The following appeared in the June 2026 NCGA.org On the Beat section  with a byline by Alan Shipnuck

HAIL TO HEALEA

By Alan Shipnuck

Clifford Roberts was an imperious Wall Street tycoon and a deeply weird dude whose obsessions helped make the Masters the Masters. Tim Healea is a big-hearted, fun-loving double amputee who would appear to have nothing in common with the chairman emeritus of Augusta National. But with a Roberts-like focus and determination, Healea has birthed his own tournament that may yet become the Masters of adaptive golf.

The inaugural U.S. Adaptive Golf Alliance Net National Championship was conducted in April, and it was a smashing success. Golfers from 27 states descended upon Sierra View Country Club in Roseville to enjoy stiff competition and a deep camaraderie. This was the first net championship to be recognized by the United States Adaptive Golf Alliance (USAGA) thanks to Healea's ingenious instituting of a Competitive Score Rating.

The CSR is simply the average number of strokes over par a player has been in previous USAGA tournaments. Gimmes and mulligans are baked into most folks' Handicap Indexes, and unlike GHIN, a CSR does not drop your worst scores.

"If your GHIN is a 15," says Healea, "your CSR is going to be more like 22."

The CSR leveled the playing field, allowing all 52 competitors—male and female—to compete on the same leaderboard. (The course played at 5,724 yards, but 5,505 for seniors and 4,910 for women.)

"I wanted this to be the most competitive adaptive tournament ever played," says Healea. "Turned out it was."

In the end, it was won by Scottie Fehlberg, who had a CSR of 22. Second place went to a 32 CSR (Chuck Buffum), third place to an 8 (David Steffan).

"At a lot of adaptive tournaments, you know who's going to win before it even starts," says Fehlberg. "This one was cool because it was so wide open."

Well, at least until Fehlberg went on a rampage. He's a macho guy who grew up doing extreme sports with four older brothers. He was also a wrestler who represented the USA on a junior national team that competed in Russia.

Six years ago, Fehlberg was riding his motorcycle when a car blew through a red light and T-boned him at 70 miles per hour. The force of the impact sent Fehlberg airborne for 47 feet; his right leg was pulverized. He fought through six surgeries across six months to try to save the leg, to no avail. Golf became a crucial form of therapy after his leg was amputated below the knee.

"Stepping on the first tee box, I could feel this sense of decompression," he says. "It was like I could finally breathe normally."

Fehlberg had a 4 Handicap Index before his accident. He shot 123 in his first round after the amputation. Slowly, doggedly, he relearned the game.

At 6'1", 230 lbs., he can still drive it over 300 yards. At home he was occasionally breaking 80 but in USAGA tournaments he played, in his words, "like total dogsh*t. I was getting in my own head."

Hence the CSR of 22; math is math.

But then magic struck. He opened the first round of the tournament par-birdie-bogey. On the par-5 fourth hole he yanked his drive left and had 293 yards left. His caddie called for a layup but Fehlberg saw a little window in the trees. He smoked a 2-iron that trundled to six feet. Eagle.

Then he stepped to the tee of the 160-yard, par-3 fifth hole. At home in American Fork, Utah, with the heat and the altitude, that's a pitching wedge. This time, Fehlberg played a "butter smooth" 8-iron. It never left the flag, took two hops and disappeared.

The ace was worth $30,000 to Fehlberg, thanks to a prize put up by Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, and even more to the lore of the Net National Championship; think Sarazen's 5-wood, only more inspiring.

Fehlberg went on to shoot 76, his best round since the motorcycle accident. When rain washed out the second round, the 76 carried him to victory.

Now Healea is focused on outdoing a very successful debut. He's hoping to attract more corporate support, so he can pay a purse and help defray travel costs.  (Interested parties can contact Healea through wagagolf.org).  The tournament is a labor of love - "I didn't sleep for four months," he says.

What keeps Healea going is a desire to give back to a game that has given him so much.  Healea was particulalry heartened that 14 golfers played in their first adaptive tournament, in a CSR-less division that was open to anyone.  Another 20 folks with disabilities were introduced to the game for the frist time through a free clinic.  "we're liek every other golfer," he says of the adaptive community, "We want to have fun, and we want to compete.