LEHMAN, Pa. — You'd think a 15 year old would want to spend his first week out of school for summer break sleeping in, but that's not the case for Nicholas Werner.
"Woke up at sunrise this morning, got out here as soon as I can hit a golf ball, teed off, been playing all day."
He didn't just wake up bright and early to work on his game at the Huntsville Golf Club in Luzerne County. He's playing 100 holes of golf to raise money for the Alzheimer's Association in honor of his grandfather, who has the disease.
"I put online $20 a hole. And my goal was originally $2,000. And I've well exceeded that. And I'm so grateful to everyone who has donated and contributed to that. And yeah, I put it online. I shared it, and it just got a lot of attention."
Werner raised more than $6,000 for the effort, and now he has to get out there and complete his end of the bargain.
"I'd probably say 45 (holes), which is what I'm at now," Werner said when asked about the most golf he's ever played. "I felt perfectly fine. My hands are getting along. They feel fine. I'm ready to go."
Werner hopes to keep his pace up and his score down.
"I've shot pretty well my first two rounds, and I'm doing alright the third round, so hopefully, I can keep it up."
Werner Is used to playing golf as part of a team, but there's something about the solitude on the course for this task that he believes is fitting.
"Thinking that I can do it for others and just to help others like my grandfather, and I'm sure it can be lonely as someone with Alzheimer's and feeling there's no one else like you, but there's millions and millions of people out there who also have the disease and also struggle."
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