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ORLANDO, Fla. - Cooper Cates became addicted to golf younger than most.
While still in diapers, he started whacking plastic golf balls and running around the living room of his grandparents, Jim and Michelle Warnica, in Amarillo, Texas.
"He started watching golf, even before 18 months of age," Jim recalled. "He would watch it all the time. He’d say, 'let’s watch golf' and we’d pull up Golf Channel. You don't see many 2 year olds who want to watch golf on TV all day."
Swinging away with his plastic clubs, Cooper would use a brown blanket as a sand trap and a blue one as a water hazard. "He would put it in the 'sand' intentionally, or he would line up the brown blanket and the blue blanket and hit over both of them. We’ve been hit in the head with plastic balls," Jim said.
It's this love of the game that Michelle believes helped Cooper recover from a traumatic accident that nearly took his life six years ago. Michelle can't tell the story of Cooper's miraculous journey to meeting Rory McIlroy on Wednesday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill Club & Lodge without bursting into tears.
"I’m a firm believer, to me, if he hadn’t had golf, that outlet those first few days in the hospital, it would have been a longer process," she said. "I’m always going to thank golf for him and his recovery."
A near-miss tragedy
That day in April 2018 was just like any other at the Cates' household. Mother Cayley had asked her young twins, Cooper and his sister, Kinsley - both of whom would turn 3 in a month - to pick up colored pencils that had spilled on the floor. Just a heartbeat later, she heard Cooper crying, 'Mommy, please take it out!'
Cooper had slipped on the pencils and been impaled in the right side of his temple by the orange pencil he had been carrying. Cayley instinctively pulled it out and called 9-1-1. "They (the paramedics) arrived right away and looked at him; he was talking and alert," Michelle said.
They encouraged Cayley to take her son to a local urgent care, where a nurse noticed he was listless and non-responsive. An ambulance returned, rushing him to the E.R., where tests revealed a 3-inch wound in his brain. He would need a life flight to Lubbock, Texas, to be examined by a child neurologist.
The family was in a panic. Michelle and Jim drove 12 straight hours from a golf vacation in Phoenix to meet up with Cayley and Cooper, who was scheduled to have brain surgery. After Cooper became active and alert again, that surgery was canceled. The doctors assured the family this was a good sign.
"On the third day in ICU, we wanted to see how he was doing with mobility," Michelle recalled. "We stooped down. The pencil went in his right side, and affected things on the left. He tried to walk to me. His left side wouldn’t cooperate. He tried to come to me but his left leg and his foot dragged on the floor. He shut down. He said 'I can’t do it. Please help me'.”
She pauses. Her voice cracks with emotion.
The Masters was on TV that weekend. Michelle thought, 'I wish we had his golf clubs'. She and Jim ran to the store for a new set.
"We got in the room, and it sparked interest, a smile to a frown," she recalled. "You could tell he was thinking, “I can’t do that any more'. He just wouldn’t do it, so we got on the floor and started playing. After 15 minutes, he made his way toward us, watching us. He was challenging us to hit different shots. We eventually got him to play. These things ended up being good for him for hand-eye coordination and using that left side."
Cooper's ongoing recovery
The pencil-shaped hole in Cooper's brain will always be there. "It looks just like a golf pencil," Michelle said. The pencil just missed vital parts that control breathing and other essential functions.
The incident did leave Cooper with an inability to control his right eye, which can cause double-vision or inverted images. For four years, Cooper's grandparents have driven him the two hours from Amarillo to Lubbock each way for weekly therapy with his optometrist, Dr. Nolan Riley.
Riley said Cooper has shown incredible discipline, determination and cognitive ability at such a young age, working hard on eye exercises to correct the issue. His eye will still drift, especially when he's tired, but he's come a long ways.
"The way the injury occurred, it could have went sideways and backwards in a hurry. A few centimeters one way or another could have been a bad sign," Riley said. "Cooper has done a phenomenal job, relearning and sometimes adjusting when he has to compensate for it."
Cooper (who was too shy to be interviewed) is now an active 8 year old and budding sports junkie. He loves Patrick Mahomes, who went to Texas Tech, just like his mom. He has played flag football, but golf is still his thing.
Jim said the two of them once spent 12 straight hours playing golf on the simulator in his garage. Michelle and her husband take Cooper and his sister to Preston West, the local par 3 course, to play all the time. They keep all his scorecards to monitor his progress and career rounds. He really looks forward to the Drive, Chip & Putt competition every year.
"He loves chipping and putting," Jim said. "I’ve spent four hours on the putting green with him. I get tired, but he would literally stay out there all day."
"He’s self taught," Jim continued. "He just has a pretty natural swing. His swing developed from watching golfers on TV. He started doing what they were doing."
His favorite players are Jordan Spieth (a Texan like Cooper) and McIlroy. "He likes Rory's swing," Jim said.
The golf stars aligned within the past year, allowing Cooper the chance to meet McIlroy in Orlando this week. Michelle encouraged Cooper to submit a question for season 4 of the GolfPass original series, Ask Rory. Check it out:
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Soon after, when Michelle won a GolfPass sweepstakes she shared Cooper's story with our staff. Once McIlroy heard about Cooper's ordeal, he insisted on meeting the boy in person. McIlroy invited Cooper and Michelle, a GolfPass+ member since 2016, inside the ropes for his pro-am round Wednesday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill Club & Lodge.
"Seeing his excitement and passion for golf up close, considering the difficult journey he’s been on, was deeply moving," McIlroy said. "His resilience in the face of adversity, supported every step of the way by his family, is incredibly inspiring. I'm delighted to see that he has made a full recovery. ... I hope (Cooper) motivates others to keep swinging, no matter what life throws at them."
Five other family members have also spent the week in Orlando with Cooper and Michelle, attending the 'API' and enjoying a day at Universal Studios, all the while celebrating a little boy and what the game of golf has done for him and the whole family.
"We’ve thanked God many times (for his recovery)," Jim said. "If you had seen him hit balls before and after, you couldn’t tell a difference. There are times he's probably seeing double, but his ability to hit golf balls is just incredible. His short game is phenomenal, especially after the injury."
Comments (1)
Thank you, GolfPass and Rory McIlroy, for providing one of the most amazing experiences for our Cooper (and myself 😁)!! You guys are all top notch in your field and will forever be in our hearts. ❤️