DALLAS — Some dads get a new shirt or tie on Father's Day.
Greg Grider got to see his oldest son, Ryan, win his first amateur golf tournament.
"With Ryan, every day is Father's Day to me," Grider said. "He's a great kid."
Ryan Grider fended off lightning and thunderstorms to win the 110th Texas Amateur at Dallas Athletic Club on Sunday.
The Baylor Junior had his final round cut short due to a lengthy weather delay, but with a 4-stroke lead thru 15 holes, the Texas Golf Association could not postpone any longer and declared Ryan the 54-hole winner.
"Everything clicked for a week," said Ryan, who heads off to Pinehurst this week for the North & South Men's Amateur Golf Championship.
It was a special moment between father and son, and Ryan's caddie: his mother.
Denise Grider is not just a proud mother, she's a junior golf instructor at The Lakes at Castle Hills.
On Father's Day, she was on the bag for Ryan.
"If I would get down on myself, she would be the one to say, 'All right, we got this. Let's just keep on moving forward,'" Ryan explained.
"You don't see a lot of moms caddying," Greg said. "You see a lot of dads and the dads are harder on the kids than the mom's are."
"If anything, I hope I'm encouraging more mothers to get out there," encouraged Denise.
But, this was not the first time she caddied for her son. Nor will it be the last.
"When he was five, I was on the bag for him," said Denise. "And it was hard because at age five, he and I were [butting heads]."
Ryan started playing golf as a baby.
"We had him hitting golf balls in our backyard," Greg recalled. "That's all he wanted to do -- to go in the backyard and hit ball after ball."
Thanks to coaches, like Chris Martinez, at The Lakes at Castle Hills, along with a whole team designed to make Ryan the best he can be, the hard work has started to pay off.
"It's been a great great ride," said Ryan, who plans to continue in amateur golf until he's ready to turn pro. "That's been a dream of mine, since I was a little kid."
For now, he's at home on the (driving) range.