Here's a note I received from Kris Shreiner:
To the Tree house and fellow lurkers,
On behalf of the Shreiner family, Steve and I would like to thank all of you for your kind remarks after sharing time with us at the Walker Cup. We really enjoyed meeting and hosting a wonderful group of GCA folks.
Special thanks to Steve Shaffer, who was tireless in his follow-up bumps to give all a chance to learn of our event, and also Tom Paul, who put me in touch with Steve and beat the drum to rally the troops.
It was a very special golf week there @ Merion…. it was Philadelphia golf, American golf AND International golf at its very best. Understated in commercial visibility, respectful fans that appreciated what they were witnessing, tremendous shotmaking and player sportsmanship were in abundance.
I’ll share two quotes, both given by different Irish fans, that certainly made an impression on me. The first was something said to me at our event at St. Georges church by Peter Beames, noted golf instructor from Dublin , Ireland. He said, “Kris, I’ve traveled all over the world during my life, but I’ve never met more helpful, kind and gracious people than I’ve met this week in Philadelphia. No matter where we’ve been…at the course, in the shops or at dinner, they couldn’t have been nicer.”
The second was from an Uncle of the Irish player on the GB and I team, when we all had joined in to sing some songs later that night on the clubhouse porch. In between ballads he turned to me, put his arm around me and said, “ It really doesn’t get any better than this, golf WAS the winner this week! “ How true.
While I know some in the treehouse tire of the relentless, sometimes overbearing nature of the Philly contingent on this site, we are a very passionate bunch, as are many from all locales that post here. I for one, was deeply moved by, and am humbly proud of our city’s Walker Cup effort…Merion, indeed all of those connected with Philly golf, really tried to do it right.
Cheers,
Kris Shreiner