Four of a kind

Bobby Brockman

Rick Newton, J.C. Lawson, Mike Kehoe and Richard Williams prepare to tee off on No. 10 at Campbellsville Country Club on Monday morning in the Amazon.com Pro-Am.

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Bobby Brockman

Rosary Hospital would not let J.C. Lawson's parents put initials on his birth certificate.

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Bobby Brockman

Mike Kehoe's busy schedule does not allow the former University of Louisville golfer much time to play his own course.

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Bobby Brockman

Richard Williams came back to his native Taylor County after working 32 years at Ford in Louisville.

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Bobby Brockman

Ricky Newton was the youngest golfer of the senior trio on the Campbellsville Country Club squad in the Amazon.com Pro-Am.

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Four unique and very different individuals had one common goal on Monday as they were the Campbellsville Country Club team in the Amazon.com Pro-Am on Monday morning.
The local quartet finished in a tie for 10th in the 27-team field, but were only one shot out of sixth place.
The format was one professional from each of the clubs entered plus three seniors, individuals above 50 years of age.
CCC club professional Mike Kehoe, in his 12th year at the local facility, captained the team.
The die-hard University of Louisville fan, where he played collegiate golf after graduating from Danville High School in 1988, met his wife Sarah while working at Green Meadow Country Club in Pikeville.
It turns out Sarah’s dad, Bruce Walters, was president of the club at the time, but had committed to voting for the son of a friend for the new hire.
“I knew your dad didn’t like me because he read a newspaper the whole time they were doing my interview,” Mike told Sarah after their getting together.
J.C. Lawson, who retired after 30+ years of government work (the last 25 with the postal service) plays golf almost every day, around “taking care of his grandkids” and it’s a game he didn’t pick up until about 1975-76 when he got married.
The 1968 Campbellsville High grad wanted J.C. on his birth certificate but had to settle for Jethro (his grandfather’s name) C. when Rosary Hospital would not allow it.
“My mom gave me a copy of my hospital bill on her 50th anniversary,” Lawson laughed. The three-and-a-half day stay cost $38.40 — $15 for delivery, $1 a day for nurses, $1.65 for drugs and a $1 for the hospital bracelet that he still also has were just some of the itemized expenses.
A one-point, home-court loss by Taylor County to Bloomfield in the 1962 Fifth Region Boys’ Basketball Tournament still eats away at Richard Williams, who was a senior.
The native son returned home to Campbellsville after working 32 years at Ford in Louisville.
“I lived in Oldham County and the kids settled in Lexington,” Williams offered. “So we’ve also got a place in Lexington to keep up with the grandkids and the (University of Kentucky) Wildcats.”
Ricky Newton is the “young pup” of the senior trio. The 1973 Campbellsville High graduate and recent Ingersoll-Rand retiree (after 32 years) has always seemed to be involved with winners, dating back to his days with the Little League Cardinals under Chuck Chick and his dad, Buddy Newton.
“But, one of the hardest things I ever had to do was tell my high school golf coach, Larry Ennis, I was going to play baseball instead of golf.”
In the early 1970s and until a decade or so ago, prep golf in Kentucky was played in the spring, not fall, like baseball.
Newton was coming off a state tournament team in 1971 with Denny Vaughn, Joe Maupin and Barry Benningfield. But, he did end up playing on a state tourney baseball team for the Eagles in 1973.
They were four guys with completely different stories and one goal on Monday.