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ONE OF the most uplifting stories at this year’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship is that of Margaret Weder, a 50-year-old former American marine.
Maggie, as she prefers to be known, has suffered from multiple sclerosis since 1991. Yet in the past decade golf has not just enabled her to regain muscle co-ordination and improve her life, it has helped her to help others.
Maggie’s charity, Golfin4MS, raises money for multiple sclerosis patients who cannot afford mounting medical bills.
She has no corporate sponsor but merely asks people to pledge money for every birdie, eagle or hole-in-one she makes in tournament play.
Playing with Zimbabwe professional Tony Johnstone, she finished with a three-round team total of level par and missed the cut, but it did not diminish her enthusiasm.
She said at the close of her round on Saturday, “I have been absolutely overwhelmed to be here but I have been trying not to get too excited so that I don’t fall down.
“Today I have been wearing my marine hat as I had to be like a marine to get round. Nothing can stop me. After 18 holes I am always exhausted but I can always recover.
“The more birdies I get the more people support me and the more people I can help. I got lots of pledges this week from a lot of generous people.
“Golf is just a game but it saved my life, my quality of life.
“I just want to give a little respect to people who cannot help themselves and that’s what keeps me going.”
Maggie revealed that the onset of the illness was quite sudden.
“After 16 years serving in the US Marine Corps, one day I was hiking with a heavy backpack on with the rest of my boys in my battalion, and the next day I was in the hospital. The numbness started in my legs and worked all the way up to my chest.”
It was on the recommendation of her neurologist, that she began playing golf in 1997, after being housebound for nearly six years.
Completing three rounds in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship was an impressive effort for Maggie, who has days when she can barely hold a golf club.
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