At 91, this golfer is inspiring

There are a lot of things one might do with their spare time once they turn 90 or so.

If they're lucky, they still have enough health to enjoy a garden, take a vacation trip and have a meaningful relationship with their grandkids. If they're extra lucky with their health, they may remain active with their favorite physical hobbies, like golf.

Meet Philip Mancuso, age 91, who drew a lot of attention this past week at the Mesquite Amateur, a three-day event conducted on three golf courses under a hot, sultry sun and wakeup calls at 6 a.m.

Mancuso, from Lakeland, Fla., doesn't look a day over 75. He doesn't wear glasses and he hears just fine.

I asked him, since he's been retired as a Navy electrician for 30 years, if he'd undergone any joint replacements, like a hip, shoulder, knee, or had cataract surgery or like medical procedures common to his peers.

"Nope. I still have all my original parts," he said with a wide grin.

Mancuso knocks his tee shots off the face of his driver about 180 yards — or somewhere past 150 on a regular basis. He still plays with a putter he won at a tournament in Atlantic City at Trump's Taj Mahal some 20 years ago.

At a demo day on Tuesday, where golf manufacturers were showing their wares, he asked one if he had a driver that would enable him to hit it 200 yards.

Typical golfer mentality.

He laughs easily and anxiously embraces his passion for the game of golf. Playing in the Byron Nelson Division for the 70-plus age group, he was easily the oldest player among more than 600 golfers in all divisions at the event. He fired rounds of 94, 92 and 94 to finish 17th in his division of 31 golfers.

He had a hole-in-one back in Florida a year ago and shot under his age, an 89. The Lakeland Ledger ran a feature on the accomplishment. He took up the game at age 27 and has had four aces. Most recently he's shot in the high 80s. In his prime, he carried a 4 handicap.

Mancuso plays golf at Cypress Lakes Country Club in Lakeland five times a week. "And sometimes six or seven, but it's five times guaranteed," he said.

Mancuso has outlived his two younger brothers, his parents, of course, who both died at age 72, and his wife of 61 years, who died four years ago. His parents, immigrants from Italy, settled in Manhattan, N.Y., and they later moved to Brooklyn where he attended high school.

He carries a thick Brooklyn accent. Sounds like Sylvester Stallone.

When Mancuso's friend, Allan Ainsworth, invited him to accompany him to Mesquite just as a companion while Allan played in the event, Mancuso replied: "I'll go, I'd love to go, but if I go, I'm playin.' "

He doesn't know why he's outlived everyone but his son, daughter and grandkids. He doesn't know if he's got some gene that just kicked in or what.