Hearing Disability Hasn't Slowed Down Hall

By Chris Gay
The Augusta Chronicle
April 29, 2010

MCCORMICK, S.C. --- Kevin Hall stood on the 18th tee feeling confident.

It was an 18-hole round with Tiger Woods two years ago. For 17 holes, Hall kept up with the world's No. 1 player. At the closing hole at Isleworth Country Club in Windermere, Fla., Hall offered his opponent a challenge: player with the lowest score on the par-4 wins $5. Hall said he felt good after striping a drive about 300 yards down the middle.

"Then Tiger teed it high and all of a sudden he took a rip at it," Hall said. "The ball went on and on and on over everything. He hit a flip wedge to the green and made birdie."

Woods asked for the $5, and Hall asked why he wanted the money from a poor golfer. Woods responded, "You're the one who brought up the bet."

It should come as little surprise Hall's mouth got him into trouble. At a Monday clinic as part of the Savannah Lakes Village Classic, he communicated with children from Long Cane Academy and McCormick Middle school with that contagious smile and his ever-moving hands and fingers. He spoke more than anyone at Monticello Golf Club, despite the obvious fact -- Hall cannot hear.

"He's the most talkative deaf person I've ever seen in my life," said Hall's mother, Jackie, who interpreted for him.

A hearing disability has yet to slow down someone who's made a name for himself on the golf course. In 2004, he posted a record-setting performance en route to winning the Big Ten championship. Two years later, the Ohio State alumnus played in his first PGA Tour event, the Memorial Tournament, held by fellow Buckeye Jack Nicklaus.

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