BONIFAY, Fla. (WMBB) — The Dogwood Lakes Golf Course hosted the second annual Tyler’s Timeless Tournament on Saturday.
The tournament honors the late Holmes County student, Tyler Erickson who passed away in the fall of 2022.
“I would never have dreamed my son would have passed away on this golf course under the circumstances, having a genetic heart condition,” Tyler Erickson’s father Clint Erickson said. “We never saw it coming. But what he has been able to give back after his death and being able to continue giving for scholarships and other things to his friends and to our local communities, it’s been awesome.”
The golf tournament focuses on raising money for other kids in the community doing something Tyler loved.
“The community didn’t fall apart afterward, it became stronger,” Holmes County junior Savannah Goodman said.
The first scholarship in Tyler’s name was awarded to one of his close friends and teammates Tanner Steele.
“Even through that scholarship, I get to represent his name and something like this and just doing something that I know he loved,” Steele said. “Just things that he loved. I love doing it for him now.”
Tanner was one of the last people to play golf with Tyler after a qualifying tournament. Tyler wanted to practice after and the two played a couple rounds before Tanner had to go home.
“He was like so I like do you have any balls and tees?,” Steele said. “I gave them a handful of all of them. Then about 2 hours later I got a phone call and my go to the hospital and all that. But they found the tees in his pocket.”
Unlike most golf tournaments, not a single golfer cared about what number was on their scorecard.
“The tournament is a lot bigger than we are,” Goodman said. “We went out there with the mindset of we’re going to be bright, we’re going to be bubbly, we’re going to be smiling all the time no matter how we play because that’s what Tyler would want us to do.”
It was a win for Goodman who shot 15 under on the day. While she continues to grow as a young golfer, there is not a day she is on the course without the reminder of Tyler.
“Every tournament since Tyler’s passing, I write live like Tyler on my ball, every single one,” Goodman said. “Every tournament I try to bring a piece of him with me and just looking at the ball, it reminds me that there are so many things bigger than golf.”
