A special Veterans Day golf tournament, hosted at Corica Park, brought youth and veterans together in friendship and connection on Tuesday, November 11. The third annual tournament is a collaboration between the Professional Golfers Association Helping Our Patriots Everywhere (PGA HOPE) and Youth on Course. PGA HOPE is a golf program for military veterans designed to help improve their mental, emotional, and physical health. Youth on Course is a nonprofit designed to help make golf more accessible to all youth.
36 Veterans from the PGA HOPE program around the Bay Area were paired with 36 young golfers through the Youth on Course program to play a game of golf and form bonds of friendship and mentorship.
Participants were happy to be greeted with sun that day after the previous year’s tournament was rained out.
However, organizers had to face another unexpected challenge of replacing the Marine Corps Color Guard that had been grounded due to the government shutdown. With only two days’ notice, they had not one, but two junior color guards step into present colors at the opening ceremony. The color guards were from Oakland Military Institute and Mission High School.
Besides golf, the activities of the day included a ceremonial hat exchange, lunch, and awards.
In addition, a special memorial took place in tribute to Veteran Greg Gamp, who passed away last year. Gamp was in the PGA HOPE program and was a part of the Veterans Day event in previous years.
“PGA HOPE in general was so very important to my husband and did so much for him,” Greg Gamp’s wife, Jane Gamp said. “As many may know, veterans go through so much internally. They feel they have to be so strong; they don’t reach out until very, very late. As did my husband.”
The PGA HOPE program made a huge difference in Greg’s well-being. “It was so good for him,” Jane said.
She added that this Veterans Day event was especially important to her husband. “The children meant so much, that they saw their service as something good and that they were proud of them,” Jane said.
A memorial table was set up to honor Greg, which included the letter he received from his youth partner, Jilyana Gomez, in 2024. “I just happened to find it just before this (the tournament),” Jane said. She surmised her husband had securely tucked it away as an important keepsake. She had found it serendipitously.
The letter reads, “Dearest Veteran, It is a huge honor to play with a veteran on this special day. I am truly grateful for your service and sacrifices.”
Among the golfers who were paired were youth Suri Lau and Vietnam Veteran Valerie Wise. The pair say they’re now lifelong friends.
“I found this a wonderful, wonderful event, because I get a chance to bond with all these different veterans, get to hear their story, their experience in serving our country. And I also just get to play what I love most, golf,” Lau said. Lau has participated in the tournament all three years.
“Here we can be open, knowing that others are concerned about us,” Wise added. “We’re coming with the expectation that we’re gonna meet a new friend, that we’re going to build a relationship. You know that now, she’ll be my friend forever.”
In the future, Krish Veluthakkal, the youth golfer who originated the idea of the golf tournament, plans to make the event bigger with even more participants and activities.
“ It’s going to be an all-day event. We’ll write cards together, which will also help them bond more and share more connections. So that’s what’s planned for next year,” Veluthakkal said.
“Every year, we want to do something like this, but every year we’re going to keep on making it better and more fun for the veterans and the kids.”
Vicky Nguyen is a contributing writer for the Alameda Post. Contact her via [email protected]. Her writing is collected at AlamedaPost.com/Vicky-Nguyen.
