![]() It was then that he discovered golf, first as a way to rehab from the surgery, but eventually as a way to fill the void left by other sports. The transplant was a success, but ruled out more athletic sports for Compton. In February 1992, after nearly three years of searching, a donor was found, a 15-year-old girl killed by a drunk driver. He was diagnosed with viral cardiomyopathy only a heart transplant could give him a shot at a full life. When Compton was nine, doctors discovered his heart muscle was inflamed, preventing it from pumping blood as it should. Twenty-three years and two hearts after being told he would never play competitive sports again - and after surgeries, setbacks and even quitting the game - Compton is making good and playing the best golf of his life. Now a 32-year-old rookie on the 2012 PGA Tour, Compton has not only beaten the odds, he’s completely ignored them. “Things like that make you stop and think,” says Chi-Chi Rodriguez, Erik’s mentor and a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame. Had he made the cut and still been in Idaho, the outcome may have been much different. He suffered a severe heart attack, but being at a hospital familiar with his condition, he had a life-saving stent placed in his heart, and survived to go on the donor list for a second new heart. Compton managed to get as far as the front doors of Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital before collapsing. As he pulled into the parking lot, a blockage in his left main coronary artery resulted in a heart attack. That Sunday, having flown home to Miami, Compton just wasn’t feeling right, and with the state of his heart - his second heart, a transplant still ticking six years longer than expected - he decided to drive to the hospital to get checked out. Little did he know, it also probably saved his life. Posting a nine on the par-four fifth hole ended any hopes of playing on the weekend. To check out Compton in Connecticut this week, watch the Travelers Championship live on Sky Sports starting Thursday, at 8pm.Walking off the 18th green on Friday, after another missed cut at the 2007 Albertsons Boise Open, a Nationwide Tour stop in Idaho, Erik Compton was distraught. I'm not going to go through a list of names but it's really cool to have a lot of guys who have been very encouraging on my story and really rooting for me."Ĭompton, who has dual nationality as his mother is Norwegian, was a member of the US Walker Cup team which lost to Great Britain and Ireland in 2001.ĭuring that contest in Georgia he faced Luke Donald in a foursomes match and he could meet the Englishman again in a little over three months, providing he can maintain his excellent form on the PGA Tour. "A lot of the greats in sports have reached out. “He's one of the greatest three-point shooters of all time and I had been struggling a little bit with the putter. He and I talked a little before I went to the US Open about just visualising shots. "I spoke with Ray Allen (basketball player with the Miami Heat). That was kind of cool for him to be encouraging on my game before the round and he went out and had a great round himself shooting 67 to finish joint fourth. He adds: "Keegan wrote me a nice note on Sunday. Six of the players who made up the top 10 in last Sunday’s major championship are teeing up in the Travelers Championship in Connecticut which starts on Thursday.Ĭompton is paired with Keegan Bradley and Jason Day in rounds one and two, and he admits he has received many words of encouragement from people during the past week. “It's just a dream of mine to be able to say that, and now I can actually live it." Being able to prepare for the British Open, I think that style of golf suits my game, a lot of pars and creative shots. Thanks to his high finish at Pinehurst on Sunday, Compton moved 40 spots up the latest standings to 19th, needing to rise another 10 places between now and the PGA Championship in August to secure automatic qualification to the team.Īnd it is a huge achievement that has not gone unnoticed by the player himself, with Compton saying: "I would love to play on the Ryder Cup team, it's a huge goal of mine, and that's now a possibility if I continue to play really, really well.
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