{"id":429344,"date":"2022-04-10T06:01:15","date_gmt":"2022-04-10T03:01:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/scottie-schefflers-masters-dream-began-right-off-the-hudson\/"},"modified":"2022-04-10T06:01:15","modified_gmt":"2022-04-10T03:01:15","slug":"scottie-schefflers-masters-dream-began-right-off-the-hudson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/scottie-schefflers-masters-dream-began-right-off-the-hudson\/","title":{"rendered":"#Scottie Scheffler&#8217;s Masters dream began right off the Hudson"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3a863fd218d\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3a863fd218d\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/scottie-schefflers-masters-dream-began-right-off-the-hudson\/#%E2%80%9CScottie_Schefflers_Masters_dream_began_right_off_the_Hudson%E2%80%9D\" >&#8220;Scottie Scheffler&#8217;s Masters dream began right off the Hudson&#8221;<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9CScottie_Schefflers_Masters_dream_began_right_off_the_Hudson%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>&#8220;Scottie Scheffler&#8217;s Masters dream began right off the Hudson&#8221;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n<div class=\"inline-module inline-module--columnist inline-module--author\">\n<div class=\"inline-module--author__img\">\n            <img decoding=\"async\" width=\"76\" height=\"69\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/03\/Ian-OConnor.png?w=76&amp;h=69&amp;crop=1\" class=\"attachment-nyp_columnist size-nyp_columnist\" alt=\"Ian O'Connor\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/03\/Ian-OConnor.png 152w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/03\/Ian-OConnor.png?w=114 114w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/03\/Ian-OConnor.png?w=76 76w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/03\/Ian-OConnor.png?w=38 38w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 76px) 100vw, 76px\"\/>        <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>AUGUSTA, Ga. \u2014 George Kopac would have so cherished this weekend at the Masters. He would have loved sharing stories with his friends about the little boy who showed up at his driving range off the Hudson River, in the dead of winter, and hit balls high and far into deep piles of snow.<\/p>\n<p>He would have loved reminding his wife and children of the prediction he made two decades ago about Scottie Scheffler.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis kid is gonna be something someday,\u201d Kopac used to say.<\/p>\n<p>And sure enough, the kid grew up and became the world\u2019s No. 1 golfer, a three-time PGA Tour winner this season and the third-round leader at the Masters with a three-shot cushion. Surrounded by family, Kopac, a former pro and golf lifer, watched a tournament for the final time last month inside Nyack Hospital. He was dying of pancreatic cancer when he watched Scottie Scheffler win the Arnold Palmer Invitational.<\/p>\n<p>Everyone agreed that the victory meant something profound to the former Rockland County caddie and high school golf champ who served in the Navy on the USS Columbus, once qualified for the U.S. Open and, in 1967, purchased the driving range he\u2019d once worked at as a teenager on 9W in the Palisades. Kopac expanded the place, added more than two dozen tees and made it his family business. His wife, Gertrude, and their five children all worked there, and so did his sister Florence, and they all kept the range open from 7 a.m. until 11 p.m., seven days a week.<\/p>\n<p>The many celebrities who reportedly showed up to work on their swings included Mickey Rooney, Ed Sullivan, Ginger Rogers, Dick Gregory, Jon Voight, Willie Mays, Glenn Close and, much later, one celebrity-to-be who hadn\u2019t yet seen his fifth birthday. Scott and Diane Scheffler would arrive at the range with their three daughters, who focused on minigolf, and their son Scottie, who focused on hitting the ball as hard as he could.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-style-default\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"662\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/Scottie-Scheffler-3.jpg?w=1024\" alt=\"Third-round leader Scottie Scheffler tees off on the 17th hole of the Masters at Augusta National.\" class=\"wp-image-21845355\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/Scottie-Scheffler-3.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=2048 2048w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/Scottie-Scheffler-3.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1536 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/Scottie-Scheffler-3.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/Scottie-Scheffler-3.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Third-round leader Scottie Scheffler tees off on the 17th hole of the Masters at Augusta National.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Reuters<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThat kid would just pound away day after day, no matter the weather,\u201d recalled George Kopac\u2019s daughter, Kathy. \u201cHe would hit balls in the winter and we picked them up after the snow melted.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignright\">\n    <\/aside>\n<p>The routine started one ice-cold day when young Scottie begged for a ride to the range, until his father relented and drove him there just to prove it was closed. As it turned out, George Kopac was working on site \u2014 George Kopac was always working on site \u2014 and he handed the kid a bucket of balls and the dad a shovel, and promised them he\u2019d always leave out golf balls for the boy on even the most forbidding winter days.<\/p>\n<p>Scottie became a year-round regular, hitting out of Super Jumbo buckets that carried up to 200 balls and were sold in the morning in two-for-one specials. \u201cHe had the most natural swing,\u201d said Kathy, who had played in high school. \u201cAt age 5, Scottie had an absolutely perfect swing. You could tell he was born to play golf.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And play golf young Scheffler did. George Kopac, a rugged man with big arms and hands, didn\u2019t believe in a one-grip-and-one-swing-fits-all <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>roach to instruction. He let Scottie be Scottie, and that was plenty good enough. The Schefflers moved to Texas when their son was 6 \u2014 Diane had landed a COO job at a Dallas law firm \u2014 and over time the Kopacs lost track of the family.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-style-default\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"741\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/Scottie-Scheffler-4.jpg?w=1024\" alt=\"Scottie Scheffler shares a laugh with caddie Ted Scott during the third round of the Masters.\" class=\"wp-image-21845356\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/Scottie-Scheffler-4.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=2048 2048w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/Scottie-Scheffler-4.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1536 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/Scottie-Scheffler-4.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/Scottie-Scheffler-4.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Scottie Scheffler shares a laugh with caddie Ted Scott during the third round of the Masters.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Reuters<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A grown-up Scottie resurfaced on their radar when he became a PGA Tour Rookie of the Year, a Ryder Cup hero and then a multiple winner on tour, years after the Kopacs sold the range and settled into their Rockland County retirement. Scheffler\u2019s journey became their journey from afar, and the Kopacs half-jokingly discussed showing up at one of Scottie\u2019s tournaments and holding up a \u201c9W Driving Range\u201d sign \u2014 just so he knew they never forgot him.<\/p>\n<p>They gathered in front of the TV Saturday to watch Scheffler play the third round of the Masters with a sizable lead, just like they\u2019d watched him Thursday and Friday. On the phone before Scheffler teed off, George Kopac\u2019s high school sweetheart and wife of 67 years, Gertrude, spoke of her late husband as a humble and decent man with a lion\u2019s heart.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-style-default\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"681\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/Scottie-Scheffler-5.jpg?w=1024\" alt=\"Scottie Scheffler hits off the pine straw on the 18th hole during the third round.\" class=\"wp-image-21845360\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/Scottie-Scheffler-5.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=2048 2048w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/Scottie-Scheffler-5.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1536 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/Scottie-Scheffler-5.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/Scottie-Scheffler-5.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Scottie Scheffler hits off the pine straw on the 18th hole during the third round.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI just lost the love of my life,\u201d she said, \u201cand I\u2019m all choked up thinking about this. We watched this kid Scottie when he was so little. George was thrilled to see him having so much success. He just loved watching him play.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>George Kopac died an 88-year-old great-grandfather on March 10, four days after Scheffler won at Bay Hill. On the first hole Saturday, informed that Kopac had recently passed away, Scott Scheffler stopped, gathered himself and recalled what the range owner had told him when they first met: \u201cI\u2019m just trying to keep the lights on and pay the rent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Scheffler and wife Diane were wearing Ryder Cup jackets, and Scott was carrying a blanket, on what felt like a Lambeau Field day at Augusta National. Perhaps it was fitting that Scottie was trying to win the Masters on the frozen tundra.<\/p>\n<p>After all, he learned how to play golf in the snow at George Kopac\u2019s range near the New York-New Jersey border. \u201cI knew this kid was going to make it,\u201d Kopac told his family before he died.<\/p>\n<p>He lived long enough to see Scottie Scheffler make it. No green jacket required.\n                        <\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/04\/09\/scottie-schefflers-masters-dream-began-right-off-the-hudson\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Scottie Scheffler&#8217;s Masters dream began right off the Hudson&#8221; AUGUSTA, Ga. \u2014 George Kopac would have so cherished this weekend at the Masters. He would have loved sharing stories with his friends about the little boy who showed up at his driving range off the Hudson River, in the dead of winter, and hit balls&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":429345,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/Scottie-Scheffler-3.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[127765,71941],"class_list":["post-429344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-4-9-22","tag-the-masters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=429344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/429345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=429344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=429344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}