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Heart transplant recipient in U.S. Open
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif., (UPI) -- Double heart transplant recipient Erik Compton says he will be among those teeing off Thursday at the U.S. Open in Pebble Beach, Calif.
Compton, 30, of Miami, received his first heart transplant at age 12 after being diagnosed with viral cardiomyopathy, a disease that infects the heart muscle, and his second in 2008. Now he's continuing his return to the big stage of the U.S. Open, The Washington Post reported Monday.
Compton, who has two career victories on the Canadian tour, two more on the Hooters Tour and another professional win in Morocco, is playing under a sponsors' exemption, just as he did two weeks ago at The Memorial in Ohio.
Compton said even he doubted he would return to golf after the second transplant.
"I had pretty much come to grips that I was never going to play golf again," he told the Post, but added, "Heart transplant or not, everybody tries to play."
"There's a lot of fear in our life every day that something might happen to him," said his mother, Eli Compton. "But we have learned to live with that ... and he just goes for it."
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif., (UPI) -- Double heart transplant recipient Erik Compton says he will be among those teeing off Thursday at the U.S. Open in Pebble Beach, Calif.
Compton, 30, of Miami, received his first heart transplant at age 12 after being diagnosed with viral cardiomyopathy, a disease that infects the heart muscle, and his second in 2008. Now he's continuing his return to the big stage of the U.S. Open, The Washington Post reported Monday.
Compton, who has two career victories on the Canadian tour, two more on the Hooters Tour and another professional win in Morocco, is playing under a sponsors' exemption, just as he did two weeks ago at The Memorial in Ohio.
Compton said even he doubted he would return to golf after the second transplant.
"I had pretty much come to grips that I was never going to play golf again," he told the Post, but added, "Heart transplant or not, everybody tries to play."
"There's a lot of fear in our life every day that something might happen to him," said his mother, Eli Compton. "But we have learned to live with that ... and he just goes for it."