Only golf can produce a story so ridiculous that fiction writers would call it too unbelievable to put on paper. How in the world can a youngster – extremely small in stature at 5’1” & barely 16 years old – challenge a collection of some of the best golfers in the world? What I witnessed Tadd Fujikawa do over the past 4 days is nothing short of miraculous. Propriety demands we give this young man a nickname right now. I’m going with T-Fooj.

What a delightful young man he is. If the golf gig doesn’t work out, he could always get a job selling anything. This kid could charm the skin off a snake. During The Golf Channel telecast, it was reported that upon finishing his breakfast in the clubhouse, T-Fooj went around to the approximately 35 members there in the clubhouse and personally thanked each one of them for allowing him a couple of practice rounds on their course prior to the event. No wonder the love-fest grew & grew by each passing minute. If there was one more day of the tournament to play, they could’ve easily sold an additional 10,000 tickets.

It’s not as though this performance was an aberration either. T-Fooj also qualified for the US Open last year as a 15 year old. So what do we make of his talent now? Are we to start making predictions of greatness, like what has been done with Michelle Wie? Or do we take the other tack and adopt a wait-and-see attitude? Personally, I always take the conservative route. But I will say this: I could not ever root harder for someone to achieve their dream.

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