PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Looking out at the 17th hole while standing inside a hospitality tent at The Players Championship, 26-year Air Force veteran Joey Pate had his furry best friend, Roscoe standing right beside him.
All of a sudden someone joined him. That someone is PGA Tour player and Ponte Vedra Beach resident Billy Horschel, who through his foundation, the Horschel Family Foundation, sponsored Roscoe through the K9s for Warriors training program.
“We get tied up in how we play and our golf’s not good and complaining about certain things, but I’m very fortunate enough to live the life I get to do,” Horschel said. “Obviously it comes with hard work, but not everyone is in the same boat so to be able to help out people like Joe and see the gratitude that he had for us providing him with the unbelievable resource to help him with his struggles and PTSD. Roscoe’s doing an unbelievable job.”
Pate was scrolling on Facebook one day and found out about K9s for Warriors.
As a dog person, he signed up and waited two years to be matched with a dog. At first, Pate initially indicated he wanted a poodle because he thought no other veteran would want a poodle. He also indicated that he would take the smallest dog out of the group. To his surprise one day in November - he was matched with an 88-pound rescue from a Jacksonville animal shelter.
“Having K9s for Warriors and Billy working with that, not only did he help me, but there’s a great possibility that he saved one of the kindest loving dogs that anyone would ever come across,” Pate said. “You just can’t thank someone enough, because being an animal person, saving [Roscoe] to me is as important as helping me, if not even more.”
Pate isn’t much of a golf fan, but his new favorite golfer is Billy Horschel.
“To see the veteran who received the dog and meeting him for the first time and to see how much that means to Joe was truly special,” Horschel said. “We know these animals, these unbelievably trained dogs provide a life-saving opportunity for these veterans and to see it first hand is sort of even energizes myself and our foundation even more to continue to support and help out even more veterans.”
Roscoe is the first dog that the Horschel Family Foundation sponsored. This year, they’re sponsoring Nola, a 1.5-year-old golden retriever who got the chance to walk inside the ropes with Horschel during Tuesday’s practice round.