It’s safe to say that PGA Tour Champions rookie Felipe Aguilar has a new fan in part-time desert resident Joe Walsh.
Walsh, 87, who lives four months out of the year at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, was an honorary observer Saturday for the threesome of Aguilar, a golfer Walsh didn’t know, as well as Stephen Ames and Billy Mayfair.
On the 14th tee, Aguilar started showing his concerns for Walsh.
“On the 14th tee, (the players) drove their carts down the cart path there, and Felipe stopped and asked me, ‘is he okay?’” said Tom Boylan, who was also walking with the group. “He had some tangerines or something he was offering. I said no, no, no, he’s just resting.”
At the 15th hole, Aguilar made a stronger gesture.
“He said, I’m going to walk with my caddie,” Walsh said. “He said, you take my cart."
"He was a charming young man,” Boylan added.
Walsh said he was surprised by the gesture from a player he didn’t know and hadn’t really heard of.
“I know Stephen Ames and I know Billy Mayfair. I have watched them for a long time,” Walsh said. “But I had never heard the name Felipe Aguliar before.”
Aguliar, from Chile, is a tour rookie at 50, playing just his fourth PGA Tour Champions event.
“He’s got a future,” Walsh said. “What a beautiful game. A guy like that, one woman that (Boylan) told the story to said, this is what we are looking for people helping each other.
Aguilar shot 70 on Saturday and is tied for 13th entering Sunday's final round.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Pro golfer Felipe Aguilar shows kindness in giving up cart at Galleri Classic
