be the same grace under pressure that his dad, Maj. Tom Dahl, an operations officer for 177th Fighter Wing of the New Jersey Air National Guard, is displaying while deployed for the Global War on Terrorism overseas.
Jeffrey and several other children of deployed National Guard and Reserve members were invited by The Tiger Woods Foundation to be part of the tournament's opening ceremonies. The group was from "Our Military Kids," an organization that supports children of deployed and severely injured reserve personnel through grants for enrichment activities and tutoring.
When asked where his dad is, the operational security-minded youth simply said, "I can't tell you." He just hopes to play with his dad for the first time when he gets back.
Jeffrey's golf ball was hand-delivered moments earlier by a member of the 101st Airborne Division's Screaming Eagles Parachute Demonstration Team, who jumped from a D.C. Army National Guard UH-1H Iroquois helicopter high above the first hole. His clubs were bought by the country club that his family belongs to in New Jersey.
Also in the group of military kids were Joy and Precious Rucker from Richmond, Va., whose father, recently returned from Iraq. "We prayed to God that he would come back safely," said Precious, 17. The girls were extra-concerned for their father's safety, because, as Precious put it, "he was in the city where they were blowing up each other."
The two had never been to a golf course before and appreciated the VIP attention, the T-shirts, the hats, the helicopter tour and gift bag.
Along with the kids, the tournament honored a group of wounded warriors recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington who sat in near the first hole.
"They're just ecstatic to be out here," said Dan Nevins, a former California Guard Soldier who lead the group. "[For] a lot of the guys, this is the furthest they've been away from the hospital since they've been hurt."
Nevins speaks from experience. He deployed to Iraq in January 2004 and was injured when an IED exploded under his vehicle as his unit was heading out on a mission.
"It got my legs," he said. "The other three guys in the truck, they got their bell rung pretty good, but they were fine."
Nevins, who now works for the PGA Tour, helped organize a dinner at the Mologne House at Walter Reed for the wounded warriors which included PGA Tour players.
Note: Reporting by Samantha L. Quigley, American Forces Press Service, was used in this story.