Billy Casper has never stopped being an athlete and a competitor, even when his aging body displayed evidence to the contrary. The determination that carried him to 51 PGA TOUR victories is now being employed for the sake of his own well being, and the results are equally impressive.
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| Billy Casper holds nine career Champions Tour titles. (Getty Images) |
So successfully has he been able to trim his body from a high of 298 pounds, that hip replacement surgery originally scheduled for June has been moved up to January 27. Casper hopes he can recuperate in time to play in a few Champions Tour events by year's end and more thoroughly participate in the numerous corporate outings that still fill his schedule 33 years after winning his only green jacket.
"I'm not going to play a lot of golf at my age, but I'd like to play some," Casper, who also won nine Champions Tour events, the last in 1989, said by telephone from his home in Chula Vista, Calif. "It would be nothing like before, but I want to be more involved than I have been."
Hobbled by an arthritic right hip, Casper played in just one Champions Tour event in 2002, the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf, where he and Gay Brewer teamed to finish fourth in the Demaret Division. By the end of the year the World Golf Hall of Famer's mobility was so severely hampered that he was preparing to use a cane.
Casper, whose weight loss has been achieved despite limited ability to exercise, said the hip has troubled him for years, but he was determined to try rehabilitation first. He finally became convinced that surgery was a viable option after talking with former president George Bush and Sir Michael Bonallack, the former secretary of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, both who've undergone the procedure successfully.
Further persuasion came via X-ray evidence that showed a left hip that was as healthy as that belonging to someone 30 years younger. "But the right one looked like a bowl of oatmeal," Casper said.
Casper said he's had to lose the weight to receive the maximum benefit of the hip replacement. He'd like to drop 98 pounds and arrive at an even 200, a weight he hasn't carried since before he turned professional in 1957.
"It really hasn't been that difficult at all," he said. "I'm an individual who likes a lot of different foods, so cutting a few out isn't a big deal for me. It's been easier than I thought it would be, but golfers, we're disciplined. To be an athlete you have to be disciplined. I'm pleased with what I've been able to accomplish."
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