{"id":31094,"date":"2026-07-03T07:48:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T07:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/31094\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T07:48:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T07:48:09","slug":"military-vets-find-community-at-liberty-cup-golf-tournament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/31094\/","title":{"rendered":"Military vets find community at Liberty Cup golf tournament"},"content":{"rendered":"

Craig Thomas didn\u2019t know what to expect when he arrived at Liberty National Golf Club for the first time two months ago.<\/p>\n

Thomas, a Marine Corps veteran from 1982-86 and the head golf professional at Metropolis Country Club in White Plains since 2007, was competing in the first Liberty Cup, a unique tournament that features all five branches of the military \u2014 the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and Coast Guard.<\/p>\n

In celebration of the nation\u2019s 250th anniversary, Liberty National Golf Club in early May hosted the event, founded by its owner, Dan Fireman, to be aired on the Golf Channel from 3 to 5 p.m. on July 4.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Liberty National Golf Club played host to the Liberty Cup. It will be aired on the Golf Channel on July 4. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve played a lot of golf in a lot of tournaments, and I hadn\u2019t played with many players this good,\u2019\u2019 the 63-year-old Thomas said, marveling at the talent in the Veteran Golfers Association, from which the field of players was made. \u201cThere was this young man named Travis Bryant who I was paired with. I hadn\u2019t played with anybody who was that good, and hit it as well as him who wasn\u2019t already on tour.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Bryant served as an Army combat veteran for five years and was on one of the last planes out of Afghanistan and is now a golf professional.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Liberty Cup is more than a golf tournament,\u2019\u2019 Josh Peyton, president and CEO of the VGA, said. \u201cIt is a celebration of the men and women who have served our country and the bonds that continue long after military service ends.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

The idea for the event was hatched by Dan Fireman, whose father, Paul, who founded and developed Liberty National, served in the Army.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was always proud that he did his duty and did his service,\u2019\u2019 Dan Fireman said of his dad.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea was to focus on America\u2019s 250th anniversary and use this event as a way to tell the story of the military and also tell the story of golf.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CameronCameron Smith walks on the green during the PGA Tours Northern Trust tournament in 2021 at Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City, N.J. EPA<\/p>\n

Liberty National has hosted PGA Tour events, LPGA Tour events, a Presidents Cup and has the BMW Championship coming in 2027. And Fireman called his experience hosting this event \u201cthe tops.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cIt blew my mind,\u2019\u2019 he said. \u201cI\u2019ve not been in the military, so I felt like I learned a lot about the military \u2014 about the sense of community and culture. With the storytelling, the depth of the history of the military, the different branches of armed services \u2014 I just felt like this has a lot of opportunity to become a real mainstay of Liberty.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was also a sense of appreciation for being there that I really loved.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

One of those who loved it was Thomas.<\/p>\n

\u201cMeeting a lot of the guys was a highlight for me,\u2019\u2019 Thomas said. \u201cThere\u2019s a small percentage of guys at that competitive level in the VGA who served around my time or before me. Most of them are more recent \u2014 people who served in a lot of these conflicts recently, whether it\u2019s Afghanistan or wherever.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really interesting to be around them and hear some of the stuff they went through. Just to be around the guys, there\u2019s a lot of camaraderie there. You\u2019re meeting guys who went through a lot of the same stuff, which I\u2019m sure is very helpful to them in their lives. It\u2019s been a great experience.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Craig Thomas didn\u2019t know what to expect when he arrived at Liberty National Golf Club for the first…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31095,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[44,56,2460],"class_list":["post-31094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-golf","tag-sports","tag-veterans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}