ATLANTA – Every time Aiko (aye-ee-ko) Benford of First Tee Metro Atlanta thought about hitting the ceremonial Hope Tee Shot at the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club, she wanted to cry.
“Because this is something I have always wanted to do,” she explained. “This is a bucket-list moment for me. I’ve seen some of my friends hit the tee shot and always wanted it to be me.”
Benford, a 16-year-old junior at Druid Hills High School, was the first person in her high school as well as her county to be selected to hit the opening tee shot to the FedEx Cup finale, a Tour Championship tradition for members of First Tee that dates to 2008. She’s the captain of her high school golf team and has been the No. 1 player on the team since 8th grade but this would be different; she would be hitting a tee shot across the water at the opening hole in front of hundreds of spectators who had come out to see a field of 30 of the best men’s professional golfers. So, she did what she always does – she practiced for the moment.
“I would go out to the driving range and my mom would pretend to be an announcer,” she said, trying to replicate what she might experience on East Lake’s first tee. “After I hit my shot, I would step back and wave to the trees.”
And so on a warm, sunny Thursday at around 11 a.m., Benford stepped to the first tee ahead of the likes of Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler, who she would later serve as a standard bearer for that day, and did so with confidence. That’s what First Tee has taught her since her mother signed her up for the youth development program when she was eight years old.
“I’ve been able to step out of my comfort zone, try new things and stay confident in the face of setback,” Benford wrote in an essay, which, along with golf skills and an interview session, made up the selection process for the prestigious honor of kicking off one of the Tour’s biggest events.
There still were nerves, of course, but more than anything, there was confidence and self-belief. She was ready to tee off.
“Now is my time and I am going to enjoy every moment,” she had said.
After her drive easily cleared the water and found the fairway, she waved to the fans and knocked knuckles with PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan.
Then it was Samuel West’s turn. The 17-year-old senior at nearby Charles R. Drew Charter School solved the Rubik’s Cube before he was 10 years old, and he’s been figuring out the mysteries of golf since his dad took him with him to the range at age 7. When he sank a long putt, his father decided he might have some talent for the game and registered him for First Tee as soon as he was eligible to do so.
“First Tee really catapulted me into the golf world,” he said. “First Tee has not only taught me about the game of golf but its focus on implanting its nine core values (courtesy, responsibility, judgment, respect, sportsmanship, confidence, honesty, integrity, and perseverance) in each player has provided me with the tools I need to succeed off of the course.”
Both he and Benford chose to write about the importance of perseverance in their essays.
“I can honestly say that the principles of perseverance and confidence that First Tee has instilled in me have given me the ability to conquer challenges I never thought I would face, such as a week of leadership and physical training at West Point Military Academy, a leg injury that sidelined my golf game for a period and even the sudden, tragic death of a friend,” he wrote.
West is applying to colleges such as the University of Pennsylvania and Duke, where he hopes to study neuroscience and psychology, and his long-term goal is to be a professional golfer – and perhaps hit more tee shots at the Tour Championship someday.
“I will cherish this experience for the rest of my life,” said West, who had Tour CEO Brian Rolapp wearing his caddie bib on the first tee.
Jenae Jenkins, who has been involved in First Tee Metro Atlanta for 13 years, including the last two as executive director, sported a smile on his face as big as that of the kids. He couldn’t be prouder of what the junior golfers in the program continue to achieve.
“What people don’t recognize is what this does for the confidence level of these kids,” he said. “They learn they can face anything that comes their way.”
He noted that the competition to hit the Hope Tee Shot is stiff and that this was the closest the judging has ever been among the eight girls and six boys that applied.
“We have a lot of kids who are deserving to hit that shot,” Jenkins said.
Tournament organizers surprised Benford and West, who attended the tournament’s media day and were under the impression they would be reading their essays. That’s when the Atlanta-based golf comedy sketch team of St. Andre broke the news that they were the Hope Tee Shot winners. Benford’s jaw nearly hit the ground – and that was before former Tour Championship winner Billy Horschel congratulated them via FaceTime. But Accenture, which has been the sponsor of the Hope Tee Shot for the past three years, had one more surprise up its sleeve. After the ceremonial tee shots were struck, Benford and West posed for pictures with oversized cardboard versions of the scholarship check and that’s when they found out that Accenture had bumped the $5,000 scholarship to $10,000 this year.
“We try every year to give more,” said Cherise Belnavis, senior manager, sports sponsorship client experience lead at Accenture. “We want them to know we believe in them and we are proud of them for the hours they’ve invested in the game. We put their pictures on our walls because we want them to come inside (the company’s sponsor chalet at 18) and see that we think what they’re doing is amazing and we want them to keep going. We want them to feel our presence even when the tournament is gone.”
Jenkins said that what makes the relationship with Accenture impactful is it isn’t just a transactional relationship. Accenture’s employees serve as coaches and are at the course with the kids every weekend. “They validate us,” Jenkins said. “When people see Accenture is involved, others want to be part of it too.”
Nothing validates efforts to spotlight the next generation of golfers from the Metro Atlanta chapter at the Tour Championship better than having the male and female award winners from last year’s Hope Tee Shot return to root on their friends this time. Alana Sims of Riverwood International Charter School and Nigel Youmans of Arabia Mountain High School, both seniors, experienced a flood of memories and said they could feel the pressure all over again. Sims joked, “So, this is how our parents must feel watching us play?”
She said she learned the importance of integrity from First Tee, while Youmans echoed this year’s scholarship recipients in emphasizing how he’s learned to persevere as a golfer. “It’s not how you fall down,” he said, “it’s how you get up.”
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