All anybody had to do was eyeball the name of the tournament and the decision became all the more obvious.
This marks the second year that the Children's Miracle Network has been the title sponsor of the PGA Tour's season finale at Disney World outside Orlando, Fla., so when the last two sponsor exemptions were handed out by event officials on Tuesday night, the tournament went right for the heartstrings.
|
|
| Erik Compton: 'Obviously, it's a very exciting time for me.' (AP) |
"He's an inspirational," tournament director Kevin Weickel said.
Five months ago, Compton received his second donor heart in a 14-hour procedure in Miami. Last week in Key Biscayne, Fla., needing a miraculous rally after starting the final day of the first stage of tour Qualifying School seven shots off the projected pace to advance, he shot the low round of the day to move onward.
He's gone from having no place to play to making an appearance at a PGA Tour venue and playing in the second stage of Q-school in consecutive weeks.
"When you think about it, Erik embodies and represents what the Children's Miracle Network is trying to convey across the country through the golf tournament," Weickel said.
Just because it sounds a little sappy and heavy on Disney pixie dust doesn't make it any less true.
The children's organization is a national network of hospitals dedicated to providing care to kids. Compton, who has been granted the use of an electric cart, had his first heart transplant at age 12, but last fall suffered a massive heart attack and was placed back on the waiting list for another organ. The longtime mini-tour and Nationwide player had the surgery May 20 and didn't begin playing again until three months ago.
Compton, 28, a former All-American at Georgia, doesn't have an agent, a club endorsement deal or any financial underpinnings. He played in Q-school last week with a patchwork set of obsolete equipment. But his prospects are far better now than they were last week, when he looked like a first-stage washout at Q-school.
Now his amazing story is sure to get national attention.
"Obviously, it's a very exciting time for me," Compton said Tuesday. "For me, my wife and my family, really. I'm ecstatic."
| Advertisement |
|||
| |||
Compton has a pedigree at Disney's Magnolia Course, too. Eleven years ago, at one of the big American Junior Golf Association events of the year, he held off a field that included reigning Masters champion Trevor Immelman to win the Rolex Tournament of Champions. He became the top-ranked junior player in the country as a result.
"For this to be my first tournament back at a place where I made an impact in my junior career is pretty fitting," Compton said.
Compton has played sparingly in PGA Tour events over the years, spending most of his career on the Canadian or Nationwide circuits. He won the Canadian Tour money title in 2002, and made the cut four times at the PGA Tour's Doral event before it morphed into a World Golf Championships tournament.
"I think I have shown that I have the game," Compton said. "Now it's a matter of controlling my emotions."
Disney extended its three other exemptions to tour veterans Bob Tway, Scott McCarron and Lee Janzen. Given that Compton is believed to be the only professional athlete or sports figure who has undergone two heart transplants, the admittedly more accomplished trio won't generate nearly as much attention. Combined.
"We have learned with our association with the Miracle Network that there are lots of miracle kids out there, and Erik is a miracle himself." Weickel said. "On top of that, he's a pretty good golfer, too."
