Let me tell you about a golfer. He may not be the best golfer in Memphis this week. But he’s the reason the rest of them are here.

This golfer is named Cross Kubik. When he was two, he was diagnosed with neuroblastoma. “Stage 4,” said his father, Brian. “The doctors in Missouri, where we lived, said there wasn’t much chance of saving him. They said our only hope was at St. Jude.”

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The Kubiks drove through the night to Memphis, arriving at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital at 2 a.m.

“They greeted us,” said Brian. “Then they started on a protocol that had been approved the previous week. He was patient No. 1.”

Miraculously, Cross lived. He can’t even remember the arduous treatments. He got to have a relatively normal childhood, except for the regular checkups at St. Jude. Cross became a heckuva baseball player. He thought he might pitch in college someday.

“Then, when he was 17, he was diagnosed with leukemia,” said Brian.

That’s right.

Cancer, yet again.

Can you imagine? The family picked up and headed back to St. Jude.

“They thought it was related to his earlier treatment,” Brian said. “His body was so beat up. This time, he needed a bone marrow transplant. They didn’t think he’d survive that.”

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The procedure took place in October, 2020. Cross’s 11-year-old sister, Creighton, was the donor.

“He lost 40 pounds,” Brian said. “It was rough. After he got out of the hospital, we were living in a condo on the river. Cross started hitting golf balls into the Mississippi.”

You may recall that Cross was a burgeoning baseball player. He didn’t play golf because his father told him it would mess with his baseball swing.

“But now, he couldn’t even swing a bat,” Brian said. “Golf became a kind of therapy. He’d stand out back of the condo and hit balls into the river. Our neighbor — who knew his story — went on eBay and bought him boxes and boxes of old balls.”

So every day, Cross would hit golf balls. As he got stronger, the balls would go further. During the spring of 2021, if you happened to see a golf ball splash down in the Mississippi, you can assume it was struck by Cross Kubik, from his back yard.

“The bone marrow transplant worked,” Brian said. “We got a second miracle. That summer, when we went back to Missouri, he started entering golf tournaments. It turns out he was pretty good.”

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Just about a month ago, Cross Kubik was offered a golf scholarship by Drury University. He can’t wait to start. 

And that, my fellow Memphians, is why the FedEx St. Jude Championship is not just another golf tournament. Because it has never been just about golf.

It’s golf week! But different!

Welcome to golf week, everyone! This time, with extra intrigue!

The PGA Tour sent out a press release Monday that was headlined, “Final field set for FedEx St. Jude Championship.”

Which ignored the fact that the final field was — how should I put this? — not really set.

Tuesday, a federal judge in California will decide whether to grant a temporary restraining order to allow Talor Gooch, Matt Jones and Hudson Swafford to participate in this week’s tournament.

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Gooch, Jones and Swafford were all suspended from the PGA Tour after bolting for the Saudi-backed LIV Tour. But last week, they joined eight other LIV players in an antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour.

Only Gooch, Jones and Swafford have asked for the temporary restraining order. PGA Tour lawyers have argued the court should not let the three “have their cake and eat it too.”

So while Scottie Scheffler, Tony Finau, Cameron Young and Cameron Smith will be addressing the media at Southwind Tuesday, the real action will be taking place in a courtroom on the other side of the country.

It’s a mess, honestly. And it’s why I thought Cross Kubik’s story might help. There’s all this depressing talk about the LIV golf tour. At an event that raises money so that sick kids can LIVE.

Does that mean you aren’t allowed to feel a pang because Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson aren’t in Memphis this week?

Of course not.

FedEx St. Jude Championship announces field

Does that mean that everyone who took the Saudi money is a terrible person?

Not necessarily, no.

But it shouldn’t be hard for the rest of us to choose between a tour that exists to whitewash Saudi atrocities and an event that raises money for a hospital that makes miracles.

Monday served to highlight the distinction, as two-time major champion Collin Morikawa chipped and putted with a handful of St. Jude patients at the Overton Park 9. Cross was there. So was Dakota Cunningham, who you may remember from his scintillating appearance on the CBS telecast a few years back.

But you really should have seen Morikawa going back and forth with a feisty eight-year-old girl from Jamaica named Azalea.

“How old do you think I am?” Morikawa asked her.

Thirty-nine,” said Azalea.

Morikawa got a laugh at that. She had overshot by 14 years.

“And she challenged me to a dance off!” said Morikawa.

Let’s hope the Saudis don’t steal that idea, too.

Or let them, if they wish. More dancing might be good for the world.

In the meantime, the rest of y’all should go on out and support a tournament unlike any other.

The one that helps sick kids LIVE.