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Hosting 13 college teams ultimate honor for Adams

Today is special for Matt Adams at Newport National, where the 13th annual Adams Cup golf tournament is being held. The event honors the memory of Bob Adams, Matt's father and a longtime URI booster.

By PAUL KENYON
Journal Sports Writer

MIDDLETOWN -- When he headed to work about dawn this morning, Matt Adams knew he had a typical day facing him. That is, he has two jobs to do. It's not one of his busy days. For him, working two jobs is an easy day. Adams does not have any television work on his schedule, nothing to do for the Golf Channel, where he has been a frequent contributor for more than a decade. He will not have time to do any writing for the newest book he is putting together, his sixth. He has no motivational speeches to give, another area where he regularly works.

Today, he simply will wear two hats. Adams will be at the Newport National Golf Club, where he is most often. That's his prime job. He is the president and manager at the four-year-old course that is both the longest and highest SLOPE-rated layout in the state. It just happens that today will be one of Adams' favorite days all year at his club. The guests today will be 13 college teams that have been brought together to take part in the 13th annual Adams Cup of Newport tournament.

The event is held in memory of Bob Adams, Matt's father and a longtime URI booster. It was organized shortly after his death in 1994. "I wanted to find something that would perpetually keep his name alive," Matt Adams said of his father. "I couldn't think of a better vehicle to do that than using the University of Rhode Island, which he loved with all his heart."

Matt Adams was living in Florida when his father died, working in the golf industry. Before he returned home from his father's funeral, Ron Petro, then the URI athletic director, invited Matt to his home to relax and talk about the good times his father had through his considerable involvement with URI.

"We were sitting in front of a roaring fire, talking about it and Ron said, 'Let's get this done.' We organized the Adams Cup of Newport. What better way to honor my father than bringing in these collegiate teams and exposing them to the great golf heritage of Rhode Island? I'm very proud of what his tournament has become. I give Tom Drennan (the URI golf coach) and the University credit for running it in the manner they have."

It was not an accident that Adams selected golf as the vehicle to honor his father. Golf has become a huge part of his life. It goes far beyond his managing the Newport National course.

Matt Adams grew up playing golf with his father. He quickly learned that being on the golf course with his dad taught him much more than how to hit a 7-iron. The younger Adams became fascinated with the game, and how it applies to real-life lessons, to the point where he has made the game a career. After graduating from Providence College in 1987 -- yes, this guy who helps URI is a Providence College grad (and was awarded an honored degree from URI in 1996) -- Adams worked briefly at ESPN before getting into the golf business. He was part of a company that made golf equipment for almost 15 years. He was living in Orlando when The Golf Channel was founded in 1994. A number of old friends from his days at ESPN were moving to the Golf Channel.

"They asked if I'd mind coming in every now and then and doing a piece about the industry, or equipment, or whatever else might be happening," Adams said. "It allowed me to stay in the game on the media side." He still works for the Golf Channel, occasionally doing on-air reports, but even more as a columnist. Writing has developed into his biggest passion. He still was working in golf manufacturing when a chance meeting brought major changes in his life. "I bumped into a guy at a trade show in Anaheim, Calif.," he said. "He had a golf bag manufacturing company. I was there training workers on the technicalities of golf equipment so they could sell it better."

The man said he had read some of Adams' columns on the Golf Channel Web site. He was involved with a company that does books. He asked Adams to help. "The book was Chicken Soup for the Golfer's Soul,' " Adams continued. "I was a ghost writer. It went on to sell 1.5 million copies. It is the best-selling golf book of all time.

"They came back and said, 'We loved what you did. We wondered if you would be an author for us," he said. "We're thinking about writing about NASCAR." Adams was actively involved with the project in the fall of 2001, by which time he had moved to Chicago, where his golf equipment company was headquartered. As with everyone else, he was moved by what happened on Sept. 11, 2001. Adams, who writes under his given name, Matthew Adams, suggested that something be done in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series revolving around 9/11.

"I went to ground zero about a week and a half after it happened," he said. "It was an experience I'll never forget. What I saw. What I smelled. It was just a really remarkable experience."

He helped put together a book celebrating the stories of heroism at the World Trade Center site, a book that gave 100 percent of the proceeds to New York-area relief funds. It went to No. 3 on the New York Times best-seller list. When Adams went back to compiling the Chicken Soup book for NASCAR, he was welcomed with open arms.

"All of a sudden, I've got this credibility of being a New York Times best-selling author. When I went back to the NASCAR book, doors opened for me like you couldn't believe," he said.

Every top NASCAR racer -- "Every single one," he emphasized -- met with him. He would write first-person stories from conversations he had with them, forward them to the drivers for suggested changes, and then compile them. It became the best-selling book about NASCAR ever published.

Adams raves about his admiration for the race drivers. But his first love, and still true sports love, is golf. Earlier this year, he published his most ambitious work yet, a book entitled Fairways of Life.

The book has a foreword by Arnold Palmer, who declares, "I hope you enjoy this book as much as I have," and with recommendations from PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem and Donald Trump, among others, is about his love of golf and the game as a metaphor for life.

"I combined my own experiences with my Chicken Soup experiences in a humanistic perspective, if you will," he said. "I try to write about how you take the lessons from the game and carry them into other aspects of your life.

"I don't believe," he continued, "I have the intellectual fortitude to stumble onto a concept that never before has been tried. What I seek to find is the universal. I want to tap into the stream that we all feel. The best compliments, to me, are when someone reads something that I've written and says, 'That's exactly how I feel.' " (Information about the book and all of Adams' work is available on the Internet at www.fairwaysoflife.com.)

Adams already is working on another book, one that will deal with the relationship between fathers and sons in golf. For today, though, the book is not on his mind. It is the day URI and 12 other college golf teams honor the memory and good works of his father.