To honor their friend, three friends make the trip of a lifetime

L to R: Reuben Berridge, Traevon Clark and Michael Davenport. Photo: Golfdom staff

Isaih Arraya, the late son of Carlos Arraya, is only at the PGA Championship in spirit, but his three best friends are here in person to honor him and to support his father.

Reuben Berridge, age 20; Traevon Clark, age 22 and Michael Davenport, age 22, all made the trek from Orlando, Fla., to St. Louis to volunteer on the Bellerive crew. Originally meeting in high school, they have no background in golf, but knew they wanted to be here to represent for “Izzy.”

“We wanted to be here to support Carlos,” says Berridge. “My first time seeing Carlos was at the hospital, when he flew in, I was there. I didn’t really get to speak to him, I just gave him a hug… As the days went on I’ve gotten to talk to him, and we’ve been in contact ever since.”

The three say they weren’t golf fans before, but they definitely are now. Berridge and Davenport go so far as to say they’re becoming interested in working in the industry.

“I’m actually not (working) at the moment, you could say the event set me back,” Davenport says. “I tend to think about things differently now. That’s what Izzy knew about me. I learned from Carlos that he was speaking to him about motivating me. We wanted to start a business together. I feel like I can do a lot. Being around the PGA, I could probably see myself going into golf.”

“It’s beautiful, I’ve never seen anything like it, honestly,” says Berridge. “Everything is pinpoint. We weren’t golf fans (before) but we are now.”

The crew honored Isaih Arraya on what would have been his 21st birthday by wearing these special wristbands. Photo: Golfdom staff

Clark says as he has gotten to know Carlos Arraya better, he realizes why his son was the special person he was, calling him a “mini version of his father.”

“I’ve learned why Isaih was the way he was,” Clark says. “He was very tight knit, very motivated, driven, nothing was going to stop him. There’s not going to be another Isaih, he was special. I don’t even know how to explain it, you could have just known him for a day and you would remember him, and he touched many people.”

Clark gets stricken with grief when asked to talk about his friend. He regrets that he didn’t see him for the last four months of his life, as he got too busy working at a radio station.

“Any time he looked to me to hang, I was busy, and I regret that, we wanted to make people laugh, make videos,” Clark says. “I see exactly why (Isaih) was the way he was, he was an amazing kid — just like his dad. Very motivated, driven, nothing could stop him from his goals, and he was always for the people, just like his dad.”