It’s been nine years since Dakota Cunningham was diagnosed with leukemia.
He was 11 years old then and spent a considerable amount of time as a patient at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
The Olive Branch, Mississippi, native is 20 now. He is headed into his sophomore year at Louisiana-Monroe, where he is a member of the men’s golf team. And he was Memphis basketball coach Penny Hardaway’s caddie at the FedEx St. Jude Championship Pro-Am on Wednesday.
“(Hardaway) called me last night and said, ‘Hey, you wanna come caddie for me tomorrow?’ ” Cunningham said. “I said, ‘Absolutely.’"
Dakota Cunningham, a ULM golfer and former St. Jude patient, tees off as Penny Hardaway looks on to start the Bluff City Collective Golf Classic. pic.twitter.com/wukdsljqOJ
— Jason Munz (@munzly) September 23, 2024
Cunningham's father, Steve, walked every one of the 18 holes Hardaway played at TPC Southwind, first with Ludvig Aberg on the front nine, then with Ryo Hisatsune on the back nine.
Along the way, he recounted the darkest days his son had to endure. How his lymph nodes were so swollen when he first went to the hospital that his tracheal opening was only 4 millimeters. And how, because of that, doctors had to perform two bone marrow procedures, a spinal tap, a skin graft and insert a PICC line into his arm using only numbing cream because intubating Cunningham was not possible under the circumstances.
“Had it closed, he’s gone,” he said.
He looked back on all the chemotherapy his son needed. How he lost 25 pounds and all motor skills and his memory and his attention span.
But he also brought up how his son recently broke the course record at Olive Branch Country Club with a 62. How he shot another 62 this summer at Wedgewood Golf Club in a round that included a bogey. And how he was the keynote speaker at a gathering of all Louisiana-Monroe’s faculty and administration.
The story Cunningham told the university president and all those professors, and the story his dad shares, is one that deserves to be told in front of the largest audience possible. Cunningham’s story and many more like his have had a mega-sized platform at the FedEx St. Jude Championship for the past four years, ever since the tournament in Memphis was elevated to a FedEx Cup Playoffs event.
Starting in 2028, that stage will shrink.
PGA Tour’s decision ‘definitely hurts’
That’s because the PGA Tour, which is implementing its revamped competitive structure then, has decided the Memphis golf tournament will no longer be part of its postseason schedule. It has also decided Memphis will not be part of the Championship Series, the higher of the two regular-season tiers.
Instead, the PGA tournament that has been played in Memphis each year since 1958 will be a Challenger Series event ― at best. It has not yet been decided whether it will even be that.
It’s a shame for all sorts of reasons. But, first and foremost, it’s a shame because the spotlight that once shone on St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and patients like Cunningham will get decidedly dimmer. Its reach won’t extend as far as it has in recent years.
“So, I love the PGA Tour,” Cunningham said. “I love that they stand for charities and those types of things. But, yes, I definitely feel it will have a negative impact toward this tournament, for one. (But, also) towards the kids like me. I got to be a pin caddie on 18, (and) meet all the incredible players that came through here. That’s part of the inspiration I got while going through treatment.
“So, to not have that for the kids, one, but also everybody in Memphis as well. It definitely hurts the city.”
Family leaning on perspective
His dad agrees. He knows there’s nothing good about less exposure for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
But, after all that he watched his son go through and all that his family experienced throughout the ordeal, he also has very healthy perspective. And it was directly instilled in him by his son. He remembers a moment in the early stages that his son was on his knees, vomiting into a bag that his mother was holding.
“He looks up and says, ‘I don’t know why this is happening, but God’s got a plan,’“ his dad said. “So, I guess, out of everything from this interview, there’s your story. I know I’m the dad. But, I’ve had a front-row seat to one of the most incredible, inspiring sports stories you could ever see.
“(The changes the tournament is facing are) happening possibly for a reason. Maybe something else bigger is going to come from it.”
Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com, follow him @munzly on X.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis event losing PGA Tour playoff status hurts for reasons far beyond golf