Warrior Open

By Chris Lewandowski

The AW2 Blog

To say it has been a busy couple of weeks for AW2 Veteran retired CPL Chad Pfeifer, would be an understatement. One week after winning the 2011 National Amputee Golf Championship, Pfeifer made his way to Irving, Texas, where he won the Inaugural Bush Center Warrior Open. The Warrior Open was sponsored by the George W. Bush Presidential Center and is part of the center’s Military Service Initiative, a program designed to showcase the importance of sports in the rehabilitation of wounded, ill, and injured servicemembers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

AW2 Veteran Chad Pfeifer received the Inaugural Bush Center Warrior Open championship trophy from former President George W. Bush.

Pfeifer competed against 20wounded warriors, ultimately winning the 36-hole event by nine strokes. Seven of the 20 wounded warriors participating were graduates of the Salute Military Golf Association’s program coached by PGA professional Jim Estes. After receiving the championship trophy from the former president, Pfeifer dedicated his win to “all of our brothers and sisters who paid the ultimate sacrifice.”

Liza Winkler | The University Star

A Texas State student is therapeutically healing his war wounds through golf with a special guest — George W. Bush.

John Faulkenberry, exercise and sports science senior, participated in the Warrior Open golf tournament Oct. 10 and 11.  The 36-hole event was held at the Las Colinas Country Club near Dallas.

Faulkenberry, U.S. Army Sergeant First Class, was wounded July 27, 2007 when his unit was ambushed by enemy gunfire in Afghanistan.  He then underwent several months of surgeries and currently sports a prosthetic leg after a below-the-knee amputation. He began rehabilitation therapy at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and is currently continuing recovery at the Brooke Army Medical Center.

Renee Passal | WDIO-TV

Brian Saaristo took up golf in 2007. He's a soldier originally from Cloquet, who lost his legs while serving in Iraq in 2006.

But he healed quickly, and got used to his prosthetic legs in record time, according to his doctors. Golfing helped him tremendously, he said.

He was able to use his golf skills in the first Warrior Open in Texas this month, which was put on by the Bush Center's Military Service Initiative.

By Greg Norman

Shark.com

On Sunday, October 9th, I had the great honor of playing golf with some of the most impressive men I have ever met in my life! I am talking about America's Wounded Warriors: men who have returned home after being seriously wounded in the line of duty, either in Afghanistan or Iraq. There are no doubt hundreds of these soldiers out there, both here in the U.S. as well as in many countries around the world, including my homeland of Australia. But what made the soldiers who I personally met UNIQUE, was that they had all used golf as a tool for rehabilitation and now continue to play it actively, despite prosthetic limbs and numerous other unspeakable injuries. President George W. Bush had the great foresight to organize the Bush Center’s Military Service Initiative to support these heroes, which includes an annual golf event called The Warrior Open, for which I volunteered to help.

Unfortunately for us (but luckily for the state of Texas), it was pouring with rain the day I was scheduled to play. We only managed 9 holes in the end but the sheer effort and determination these young soldiers demonstrated in overcoming their personal physical limitations to play was pure, quintessential "Armed Forces" discipline, commitment and dedication that I am sure, you could never learn anywhere else. Never again will I ever complain about another ailment! These guys are my IDOLS!

Pfeifer, who serves as an apprentice professional at Tatum Valley Golf Club in Cave Valley, Ariz., was wounded in 2007 in Iraq.