Mulligan
Sports drama
109 pages
A kid with cerebral palsy can’t possibly pass the grueling PGA Playing Ability Test (PAT), until a bankrupt millionaire asshole with a limp and an attitude steps in to help.
“DEREK
Why don’t you climb Mt. Everest?
JORDY
If I was a mountain climber I might.
DEREK
You don’t know what you’re talking about, Jordy.
The Playing Ability Test is 36 holes in one day. It’s exhausting even for people who can walk.
Then you have to score within a margin of par. It’s mind messing for even the best golfers.
JORDY
It’s hard. I get it.
They think you can do it.”
Based on the true story of Derek Gemmet and Mike Adams.
Derek Gemmet’s legs don’t work, but he loves sports. Everything he tries - basketball, little league, he doesn’t even attempt soccer - everything fails. Until one day he feels the magic of hitting a golf ball. This he can do.
His outstanding drives impress the golfers at his club. Gemmet’s childhood friend, Jordy, overhears the golfers saying he should try the PAT. She encourages Gemmet to try.
“DEREK
And after he said that, the old fart misses a shot I could have made with my eyes closed.
EARL
Derek. Do you know who that ‘old fart’ is?
DEREK
Should I?
EARL
Mike Adams. He was one of the best amateur golfers in the entire region. He’s won a bunch of tournaments. Then he had a weird infection or something that paralyzed him from the neck down. Now he’s relearning how to play golf with ... you know ... less than perfect legs.
Maybe you oughta listen to that “old fart.””
So Derek tries. Eleven times he tries. Sometimes he gets so close, other times he’s way off the margin.
Mike Adams ridicules Derek for even trying. An accomplished amateur golfer, winner of many tournaments, Adams knows what it takes and Derek ain’t got it.
Then a mysterious infection paralyzes Adams, puts him in a coma. When he wakes from the coma he has to learn how to walk again. During his recovery he loses his millions, his trophy wife, and medicates himself with alcohol. Way too much alcohol.
Friends and family encourage Adams to get back on the golf course. That goes poorly. In his anger he accidentally hits his brother with a club. Sidelined and bored, Adams watches Derek. He gives Derek a few tips. Derek blows him off.
Adams reluctantly agrees to coach Gemmet. Adams fumes at Gemmet’s stubbornness. They battle Gemmet’s gambling addiction, ungodly blisters, and each other. Until finally, on his 18th attempt in front of a gallery of reporters Gemmet conquers the PAT.