Kevin Hall held an emotional press conference Tuesday after his practice round at Pebble Beach — emotions of pure joy along with a sense of confidence as big as his sense of humor, which left his dad with his head in his hands a couple times, maybe laughing, maybe crying.

Playing on a sponsor's exemption, the deaf former Big Ten champion from Ohio State, who is also black, played his first round at Pebble Beach Golf Links on a perfect Wednesday morning. His impressions?

"Hmm ..." he said through a signing interpreter. "I have to give myself a few minutes to think about that. I'm telling you, it's great. I thought it was just a golf course — water, people. But I got here and I drove on 17 Mile Drive and it was like, 'OK, this is the beginning.' Then I kept driving and I saw the houses and the trees and my father kept saying to focus on the road because my eyes were everywhere but on the road.

"And then finally, I got to Pebble Beach and Poppy Hills and Spyglass, and it's just ... they're such fabulously designed golf courses and I'm really happy and feel blessed to be here. I can't wait to experience this whole week, tomorrow, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, the whole shot."

As Hall spoke and signed, his eyes grew wide. He smiled widely. He practically bounced as he spoke. But the last line, at the end of all the appreciation, and after he said the whole thing "blows my mind," is the part about playing Sunday. That's typical Kevin Hall. He expects to make the cut.

Kevin had H-flu meningitis at the age of 2. He spent 10 days in the hospital with a temperature of 103 and the fever burned the fibers from his ears. He nearly died, and permanently lost his hearing.

"It was the most devastating thing that's ever happened in my life," said Percy Hall. "I tell people, 'You're not always responsible for what happens to you, but you are responsible for how you respond."

And so maybe Kevin's response, his rise in the world of golf, his attitude toward it, his sense of humor and his confidence, all have a little to do with the way his parents responded to the toughest thing they had ever faced.

Percy and Jackie Hall made a promise that they would do anything necessary to help their son succeed. They taught him sign language, got him involved with sports and read books with him. Kevin was a journalism major at Ohio State University. If this whole golf thing doesn't work out, he plans to start at a small newspaper and work his way up.

And, equally important, they set a pretty good example. Percy retired at age 55 after 35 years in a meat-cutting job. He went back to school, made the Dean's list, and now works part time as a job trainer, when he's not caddying.

Jackie Hall works as a business consultant, and is also back at school, and on the Dean's list.

At age 23, Kevin Hall has a solid golf resume. He won the Big Ten championship in 2004 by 11 strokes. Last year, he played two PGA Tour events on sponsor exemptions, but didn't make the cut in either. He has five career starts on the Nationwide Tour and has made two cuts. He won his first stage of PGA Tour qualifying last winter, but struggled at the second stage and missed the cut. So there is work ahead. He's not much afraid of hard work.

And if the golf doesn't work out, and he decides there's not a lot of pay in the world of sports journalism, maybe there's a comedy routine in his future.

Among the lines that had the pressroom laughing with him Tuesday, he told stories about his "old hag" sister, who needs to start making some nephews and nieces for him "Make sure you put that in there," he said. "All right, OK, I'm closing my mouth. Never mind." He talked about beating up Tiger Woods at Pebble in the video game. He talked about 80,000 drunk fans at Ohio State football games. "They're all screaming and I can feel them. I'll tell you that. And I say to my dad, 'Are they screaming?' He says, 'What?' "

He gave his father a hard time for occasionally doing too much fathering. He didn't think it was the media's business about his girlfriends.

Hall talked about getting in a fight when he was 9 or 10 years old and two boys were making fun of him.

"I reached my breaking point, and what can I say? Nobody won the fight. I ran away in the end. Two on one, not good odds," Hall said.

When he writes to tournaments seeking a sponsor's exemption, and he has written a good handful of letters, he tells them that he is deaf, and that he is black, and then, that he doesn't want to get in because of it.

But as real as he is, as much game as he has, he understands he will always be labeled before people get to know him. He can't be just another player.

"Actually, that will never happen. People will always see me as deaf and black," Hall said. "That's my story. I guess it will always be my story. But the positive thing about it is that I can use my story to inspire other people, to help them to see that they can do what they want."

He said he'll be nervous when he tees off today, but not out of his league.

"I see life differently than other people do," Hall said. "I almost died when I was very young. I was sick. When I got through that, I lost my hearing and I said I'm not going to give up," Hall said. "So I don't see myself being out of my league. I don't have time to say, 'Oh my God, I don't belong here.' I don't have time for that. What I do have time for is to enjoy life one day at a time."

Source: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2006/February/09/sport/stories/01sport.htm