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The Ryan Taylor Memorial Golf Tournament will return Sept. 4 at Kingsmill Resort, raising money for Faith Recovery in memory of York County resident Ryan Philip Taylor. (Photo\/ Steven Shircliff<\/a> on Unsplash)<\/a><\/p>\nWILLIAMSBURG \u2013 On a cold January night in 2019, York County resident Mary Brown received news that no mother ever wants to hear. Her son, Ryan Philip Taylor, had died of a drug overdose.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were dealt with the biggest blow of our life,\u201d Brown said. \u201cYou don\u2019t even know how to navigate through that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taylor grew up in Yorktown and attended Tabb High School. According to his mother, he was an active and happy child who was passionate about golf and skateboarding.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know everyone says it about their kids, but he was just such a blessing to our family,\u201d she said. \u201cHe was a joy to raise.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taylor struggled with depression and anxiety as a teenager, but his addiction to drugs didn\u2019t take hold until he arrived on campus at Radford University.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was as simple as some of the guys on the freshman hall having Xanax,\u201d said Brown. \u201cHe didn\u2019t think it was that bad, then it grew into something bigger.\u201d<\/p>\n
After discovering Taylor\u2019s addiction, his parents did everything they could to help him recover.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe brought him home and eventually he went to rehab three different times,\u201d Brown said. \u201cWe were going to put everything we could into making sure he got better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite his family\u2019s efforts, Taylor died of an accidental drug overdose in January 2019. Now his family is determined to ensure his name lives on.<\/p>\n
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Ryan Philip Taylor died of a drug overdose in January 2019. His family now holds an annual golf tournament in his memory to support addiction recovery. (Courtesy of the Taylor family)<\/p>\n
This year marks the seventh Ryan Taylor Golf Tournament, which raises money for Faith Recovery, a faith-based addiction recovery program in Williamsburg. All proceeds benefit the organization.<\/p>\n
Brown knows her son would have been proud of the effort to fight addiction \u2014 but for her, it\u2019s also become a source of healing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do it every year around his birthday. All the other holidays, you never know what you\u2019re going to be feeling, but I always know what I\u2019m going to be doing around his birthday,\u201d Brown said. \u201cI\u2019m going to be around a bunch of golfers and people that care about the addiction community.\u201d<\/p>\n
The tournament will be held Sept. 4 at Kingsmill Resort\u2019s River Course. Check-in opens at 7:30 a.m., with a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m., followed by an awards ceremony and meal at 3 p.m.<\/p>\n
Individual registration costs $165, and a foursome costs $650. Sponsorship packages range from $250 to $7,500, with options including Tee Box, Cart, Swag Bag and Title sponsorships.<\/p>\n