KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. -- Fret not for Erik Compton.
Other than running a bit hot under the collar, everything else remains cool.
Despite two consecutive days of lackluster golf, the 28-year-old medical miracle in soft spikes, who is only five months removed from receiving his second heart transplant, is as feisty and unflappable as ever.
"This is nothing like I hit it a week ago," complained the Miami native on Wednesday. "Just two bad rounds of golf. That's the worst I could have shot today and the worst I could have shot yesterday."
After a second-round 75, Compton is 7 over at the halfway point of the first-stage of PGA Tour Qualifying School at Crandon Golf Course, five shots off the projected number needed to advance. As for whether competitive rust, the aftereffects of his highly invasive surgery and the media attention have derailed him this week, the former All-American from Georgia all but scoffed.
"It's one thing to make an excuse, but I really don't think so," he said. "I shot 65 and 67 in events coming in, so I can't blame it on my health. I believe I should win this tournament. I believe that.
"There's no question in my mind and I wouldn't play if I didn't think so. If I get it going, you can shoot 64 out here."
It might take that and then some. Compton is tied for 55th in the field of 78 and only the top 23 and ties advance to the second-stage qualifiers next month.
In one inarguable offshoot of his surgery, Compton said he's hitting hard hooks since he began practicing three months ago, instead of the characteristic fade he has had all his life. That's been a huge adjustment.
"There's no excuse. If you play well one week, there shouldn't be a difference."
You have to admire his attitude. You can cut the heart out of the athlete -- but only the tissue, not the competitive spirit.
Compton is still gulping seven or eight different medications three different times daily, including while he's playing.
"If your levels are not right, you can get shaky hands, but it seems to be pretty good," he said of his pharmacological cocktail.
But in a welcome twist, Wednesday marked the first time in 18 years that he hadn't taken a steroid medication. After some positive blood-test results came back earlier in the week, doctors took him off that Tuesday night.
"That's a milestone for me," he said.
He'd like to establish some new ones as a player, too. In most respects, he looks like the same player who won the Canadian Tour money title four years ago and played off and on in Nationwide and PGA tour events for the past seven seasons. He's starting to feel like the same dude, too.
At one point Wednesday, he heaved a club in frustration. A day earlier, he angrily fired a ball into the mangroves. The will to win is definitely there.
"On the course, I am my own worst enemy," he said. "It's part of the reason why I don't think I have had success in the bigger events because I somehow get too caught up in what this is instead of going out and playing.
"That's why I have been the king of minor-league events. I play in those and play great. It's a mindset. Even after the transplant and all the stuff I have been through, I come to the course as the same person."
Compton paused for dramatic effect.
"A nutbag," he laughed.
With the steady onshore breeze blowing at week at the seaside course, it's going to be tough to make up ground with a seriously low number. But few others are going ballistic, either.
"I can shoot 3 under or 4 under and make it, I think," he said. "It's doable. It's not like it's not there.
"If I don't make it here, there's always next year, I guess."
