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Grella's story earns him an observer role

Mark Herrmann

June 22, 2008

Considering how Phil Grella began his golf career, it is a wonder he still has one. Now a retired math teacher living in Rockville Centre, Grella was an 11-year-old caddie at Nassau Country Club, shagging balls on the practice range without a helmet.

"Nothing can be finer than to have a golfer smashing ball after ball at you while you try to corral them in a small bag so you can return them to the player for another opportunity to bonk you on the head," he said recently.

Amazingly, neither he nor any of his fellow caddies ever did get beaned. So consider him a winner in that way, and in this way, too: Grella has been selected as an honorary observer during the Commerce Bank Championship at the Eisenhower Park Red Course on Friday through Sunday.

He will be go inside the ropes with a threesome and will be announced on the first tee with the pros. Grella will walk all 18 holes during their round as part of a program that has become ritual on the Champions Tour.

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The wrinkle this time was that tournament officials allowed yours truly to hold a contest and pick an observer. It was a deep and stellar field. Here's to everyone who entered, especially these dedicated Long Island golfers.

Here's to John Reilly, who woke his daughter at 6 a.m. the day the contest was announced to submit his entry. Here's to John Scannello, on his two reconstructed knees; Dr. John Chabot, who helps run a charity memorial golf outing; to Timothy Burns, a tireless golf volunteer and to Kathe Palermo, who loves the natural beauty and texture of the game. All of them had great entries, which have been forwarded to the tournament committee in case they have observer openings.

But today belongs to Grella, who recalls having walked two miles to Brookville Country Club in the dark to play on caddies' day. Grella once skipped school to caddie in the Met Open and once skipped playing golf to watch PGA Tour pro Jay Hebert play an exhibition at Piping Rock. "He shot 68 that day and I still have the card he signed for me," Grella said.

Grella and his buddies took their golf clubs on the train to play at Salisbury Golf Club, now Eisenhower Park. He used to get in line at Bethpage at 2 a.m. before taking a golf hiatus to raise a family.

"I am back in action now," he said. "After 51 years of loving the game, I am back."

And this week, he will be inside the ropes.

Ace and double eagle

Vinny DeMaio's father Steve casually walked ahead on the 494-yard, par-5 sixth hole at St. George's Golf and Country Club in Setauket two weeks ago, mostly to kill time to wait for the green to clear. He also wanted to follow Vinny's second shot as it rose from the far side of a big hill. Vinny couldn't even see the green.

What Steve saw was the 18-year-old Comsewogue senior's hybrid club shot hit the green, take two bounces and role into the cup for a double-eagle 2. "The foursome in front of us saw it, and they were all jumping up and down," Steve said.

There was a buzz around the course for the rest of the day. No one could have blamed Vinny, a 1-handicapper who will play for Susquehanna University, if he had been distracted, say, on the 122-yard, par-3 17th hole. Maybe he was. At the last instant, he switched to a pitching wedge and hit a hole-in-one.

"The foursome up ahead said, 'What's going on?' Steve said. "When we told them, one of them said, 'Not that kid again!'"