PEORIA – It was not the most difficult of the three holes in one of Peorian Keith Bundy in his life. But it was by far the most exciting.
Playing at Kellogg Golf Course on June 14 with a trio of quartets, Bundy paused and sat on the bench at number 7 as is his custom. One of his friends took a photo.
The 72-year-old Bundy then stepped on the tee with his 8-iron and hit a straight and faithful to the hole 135 meters away. He bounced once and gently rolled into the hole, the ball resting clearly visible to everyone because of the styrofoam donut with pandemic in the cup.
“Every time I play that hole, I stop on the bench and take a selfie or take a photo of one of the guys,” Bundy said. “I always dreamed that one day I would have a hole in number 7. I had some shots that were close before but no one had ever entered. When I saw it coming, I got up there and was surprised, thinking” Oh my God. ” guys around me were jumping up and down. “
What makes this particular bench and hole so special involves Bundy’s son Ryan. An extraordinary former basketball player at Peoria High in the 1990s who continued to pursue a record-breaking career as a point guard in Division I Northwestern State (La.), Ryan, the school’s all-time career helping the leader when he graduated in 1998, he died unexpectedly six years ago at the age of 38.
The young Bundy suffered from cardiac arrhythmia and died in his sleep on a business trip for a Dallas-based energy company for which he was vice president of sales.
“When you get a phone call early in the morning … you never want that call,” Keith Bundy said in a broken voice. “To look at Ryan, he was talking about the healthiest person you’ve ever seen.”
A year after Ryan’s death, Keith had Kellogg set up the bench in his son’s memory. Ryan was not only an exceptional basketball player, but he was also an excellent golfer.
Ryan won the Lil ‘Guys & Gals golf tournament at the Detweiller Golf Course as a 9 year old boy and was ranked second to the future PGA DA Points player the following year. He also played varsity golf for four years at Peoria High. Father and son often played together and once won the Peoria two-man Best Ball A Flight championship.
“I wanted a place that would allow me to see most of the golf course,” said Keith Bundy. “That hole was perfect. You can see a lot of the path from there and it’s a cute hole. I also wanted to plant a tree there (in Ryan’s memory), but at that moment there was no place to crush another tree. So I chose # 6 and I planted a red oak for Ryan.
“I always wanted my kids to play golf because it’s a lifelong sport. Golf taught children respect and the right child of behavior and attitude. So I thought it was good for their character.”
Keith and Melody, his 51-year-old wife, also have two grown daughters – Melanie McCutcheon and Angel Harring – and five grandchildren. Melanie also played basketball at PHS.
Keith was born and raised in Peoria and lived his entire life here, except for a couple of years in Arizona as a young man. He graduated from Woodruff High School in 1966 and then from Illinois-Springfield before starting a 40-year career at Caterpillar as a corporate director in the company’s accounting team, followed for three years in special assignments. He retired in 2013.
Golf has been a passion of Keith for the past half century. He describes himself as “self-taught”, but has six handicaps, usually shooting in the mid-70s.
Since moving to senior tees last year, his scores have improved further.
“This is a huge advantage,” he said. “I used to hit him at 280-290 off the tee. Now I’m 230-240. But this year I got my two best scores in both Kellogg and Newman from senior tees. I shot a 67 in Kellogg and a 68 in Newman a week later. “
He has scored the first hole in one for Elder Bundy since he sank a memorable one nine years ago in Laurel Greens of Knoxville. On the 325 hole n. 9 of par 4, 325 took advantage of a leeward for an unforgettable ace. He also made one at number 6 of 157 yards in Newman 14 years earlier.
But neither is comparable to what sank a week before Father’s Day.
“Afterwards (because the snack bar was closed due to COVID-19), the 12 of us sat in the Kellogg parking lot and celebrated a pizza and a beer,” he said. “I told the boys that every time I go back to number 7, I think ‘Boy, it would be nice to have a hole in one.’ Now, five years later, it has happened. “
Dave Reynolds can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter on davereynolds2.
