Virginia Golfer November / December 2014 | Page 32

A seemingly incessant
drive to win, borne from
his early years, has fueled
Pat Tallent’s drive on and
off the golf course.

Long
Journey
Punctuated by
National Title
for Tallent

Northern Virginian and event-tested
Pat Tallent won the U.S. Senior
Amateur in September

PAT TALLENT, 61, DOESN’T
REMEMBER WHEN HE
STARTED PLAYING GOLF.
He doesn’t hark back much to his formative
years, mind you. Thinking it’s due to the
onset of early dementia or something else
biological, nah, there is a justification.
Blame it on a slab of concrete.
All Tallent can recall is while playing tackle
football somewhere around 7 or 8 years old
his head met concrete—thud!—bounding
off like a cantaloupe. Of course, the cement
won. His brain short-circuited, inviting in an
opaque existence for maybe one or two days.
It was a seminal moment.
Faced with an early life path choice that
had the potential to spindle out like spider
veins in any wrong direction, thanks to the
traumatic scare, Tallent’s blow at an early age
could have made him a nervous nelly going
forward. Tallent could have easily taken it
easy. Backed off. Played it safe.
That wasn’t going to happen. Especiall