Howard’s Gregory Odom Jr. Wins One for ‘Pops’ at the PGA WORKS Collegiate Championship
By Jeff Babineau
Thursday, May 6, 2021
Gregory Odom Jr. had held in his emotions long enough. The wave finally crested. He signed his scorecard, bent down next to the push cart that held his navy Howard University Bison bag, put his hand over his face, and finally let some of the hurt go.
His coach, Sam Puryear, rubbed Odom’s back to comfort him.
Odom, 20, was on the grounds playing his first practice round at the PGA WORKS Collegiate Championship at TPC Sawgrass on Saturday when Puryear had to tell him that his father, Greg Odom Sr., had passed away back home in Memphis, Tennessee. Odom Sr., 67, had been admitted to hospice a day earlier, his kidney failing him. The son, miles away in Florida, conferred by telephone with his mother and knew there was one thing his dad would want him to do: Play.