All heart: Compton on course five months after second heart transplant

Compton even got so upset with himself on the back nine, he fired a ball into the mangroves, a sure sign that he's well on the mend.

"It's good to be competitive and to have fire, because that's what I used to get through my medical stuff," he said, smirking. "You've got to fight. Life and golf are all the same."

Well, yes and no. Not many folks get two mulligans on their tickers. Despite six previous cracks at Q-school, Compton has never quite grabbed the brass ring, though there isn't much dispute over whether he has some ability. The Miami native has four times played in the PGA Tour event at Doral, making the cut in each instance. His story is familiar to some, since NBC Sports broadcaster Jimmy Roberts did a feature story on Compton that aired during the Doral telecast a few years ago. Compton's heart issues have forever been the hook for the human-interest stories -- in fact, during one of his Doral appearances, Compton fainted in the fairway and gave everybody a huge scare.

Stoic and stubborn, his career still has a pulse, too.

"This is the most fun, of everything, to journey and to try," he said. "Because today, even though I didn't shoot the round I should have, it's still a success."

This time around, the plot has thickened appreciably. Compton got married earlier this year and the couple is expecting their first child in late February, as fate would have it, on the date when he received his first transplant.

Let's see, doing the backwards math, that means the baby was conceived the week before Compton had the transplant, when he was already in the hospital, in pretty dire straits, awaiting a new organ donor.

"Guess the hospital needs better security, huh?" his father cracked.

Compton didn't exactly blush when the time line and details of the immaculate impregnation issue were bluntly broached. Far from it.

"Hey," he said, grinning, "you have to live life, right?"