John "Tiger" Bernhardt - RIP 2/8/2013

[Evan Fleisher]

Although this news is not a surprise (or unexpected) it still hits you hard...I'm really at a loss for words.

John was such a genuinely nice person, a lover of life, and a caring individual...he will be sorely missed.

Wow...too many GCArs lost the last year or so, we gotta stop this trend.

[Howard Riefs]

A sad day but a life well lived.

RIP Tiger. My condolences to Katie and the family.

[Jerry Kluger]

I only met him once but Tiger was an absolute gentleman and we had a wonderful dinner together. Rest in peace my friend. 

[Mark Hissey]

Ahhh crap. What a great guy. RIP Tiger.

[Mike Nuzzo]

I feel lucky to have known him
Peace and love to the Bernhardt's

[Jon Wiggett]

Sad news indeed. He will be missed by many.

[Don_Mahaffey]

Mike I know how sad you are that Tiger never made it to Wolf Point. I know you guys had a plan for that to happen and I would have loved to spend that day with him.

My prayers to Tiger and Katie.

[David Ober]

Condolences to the family....

[Marty Bonnar]

A great regret of mine is not having met John. I bet he'd have been a great golfing companion. Kinda puts stuff in perspective, eh?
Sláinte, John.
Martin.

[John Keenan]

My thoughts and prayers are with the Katie and the family.

[Matthew Sander]

Thoughts and prayers to his family. Rest in peace John.

[Jud_T]

A thought might be to rename the Dixie Cup...The Tiger Cup???

Seconded.  One of the amazing things about this site is how you can get choked up about a guy you never even met.  I think I can safely say that all our thoughts are with his family and friends today and in the days to come...

[Jason Topp]

I wish the best for Katie in struggling with her loss and moving forward with the next phase of her life.  John's pride and love was vividly portrayed in his Caringbridge updates.   

[Frank M]

I did not know John, but I always hate hearing this sort of news.

We may not know each other personally, but we all participate in this GCA community and share our knowledge and opinions with each other and these insights are a beautiful thing.

Condolences to all family and friends and RIP John.

[RJ_Daley]

This is sorrowful news today.  Yet, there is a bit of relief, knowing that his long suffering is now past.  What a journey of a well lived life but with an unfair monumental struggle that John endured in the end. His CaringBridge notice every Sunday evening as it regularly came through the e-mail of his weekly posting, was opened and read with both unease and yet knowing there would be another demonstrated nugget of hope and courage that John or Katie would describe about their week's activity and often would give myself a reality check and perspective, and example of the admirable strength and unfailing love that was so inspiring between a great Father and outstanding Daughter.

I enjoyed the two times I played golf with Tiger.  I'm glad I have a few photos to remember him in a setting he loved.  I hope I will someday have a chance to look Katie in the eye and say thank you and toast her for her inspiration of love, courage, and tenacity to be there to help her struggling Dad, every step of the way on that last long, hard journey.  

Katie should know that if she ever needs a helping hand in some matter, there are literally those of us all round the country and in several foreign lands to be able to contact, all who know of her and her Dad, and what good people they are.  I hope Katie looks in on this forum from time to time, and perhaps takes to posting some thoughts as she finishes law school and beyond.  


RIP John, Best Wishes Katie.
Richard Daley

[Carl Nichols]

A thought might be to rename the Dixie Cup...The Tiger Cup???

Seconded.  One of the amazing things about this site is how you can get choked up about a guy you never even met.  I think I can safely say that all our thoughts are with his family and friends today and in the days to come...

Agreed.  I never met Tiger, but the obvious warmth that others on here feel toward him says volumes.  Best wishes and thoughts to Katie and other members of the family.

[Bill_McBride]

A class guy and wonderful person.

We shall always miss him.

A thought might be to rename the Dixie Cup...The Tiger Cup???

Done.

Tiger was my first GCA buddy in person.  He lived in Lafayette on I-10 and had a condo in Navarre, FL, about half an hour east of me.  We somehow got connected in 2001 and he suggested a visit the next time he came through.  We played the pre-Ivan Pensacola CC and had a great time.  The next week, ever the sport, he called to say he made some tee times at Bandon and wanted to play the then-new Pacific Dunes.  My brother and I rendezvoused with him there and had a great time.

We traveled together a lot, playing courses like Yale, the Creek and Friars Head, NGLA.  Painswick in an early Buda Cup with a side trip to Royal Porthcawl.  Royal Cinque Ports in a later Buda.  Pasatiempo in a Kings Putter.  Cypress Point twice together, no finer days although the weather was backward caps one day in a match we won against two golf architects.  He was always fun to travel with, a generous guy with shallow pockets.

The second time we played Cypress was at the end of his first recovery from the throat cancer.  I was never prouder of anyone than I was of John that day.  He was striking the ball superbly, and struck long full shots onto the 11th, 14th and 16th greens.  It was magic.

Our last round together was last year at his beloved Champions in Houston.   he will surely be missed there and at all his other clubs, MPCC, Olympic Club, Mountain Lake and his home club, Oakbourne in Lafayette.  Once I warned him about the 14-club limit.

Katie is the greatest.  I have no idea how she was able to keep up with her law school studies while so much time was spent on her dad's health care.   I know she has a wide streak of Tiger's indomitable nature in her, she will do well and go far.

[Paul Jones]

John is in a better place and I will proudly think of him everytime I have a bowl of gumbo at Oakbourne, attend a LSU football game or see a daughter having fun with her dad.

I told my wife last night that I dream my daughter will love me and have as much fun with me as Katie does with Tiger.

John and Katie, we are praying for you.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Tiger fought an extremely valiant fight.

We shared our difficulties, hopes and prayers.

His particular cancer was very difficult and took a heavy toll on his body.

But, like Jimmy V, Tiger never let it take his mind, spirit, heart and love for Katie and LSU.

It's a sad day for all of us

[Kevin_Reilly]

What a journey of a well lived life but with an unfair monumental struggle that John endured in the end. His CaringBridge notice every Sunday evening as it regularly came through the e-mail of his weekly posting, was opened and read with both unease and yet knowing there would be another demonstrated nugget of hope and courage that John or Katie would describe about their week's activity and often would give myself a reality check and perspective, and example of the admirable strength and unfailing love that was so inspiring between a great Father and outstanding Daughter.

Well said, Dick.  I nervously read the last updates from Tiger and Katie and I guess saw the inevitable coming but I kept holding out hope for a reprieve.  John never stopped fighting and living life, and I'll remember that.

My best thoughts to Katie and family, and his close friends.

KR

[Jeff Goldman]

Wow, how sad, even though we all knew it was going to get here.  Tiger was the second GCA person I met, at the Rustic Canyon KP.  I met Lou Duran in the line to check in (when are you coming down to PD?), and John was the first to come up to me in the bar.  And then left for a while.  I hope we shall get to those Tiger stories in due course. 

Running into him and talking to him very occasionally since, you can't help but be struck by what a decent, caring man he was.  And a terrific sense of humor -- if anyone else heard his riffs on Arthur Hills courses in Florida during an outing down there, you know.

[PThomas]

awful, sad news

my family is praying for Tiger and his

[Mike Sweeney]

Being on GCA for all these years, this can certainly be taken the wrong way, but here goes.

I really wanted to take a trip with Tiger to Olympic and MPCC because he was so happy at this stage of life to be settling into the Monterrey Peninsula Lifestyle:



Tiger loved to "educate" me of the lowly ACC about the ways of college football. Every phone call was a long one and every dinner we had together, we had one too many. 

Katie Bernhardt is a wonderful woman. God bless her.

Cheers.

[Gib_Papazian]

It is strange, after playing so much golf in so many different places with John, my enduring memory of him is not on a course.

I spoke to Katie on Tuesday and the news was a sad acceptance of the imminent inevitability; my first thought was a moment in time 10 years ago with Tiger and Shivas. It might have been K.P., but I cannot remember; we had played Torrey Pines and John knew of a beachside bar in La Jolla. He always had something clever up his sleeve and we set out to find it.

We eventually found the place, a funky neighborhood beer and chips kind of joint and plopped down at a wooden table with plastic chairs in the sand. It was one of those crystal SoCal days; the surf was up with an impressive parade of hotties putting on a bikini show for us. We ordered a round of Coronas - odd how you remember details - and I insisted on a triplex of double tequila shots "To further achieve oneness."

There is no real punchline to the story, just a memory of sitting around for a couple hours with two close buddies, cracking each other up with nasty stories about one thing or another. I remember John looking around and saying something along the lines of "This is a manly way to spend the afternoon boys; golf, drinks on the beach and a fine meal waiting back in San Diego. Life never gets much better than this!"

I guess that stuck with me because I enjoyed sitting around with him as much as our playing golf together. The Redhead always said that John had what her Southern relatives called "somethin' somethin' - this incredibly charming way about him, especially with gals -  all of whom thought of him as a perfect gentleman.

The last time I saw him, Katie drove him over to one of our locations to say hello. It was obvious he was in a lot of pain and discomfort and had been reduced to a liquid diet for months. He told me - haltingly - that he would need chemo for the rest of his life, but that he was going to fight the bastard all the way to the finish line, one way or another.

He was one tough customer who battled the monster to the bitter end; Katie did a spectacular job caring for him and I've let her know that we are here for her no matter what.

I think a memorial at this year's K.P. would be appropriate. He is irreplaceable.  

[Sven Nilsen]

Gib:

I happen to have a Corona in the fridge.  Going to be popping it open this evening in the memory of a good friend I never met.  If anyone wants to join me for a toast, I'll be kicking off in about an hour.

Sven