There was a time in the 1980s, before John Daly and the other (were there any other?) bad boys of the PGA Tour, when a guy with dark green shoes and apparel ruled the roost. He was Mark Calcavecchia’s foil and friend, a guy with loads of talent who fell off the face of the earth for a while.

When he reappeared around the turn of the millenium, we asked what had happened to Ken Green. The answer, plain and simple, was humanity. He was human, suffered through problems and mistakes, and paid more than he should have for these missteps and misfortunes. One point revealed in the stories was his dogged determination regarding things that mattered: at one point, he battled an alligator along Florida’s intercoastal that had clamped down on his dog’s leg. Green and the dog won that day.

On Monday, he and another dog lost in yet another of fate’s twists. A tire blew on an RV that he was either riding in or driving (reports conflict) and Green’s girlfriend Jeanne, his brother Bill, and his dog Nipe were killed. Green suffered tremendous injuries and is coming into a physical recovery stage. He had just placed in the top 40 in a Champions Tour event the day before and was continuing along the comeback trail. Then, this happened.

When you sit down for a meal today, when you hug someone you love (or before you yell at her/him) and certainly when you go to bed, bend a knee and say a prayer to your god or gods for Ken Green and those he lost.

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