‘This world just isn’t fair.’ UK golfer dies less than a year after cancer diagnosis.
Cullan Brown, a golfer at the University of Kentucky who left the program to fight a rare form of cancer prior to his sophomore season, died Tuesday at age 20.
Brown revealed on Aug. 31 of last year that he was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a bone cancer, in his left thigh. Only about 750-1,000 people are diagnosed with osteosarcoma each year in the United States.
“Our hearts are simply devastated over the loss of our brother Cullan,” Kentucky head coach Brian Craig said. “I have personally never known a more special or amazing young man. He was simply the most gifted person I have ever coached. He could literally do anything with excellence, but his greatest gift was the way he loved the Lord and loved people. That is a tremendous legacy to leave behind and one that will last forever within our UK golf family.”
Brown, an Eddyville native, following the 2018-19 men’s golf season was named to the All-Southeastern Conference Freshman Team after posting a 72.42 stroke average over eight spring events (he missed the fall season after having surgery to repair a broken bone in his hand). He finished in the top 20 four times, including a career-best tie for fifth place in the Mason Rudolph Tournament in Franklin, Tenn.
“This world just isn’t fair, can’t even put into words the human being this guy was,” former UK golfer Chip McDaniel wrote on Twitter. “One day we’ll grill steaks and hit the white ball around again. Until then, RIP Cullan. You will not be forgotten!
At one time Brown was ranked as the No. 8 recruit in the class of 2018. He committed to UK prior to his junior season at Lyon County High School, during which he won the individual KHSAA state championship.
“I couldn’t be happier to play college golf at the state’s flagship university and to be a Wildcat,” Brown told Golfweek when he committed in 2016. “I love the state of Kentucky and its people.”
Brown in high school also twice finished as the state’s individual runner-up, in 2015 and 2017.
“These are painful moments for the UK Athletics family,” UK Athletic Director Mitch Barnhart said. “Our university and our state have lost a truly special person in Cullan Brown. The impact he made on so many in his short time as a Wildcat is immeasurable, whether it was through his heart as a competitor or his simple goodness as a man.”
Last summer Brown competed as an exempt amateur in the PGA’s Barbasol Championship at Keene Trace Golf Course in Nicholasville. He made the cut in his PGA Tour debut — the only amateur to do so — and finished with a 9-under 207 over the three-day event.
“We were really unsure of how well the game would hold up, and I know I’m as or more surprised than anybody that it’s held up as well as it has,” Brown told the Herald-Leader last year. “It’s just unbelievable to get to be here and even more so to get to play to the level that I’m happening to play at.”
A GoFundMe fundraiser established soon after Brown’s departure from UK raised more than $50,000 to help his family.
“I ask for special prayers for Cullan’s wonderful family,” Craig said. “Rodney, Emily and his younger sister, Cathryn, have all been so faithful and supportive of Cullan over this past year. I have witnessed firsthand what unconditional love looks like. It looks like the Brown family. They have inspired all of us during this battle and I stand in awe of them as a family of believers.”
Visitation will take place at Lakeland Funeral Home in Eddyville from 2-8 p. m. CDT Friday and 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday. Funeral services are scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday at First Baptist Eddyville.
This story was originally published August 4, 2020 at 9:59 PM.
