Jensen Castle and Marissa Wenzler, teammates on the University of Kentucky women’s golf team, approached the first tee before their respective Round-of-64 matches yesterday at the 2020 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship ready for competition. Then they saw the blue ribbons and their focus floated away for a moment.
The ribbons, in Kentucky’s traditional royal blue, were made available to players to wear in honor of 20-year-old Cullan Brown, a member of the UK men’s golf team who died from bone cancer on Tuesday.
The news shook the tight-knit Wildcat golf program, and the reverberations were being felt at Woodmont Country Club two days later. Castle learned of Brown’s death late Tuesday night in a text from a member of the Kentucky men’s golf team. She then texted the news to Wenzler and their team.
“All of Wednesday (during stroke play) I thought not about how I was playing, but how grateful I am to be here and be able to do the things I am doing,” said Castle, of Columbia, S.C. “Life is too short to worry about bad shots. I couldn’t imagine what Cullan went through.”
After Brown received a diagnosis of osteosarcoma last summer, the Wildcat golf program banded together in support of the popular Kentucky native, a talented player who was named to the All-SEC Freshman Team in 2019 and who made the cut in the PGA Tour’s Barbasol Championship prior to his illness. The hastag #B4B, or Birdies for Brownie, was stamped on bracelets and became a rallying cry for the school’s golf teams.
“It was us coming together to make birdies for Cullan,” said Wenzler. “After each tournament we would update the number on a board in our locker room. It was exciting to see the number keep rising and rising. It gave us something to stay positive about.”
As freshmen who arrived on campus last September, neither Jensen nor Wenzler knew Brown prior to his illness.
“Coach (Golda Borst) told us he was in the hospital and asked if we wanted to visit him,” said Jensen, who advanced to the Round of 32 by defeating Vanessa Knecht of Switzerland, 2 and 1, on Thursday. “I had heard so much about him and the kind of person he was. That was proven to me at the hospital. I walked in the room having never met him, so it was already awkward. But he said to me, ‘Hey, how are you?’ I was like, ‘I’m fine. Why are you worried about me?’ He was so positive and such a great guy. He would sit there and laugh and we would think, this is amazing.”
Wenzler, of Dayton, Ohio, recalled the impact visiting Brown had on her. “I remember one of our seniors asked him how he was doing. He said, ‘You know, I really can’t complain.’ I will always remember that. When people ask if I knew Cullan, I tell them that story. For someone in his situation, the way he was able to stay so positive and so upbeat was just amazing.”
Emma Talley, the 2013 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion who grew up near Brown in western Kentucky, learned of her good friend’s passing while in Ohio preparing to play in the Marathon LPGA Classic.
“The first six holes, golf was the last thing that was on my mind,” Talley said. “I really struggled to focus. But then something hit me and I was just looking around. This is the perfect day. The weather was perfect. It was so pretty out there. I thought, you know what? He would be so mad at me right now. I need to suck it up and hold my shoulders back. I know he's not hurting anymore and I know that he's the best angel I could have ever dreamed of. So even though I'm heartbroken, just taking it one day at a time.”
Wenzler’s thoughts drifted to Brown during her match, which she lost in 19 holes to Lauren Beaudreau. “I was 2 down going into the last three holes and I thought to myself, you’re playing this match right now because you love it. This sounds bad, but it’s not life or death whether I win or lose a match. I wanted to win but it was a helpful thought.”
Having defeated Wenzler in extra holes, by the luck of the draw, Beaudreau will now face Castle at 8:10 a.m. EDT on Friday in the Round of 32. Just as with her Wildcat teammate the day before, Cullan Brown won’t be far from Castle’s mind.
“I will think of him on every hole,” she said. “Normally I would be worried about shots and probably beat myself up, but I’m just glad to be alive.”
Arizona resident Tom Mackin is a frequent contributor to USGA websites. Email him at temackinjr@gmail.com.
