Admirers of Erik Compton from Miami, Florida will be following from the furthest corners of golf today, as he is beginning his quest to win a PGA Tour card only five months after undergoing a heart transplant, which was his second attempt at a transplant to date. Compton, who is only twenty eight years old, is teeing it up at 9:50 am this morning in the first round of the first stage of the PGA Tour's Qualifying Tournament event, which is being held at Crandon Golf, a course on Key Biscayne in Florida.
Compton, along with former teen golfing sensation Ty Tryon are among a total of 78 golfing pros who are vying over a span of four different rounds to advance to a second stage, and then finally to the final state of the "Q School" during the fall season. The low 20 at Key Biscayne will be chosen to advance. According to officials with the PGA Tour, as many as the low 22 may move forward though it is not known yet.
Casey Martin, who is the men's golf coach at the University of Oregon is going to be following as best as he possibly can during the tour from his home, which is more than 3,000 miles away from where the tournament is being held. Martin's interest in Compton's game goes beyond mere curiosity. After all, Martin did pave the road for Compton to travel with a fight that went all the way to the Supreme Court just to get him there.
The PGA Tour finally did grant Compton a special request to use a golf cart during his Q-School bid, after he demonstrated that he does qualify for the Americans with Disabilities guidelines after his surgery. Compton only recently underwent his heart transplant surgery on May 20, six months after he miraculously survived a heart attack. Compton had received his first heart transplant at only twelve years old, and is now recovering from his second at the age of 28.
Martin suffers from a degenerative syndrome in his right leg, called Klippel-Trenauney-Weber Syndrome. He was originally denied the use of a golf court when he made his bid to win the PGA Tour card. He did ultimately win the right to use a golf cart when the Supreme Court finally ruled in his favor in 2001. In a phone interview from his home in Oregon, Martin said "I'm excited for Erik. I'm thrilled he gets the opportunity to pursue golf at the highest level."
Erik Compton does say that he feels ready. He shot a 7-under-par 65 and beat a fiel of local pros by six shots at the one day Biscayne Open tournament two weeks ago at Crandon Golf, the same course where the Key Biscayne tournament is being held right now. Compton said that he was firing on all of his cylinders because he is excited to be playing golf again. If Compton can in fact achieve his PGA Tour card team, then Martin will finally know that his fight for the use of golf carts during tournaments served an even greater purpose.
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