"It would mean the absolute world to me," he said. They have a special place here with me and what more can I say? I mean, I feel blessed to be able to play here and without them, I wouldn't be here."Īfter his round, he allowed himself a moment to dream the most improbable thought of all, that he could somehow win the Open on Sunday. They encouraged me to play baseball, football, basketball and they were good at telling me how good I was at it instead of beating me up."Ĭompton said he keeps in touch with the family of his second donor: "I don't know if they will be watching, but they're a very great family and they're a tight group. Sports was something that I lived for and something that they pushed me to do. My parents have always done a really great job of pushing me to be a normal kid and a normal child. Even when I got wheeled out of the operating room and they have it on camera, I said I would still be a professional baseball player. "I told everybody I would be a Major League Baseball player at age 8. "I think that's just the function of my makeup," he said. I'm getting better with it."Įarly in his life, Compton chose not to play the role of the victim. But it's right back to hitting the ball and trying to get the ball in the hole. And it gives me a lot of strength when I do have moments where I feel like I get emotional for a second. But to play at this high level and in such a big tournament, it is something that I carry with me. When I'm out there, when you look around and I realize where I have been - but it shouldn't matter. When you're doing that, it's pretty fun."Īn unsurprising sense of perspective accompanies Compton on the course, especially at moments like this. I'm taking really tight lines off the tee and swinging hard. "You know, it was just a good, solid day," he said. Saturday, he bogeyed the third hole, then eagled the par-5 fifth, then gave a shot back by bogeying 6. When he arrived in Pinehurst, he paced himself, playing only nine practice holes a day Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.Īfter rounds of 72 and 68, he entered the weekend at even-par. A 6-foot putt two holes later earned him one of those berths. After the regulation 36 holes at a qualifier in Columbus, Ohio, he found himself in a five-man playoff for three spots. Ranked 187th in the world, he needed to qualify for the Open. He has won a career-high $863,000, having made 13 of 19 cuts with two top 10 finishes. He hasn't won a one, although he is having his best year on tour by far. "You got to give me a break, I just had a new heart when I was at Pebble Beach."Ĭompton is playing in his 100th PGA Tour event here this week. Open (in which he missed the cut), his comment was priceless: Open compared with his only other major, the 2010 U.S. When he was asked by NBC Sports about his comfort level in playing this U.S. Yet even within the confines of his sport, it leads to interesting moments. His story is well known in golf circles but barely heard outside the sport. The next May, he underwent his second heart transplant. In October 2007, at 27, Compton suffered a heart attack and drove himself to the hospital. That led to his first heart transplant in 1992, when he was 12. When Compton was 9, he was diagnosed with viral cardiomyopathy, a condition in which the heart muscle is inflamed and unable to pump as hard as it should. Putting things in perspective may help me." "A lot more adrenaline pressure situations than hitting a tee shot on 18. "I have been through a lot in my life," he said. And even when things weren't going well, I wasn't getting over-anxious. But today I didn't feel much adrenaline or pressure. I think yesterday I was a little more not at ease. "I knew something special was happening," the 34-year-old Compton said after his stellar round, which pulled him into a tie for second, five shots behind leader Martin Kaymer. For a two-time heart transplant recipient to pull it off the first time he's ever played on the weekend in a major championship, as Erik Compton did Saturday, is absolutely remarkable. 2 is a grand achievement under almost any circumstance. To shoot 3-under-par 67 in the pressure-cooker of the third round of the U.S.
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