AUGUSTA, Ga. – As he stood on the first tee box Thursday morning at Augusta National Golf Club, just minutes from hitting the first shot of his Masters career, Taylor Pendrith looked up at the strikingly blue sky, a crisp breeze hitting his face, and smiled.
Man, how he wishes Herbie could’ve been here.
Herb Page, the retired Kent State golf coach, had attended the Masters debuts of all his former players, starting in 2004 when he caddied for Ben Curtis in the Monday practice round, and again with both Corey Conners and Mackenzie Hughes. But on Thursday at 9 a.m. sharp, Page found himself 675 miles from Augusta National, at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, receiving his third of six doses in his latest batch of chemotherapy.
“I’m making the turn,” Page joked as he watched the coverage from his laptop, wearing a green Masters polo and green Masters hat while an IV administered the drugs into his body.
The 74-year-old Page has lost 40 pounds, down to 112, since being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last fall. Thankfully, he hasn’t lost his sense of humor.
Earlier this week, upon the release of the starting times for the opening two rounds, Page texted both Pendrith and Conners:
Hey, how about Thursday’s tee sheet?
Herb Page, 9 a.m.
Taylor Pendrith, 9:03 a.m.
Corey Conners, 9:14 a.m.
Pendrith responded: Coach, at 9, I’m going to look up in the sky and think about you.
“And he bogeys the first hole,” Page adds. “Nerves.”
Pendrith’s introduction to the Masters began with a snap-hook into the left trees and ended with a disappointing 5-over 77. Conners, though, fired an opening 68 with birdies on three of his final four holes.
“Lookout!” Page said via text as Conners sprinted out of the gates, only behind leader Justin Rose and tied for second with reigning Masters champion Scottie Scheffler.
Added Conners: “He’s always watching us and always cheering us on.”
Page was on top of the world last September, having just spent eight days at Royal Montreal watching Conners, Pendrith and Hughes play a home Presidents Cup. Hughes scored Page an all-access credential for the week, and the Kent State legend, fully decked out in international gear, even managed to sneak his way into team meetings.
“I was the mascot,” Page said, laughing.
In fact, during Pendrith’s matches, International assistant captain Ernie Els’ job was to shuttle Page around and keep him visible. As Els told Page, “When he sees you, he smiles. He loves seeing you.”
“I remember finishing up that Friday and watching the rest of the matches with him,” Pendrith recalled. “Then Corey and Mac joined us. It was such a surreal moment. That was the last time we were all together.”
Not long after the Presidents Cup, Page and his wife, Paula, were back at their winter home in Kiawah Island, South Carolina, when Page visited the local clinic, thinking he had some sort of urinary tract infection. The physician’s assistant working that day could’ve sent Page on his way with some antibiotics, but he decided to run some extra blood work. The next morning Page was ordered to drive into Charleston for some more tests and scans.
By the evening, Page had received the terrifying diagnosis: He had the same cancer that took three of his friends, all within six to eight months, including his mentor Don James, who coached Kent State football teams that included Page, a tough-as-nails kicker and three-sport athlete for the Golden Flashes, and a high-IQ safety by the name of Nick Saban.
When Page phoned Pendrith to tell him, Pendrith’s wife, Megan, a hematology and oncology nurse, started crying before Pendrith could even process it.
“It’s a death sentence,” Page said of pancreatic cancer. “But most people don’t find it until it’s third or fourth stage.”
One of Page’s mottos is, “I’m the luckiest man alive” – and he still feels that way. Because Page was barely into stage one, he was eligible for a surgery called the Whipple, which involves removing the head of the pancreas, duodenum, gallbladder and part of the bile duct. Page’s procedure was scheduled for Dec. 8 at the Cleveland Clinic, but two days before Page developed pancreatitis and spent weeks bedridden and hooked to a feeding tube.
It wasn’t until Christmas Eve that Page’s surgery was complete.
“They did a hell of a job, and they think they’ve got it all,” said Page, who was released from the hospital on Jan. 3 and started his first round of chemo in late February. “We’ll know more in a few weeks, but the prognosis is very, very good. I’m lucky I walked into that clinic.”
In many ways, Page has made his own luck over the years. When he launched the golf program at Kent State in 1978, the team had two scholarships and zero golf balls. But with a fiery, never-quit attitude, Page recruited hard and inspired his guys to compete harder to the tune of 17 NCAA Championship appearances, including a trip to match play at Riviera in 2012. On that historic squad:
Conners, a can’t-miss prospect and ball-striking machine out of Listowel, Ontario.
Hughes, a great putter from Hamilton, Ontario, who had an early habit of beating himself up.
And Pendrith, of Richmond Hill, Ontario, who was freakishly long, once winning a long-drive contest at the Canadian Boys Junior by hitting 184 mph ball speed, but equally raw.
All three are now not only PGA Tour members but PGA Tour winners.
“I had Pendrith, Hughes and Conners, and we couldn’t even win the national championship,” Page said, before delivering the punch line. “They should’ve fired me.”
Page, who underwent a quintuple heart bypass in 2016 and total knee replacement two years later, retired from coaching in 2019. But he’s remained close with his players. After a poor putting performance at Memorial last summer, Pendrith drove two hours to Kent, Ohio, for a putting lesson from Page.
“We spent four hours on the putting green,” Pendrith said. “It was cool to be back there and have him beat some sense into me.”
Earlier this year, Pendrith and Hughes were grilling steaks together when Pendrith offered Page and Paula two Masters badges.
“It pained him to have to say no to being here,” Pendrith said.
Conners planned on visiting Page during the offseason until Page’s monthlong hospitalization. He hopes to see him soon, perhaps next time with a green jacket in hand. He’s been close enough to dream a few times, posting three top-10s but just not able to make enough putts when it mattered.
“It just takes something special to get yourself to the top of the leaderboard,” Conners said. “That’s just been missing, I guess.”
Thursday’s round by Conners was certainly special. He missed only one fairway and hit all but four greens in regulation. He left himself short putts for birdie on three of the par-5s before his center-shafted putter, which his dad, Mike, encouraged him to put in the bag before last month’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, was responsible for back-to-back birdie makes from outside of 15 feet.
Most fired up by Conner’s performance was Page, who also texted: Hot putter? Corey? Yes!
Conners was equally delighted upon hearing that Page was locked in and cheering from the hospital: “No one is more of a fighter than Coach Page. I know he’s doing everything he can.”
“I’m missing today,” said Page, as a machine beeped loudly in the background. “But to have my players, it’s very rewarding. There have been so many text messages; they know what I’m going through, and to have guys like Conners reach out last night, saying he’s thinking of me, and Pendy, same thing. He said, ‘Coach, you’ll be there in 2026 and so will I.’
“I’m not an inspiration to those guys; they’re an inspiration to me right now.”
