Less than one week after terrorist attacks shocked the world 16 years ago, Sports Illustrated writer John Garrity did something almost no one would have considered: he boarded a plane for Europe. The Ryder Cup was cancelled and the PGA Tour put on hold as people everywhere braced for what seemed to some as the start of a third world war.

Garrity left his home and family in Kansas City and flew to England. His assignment: tell us how the golf world would react. What he found was very telling, but more than anything, if only for a few fleeting days, Garrity saw golf heal the minds of many people who were left confused and unsure how to move on.