Bruce Edwards stepped up to the microphones Sunday and said something eerily familiar to the words uttered 64 years ago by the man whose name is attached to the disease that is steadily killing him.
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"I've been real lucky in my career and I'm not going to let something like this get me down," said Edwards after he carried Tom Watson's bag in the U.S. Open for possibly the last time. When he walked the course Sunday, he said "I was thinking how lucky I was and not, 'Oh woe is me."'
Edwards and Watson interrupted the usual coverage of the U.S. Open golf tournament to bring the world a simultaneously heartwarming and heartbreaking story of living while dying. A 53-year-old champion's improbable performance and his caddie's gallant service sent a poignant message to bolster support to find a cure for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
ALS is better known as Lou Gehrig's disease for the New York Yankees great, who in a retirement speech on July 4, 1939, called himself "the luckiest man on the face of the earth" despite having a disease that would kill him almost two years later.
This week's spotlight showed that the modern face of Gehrig's disease is now a caddie and another professional golfer, Jeff Julian.
"I'm so sorry Jeffrey and Bruce were the ones to get this disease," said Edwards' wife, Marsha, who arrived at the course Sunday to support her husband and help spread the message of supporting ALS research. "But in turning that to a positive note, ALS didn't have a voice or a face and now it does."
Edwards and Watson believe this week's emotional performance was "meant to be."
"What we did that first round, there was a reason for it - to get the word out," Edwards said of Watson's opening 65 that shared the first-round lead of the U.S. Open. "If I use this podium properly, somebody might be saved, even if I'm not. Then I'm happy to have it. Happy to get the word out."
Watson shot a closing round 72, finishing the week at 4-over 284 and tied for 28th. But he walked away from the course with memories and emotions that rival his 1982 victory at Pebble Beach.
"Bruce's tears," Watson said. "They'll always be with me. They're etched in my heart. I want to find something for him."
After his first-round 65, Watson used the opportunity to talk as much about his caddie and the quest to find a cure for ALS disease than about his golf.
"We need to find a cure now," he said. "Believe it or not, money can speed up the cure. A lot of money. ALS is an orphan disease. It affects 30,000 people. That doesn't make it a big enough disease for the drug companies to spend millions of dollars to find a cure as AIDS, cancer, heart disease and things like that."
Watson and Edwards said that most of the funding is private and comes from the patients and families themselves. That isn't enough money to fund a larger scale of research to hasten the discovery of a cure, which Watson says the Massachusetts researches believe could be found within five to 10 years.
The Edwardses and the Julians are hoping to launch their own Web site as soon as today to encourage donations to ALS research. The Web site will be www.driving4life.com, the "4" representing Gehrig's jersey number with the Yankees.
As for their future in the U.S. Open, neither Watson nor Edwards were willing to write off an encore. Watson was a special exemption this week, but he could gain a spot in next year's field at Shinnecock by winning the U.S. Senior Open in two weeks at Inverness.
"We will be back," Edwards told Watson when the hugged after holing out on the 18th green. The fans chanted "Bruuuuuce!" as they did all around the course all week.
Edwards was moved by the support and he and Watson hope it will translate into action to raise funds.
"By yelling my name they made me feel good," he said. "It shows that people really deep down are nice and genuine and supportive."
Reach Scott Michaux at (706) 823-3219 or scott.michaux@augustachronicle.com.
