QBE Shootout: Cunningham, voice of Naples golf, back after tracheotomy, Hall induction

Brendan Cunningham has added scarves to his wardrobe that includes colorful clothing and, if possible, even more colorful socks.

That isn't by design.

The 73-year-old had an emergency tracheotomy the day before Halloween. The scarves are to hide the opening in his neck.

Cunningham had been referred over to Dr. Daniel Weed, a throat surgeon, on the east coast. Weed told he and his wife Ellie while they were there that he had an opening for an operation that afternoon.

"I was scared to death," Cunningham said Friday after announcing all 12 teams in the QBE Shootout at Tiburón Golf Club at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort.

More:Chubb Classic: Now on the first tee, for the 27th straight year, Brendan Cunningham

More:QBE Shootout Notebook: Chris Berman happy to be back, back, back "a little more" on ESPN

More:QBE Shootout: Steve Stricker talks Tiger, Presidents Cup; back with Sean O'Hair to defend

Like everything else he's been through, and it's a lot — leukemia, colon cancer, colorectal cancer and throat cancer, the latter silenced his voice for four months in 2003 — the game of golf has pushed him through.

"I shouldn't even be here," Cunningham said this week. "But I'm blessed."

Cunningham had something to boost his recovery. He found out Oct. 22 that he was being inducted into the South Florida PGA Hall of Fame, and would have to give a speech on Nov. 13.

Cunningham was told his vocal cords had shrunken to 1/62nd of an inch and were paralyzed.

"That's why I could hardly breathe," he said. "My voice is actually a lot better than it was."

Cunningham was born in Ireland, and moved to the U.S. when he was 5. He played football — even semi-professionally with the Roanoke Buckskins in the Atlantic Coast Football League — and was in clandestine services for 18 years. He sold insurance, and was involved with real estate.

Cunningham credits a combination of the late Joe Klimas, a broadcasting legend in Naples who was a tee announcer at area professional golf tournaments, and tour player Hale Irwin with getting him into being a tee announcer.

He's done it a lot, and at a lot of different places. 

Cunningham is a regular at the QBE Shootout, this week's PGA Tour event that he's done every year it's been in Naples, and the PGA Tour Champions' Chubb Classic, where he'll do it for the 29th time in February at Lely Resort.

"His outlook on it is just so correct," Shootout tournament founder and host Greg Norman said. "He feels like he's blessed. He's had chances at a second life. He's so appreciative. When he got into the Hall of Fame, I think it was a feather in the cap for him."

Cunningham has announced at the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf when it was in St. Augustine and  Savannah, Georgia, Champions Tour events in Boca Raton and Tampa when it was there, and also in North Carolina.

Golf has even given him his wife Ellie — the late legendary golfer and TV analyst Ken Venturi, a longtime Marco Island resident, introduced them.

"I couldn't have done it without Ellie," he said. "She's my rock."

In December 2016, he was given the South Florida PGA's Distinguished Service Award, which recognizes outstanding individuals who display leadership and humanitarian qualities in addition to integrity, sportsmanship and enthusiasm for the game of golf while helping to push forward the mission of the South Florida PGA.

Cunningham has been a missionary for golf beyond just saying people's names into a microphone.

The First Tee, a national program for youngsters that introduces them to core values to instill qualities that go outside the game itself and has a local chapter, is a treasure for Cunningham, who will leave a legacy contribution to the South Florida PGA Foundation that will go toward junior golf and scholarships.

"I don't have kids," he said. "These are my kids."

"The programs that we administer and the kids that have meant so much to him over the years," said Geoff Lofstead, executive director of the South Florida PGA Section.

So for all of those reasons, it was no surprise that Cunningham made it to the annual awards and Hall of Fame dinner. Or that he was well enough to give a speech.

"The speech that I made was about what golf's done for me," he said. "I wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for golf. That is the truth."

The Section also had a surprise for him. Irwin, tour player and TV analyst Gary Koch, and tour player and TV analyst Peter Jacobsen, a Bonita Springs resident, all gave video tributes.

"There's nothing phony," Cunningham said of the well-wishes he's received from pro golfers through his various health issues. "It's real. God bless them."

"We're honoring Brendan for his service to us, but really also for his service to the game," Lofstead said.

And what service it's been.

Cunningham has spoken names from Arnold Palmer -- "When Arnold went, things changed," he said -- to Gary Player to Jack Nicklaus and so many other golf legends, going back to the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf that was filled with a "walking World Golf Hall of Fame," as Cunningham put it.

He developed a relationship with Palmer and Player, particularly, and Player once remarked "You're an inspiration to lunacy," regarding Cunningham's health issues -- "It was hilarious," Cunningham said -- and called him Mr. Bionic.

And then Cunningham has introduced some of the game's newer names at tournaments like the Shootout or the LPGA Tour's CME Group Tour Championship.

"I've had the fortune of introducing more Hall of Fame golfers than any other announcer in the world," Cunningham said.

And those Hall of Fame golfers have seen a Cunningham's Hall of Fame sock collection — Friday he had blue socks on with stars on them "It's Patriot Day," he said, referring to the anniversary of Pearl Harbor.

"I probably have 1,000 pairs of socks, some I haven't worn yet," he said.

Now Cunningham has that other clothing item to add to his repertoire.

"I'm the king of the ascots," he said. "I went from socks to ascots."

"I love him; I love seeing him," Norman said. "He's just a sweetheart of a guy. For every day he has extra on this earth, the earth is better for it because he's a good person."

"He's a dedicated individual with a huge heart and just a great person," said Graeme McDowell, whose playing in his seventh Shootout this week. 

The players love him, he loves the players, and they both love golf.

"I tell you what, golf has been so good to me," Cunningham said, choking up. "I can't believe it.

"Golf has given me more than I could ever give back."