The day following his son’s death, the elder Duplantis was put in touch with Andy Pazder, the PGA TOUR’s Chief of Operations.

“God love them, they immediately put together an educational trust fund for her,” said the father.

There was a memorial tournament and fundraiser for Sierra’s education that spring in Plant City, and Steve’s father organized their first benefit tournament the Monday before the RBC Canadian Open (Steve Duplantis was born in Brampton, Ontario). A number of players and caddies participated in one or the other, or both, including Furyk, the boss who fired the caddie.

“The first year was our big push,” says Steve’s father. “That was the year we wanted to raise as much money as we could for Sierra’s trust. Jim played the British Open the week before. He didn’t even get into Toronto until about 1:30 in the morning and arrived at North Halton (Golf Club, near Toronto) the next day at 11 o’clock in the morning.

“Anybody that wanted to talk to him, shake his hand, whatever. He hung around the golf course until 11 or 11:30 that night.”

Furyk’s appearance was a featured part of the fundraiser and several local golfers paid a considerable amount of money to be in his group. He even bought some hockey memorabilia donated by Craig Ramsay, who played for the Buffalo Sabres and knew Duplantis from when he was a coach for the Florida Panthers.

The week of the Canadian Open is a busy one for Furyk since RBC is one of his sponsors. Paid a tidy sum to attend a pairings party the day after the fundraiser, when it came time to get the check, Furyk told them to make it out to the Sierra Duplantis Trust.

“I don’t know if he’d want people knowing how generous he was,” says Steve’s father.

In the ensuing years, Furyk has continued to support the memorial tournament with signed memorabilia, pretty much anything they wanted. Others have played in the event when their schedule persists. Fluff Cowan said he’s played two or three times.

But that first year was the key, with 90 percent of the money currently in the trust stemming from the inaugural event.

Although Sierra is on partial scholarship, not all of her college expenses are covered, so the trust pays for the rest. Her plans to attend law school won’t be cheap, but if she says in-state, the trust should be just enough to get her through without having to apply for student loans.

Earlier this year, in the spring at the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte, Furyk went to dinner at Ruth’s Chris with Sierra and her grandfather.

“We talked about the golf tournament,” says Sierra. “He talked about his foundation with Tabitha and asked me about school. He’s so sweet. He was telling me about his college days.”

To Furyk, it’s no big deal.

“I just want to be honest. That’s easy stuff,” he says. “I think most of the people Steve worked for would do that to help. I hear from Steve’s dad probably half a dozen times a year. They wish me well and say hello. I wish and hope that Sierra does well.

“I’ve played Charlotte two of the last three years and we kind of revisited. The first year she was in the process of picking colleges. She did so well in school, she had an academic scholarship. I just think it’s great. She had a lot of good people around her. I’d lost touch with her for a while. All of a sudden, you catch up with her and she’s a young lady.”

When players talk about their charities, it’s rarely about the simple kindnesses, often performed in private, for people -- even one little girl -- who could have fallen through life’s cracks.

“It was 4-1/2 years he was on my bag,” Furyk says of Duplantis. “We were both real young. We were both in a learning curve. I think we had an impact on each other.”

Indeed. The proof is right there at Memorial Stadium, the young girl with the football ticket tucked into her cowboy boots and proudly waving the orange foam No. 1 hand to support her team. Her smile is bright, her future brighter. Through small acts of kindness, she's now chasing giant dreams.