3-16-10, Greg Hardwig – NaplesNews.com

http://setanchor.com/news/2010/mar/16/local-golf-ken-green-gives-inspiration-finish-coor

*****WITH VIDEO*****

NAPLES: Ken Green tapped in on No. 9 to finish 36 holes at the Coors Light Open on Sunday at Fort Myers Country Club. There was a round of applause from the nearby 18th green. A handful of fans mingled with the 51-year-old, who signed autographs and posed for pictures.

25 years ago, when Green was in the prime of a PGA Tour career that included 5 wins and a 1989 Ryder Cup appearance, that scene may never have happened. Not like this one, anyway.

Last June’s horrific recreational vehicle accident that cost Green his girlfriend, brother, dog and part of his lower right leg changed all of that. Changed everything but his desire to play golf. The Coors Light Open gave him that opportunity, a tournament on a 6,400-yard layout that allowed carts.

“Ken Green and inspiration were not exactly synonymous,” said Green, known for his boisterous behavior on the PGA Tour that included club-throwing and saying just about whatever he felt, whenever he felt like it. “It’s a wonderful feeling when the people that you don’t know come up and just say that you’re really giving them hope and joy. As men, we don’t like to (admit) that it hits us, but it does. It’s a great feeling when that many people care.”

Saturday, he had 3 birdies, 2 bogeys and a double-bogey, on the 17th hole, to shoot a 2-over-par 73. Sunday wasn’t as good, with Green struggling to a 77 as he dealt with ongoing pain in his right leg. He tied for 39th, beating three of the 47 professionals.

“It wasn’t a very fun day, but that happens,” Green said. “I’m happy. I finished. I did break 80, and I don’t think I finished last, so I’m happy. It’s a good start. Baby steps are baby steps. There’s a reason they came up with that saying. That’s what I have to do.”  “He’s not bashful to speak his mind,” said Rich Lamb, the Coors Light Open’s tournament director. “It was a pleasure to have him. It’s just an inspiration.”

Last month, Green had played in a 2-person event with his friend, Craig Thomas, who also played in the Coors and recommended that event to Green. Two weeks ago, battling 50-degree temperatures and 40 mph winds, Green withdrew after shooting an 80 in the first round of a Sunbelt Senior Tour event in West Palm Beach, where the Danbury, Conn., native now lives.

While Green is playing with a prosthetic leg, he’s still recovering from some of the other injuries — a broken eye socket, lost tooth, and a scar on his head — suffered in the accident after being thrown through the windshield.

“I want you to all know that for the first time I really have seen that my dream is GOING to happen,” Green wrote on his blog on his site http://www.kengreenscomeback.com on Monday. “The scores don’t matter, it’s what and how that shows me whether I’m going to reach these goals. I absolutely saw Golf SHOTS. There is still a long road ahead, but we have finally found the road.”

Green wrote that his left ankle is not healing properly, and he plans to have an MRI this week.  But he saw enough that he plans on playing with Mike Reid in the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf from April 23-25.

“This was actually going to determine whether I played with Mike in the Legends,” Green said Sunday. “I played enough quality shots that I’m definitely going to play with him.”

That, and his putting was still strong.

“He’s got that little short putter, and he was rolling it today,” said Dustin Rigsdon, a 28-year-old who was one of Green’s playing partners and called him a legend.

“The putter is still with me. I haven’t lost that,” said Green, who won $3.7 million on the PGA Tour, and $146,817 in 18 Champions Tour events in 2008 and 2009. “The big guy was kind enough to leave that for me.”

One of the pieces from Green’s life that he’s determined to put back together.

*end*

After a nice drive back from the Coors Light Open in Fort Myers, I said I was going to blog immediately. Wrong, as I fell flat on the bed.

Some of you know that I shot 73-77 over the weekend. I want you to all know that for the first time I really have seen that my dream is GOING to happen. The scores don’t matter, it’s what and how that shows me whether I’m going to reach these goals. I absolutely saw Golf SHOTS. There is still a long road ahead, but we have finally found the road.

The biggest problem is going to be my left ankle, its just not healing. It must be stronger for success. I will be having an MRI later this week and maybe we will be able to see what’s going on in there.

I was also amazed how many people thought I was an inspiration, me – scary. I think it’s the new tooth. I must now try and get more consistent and develop some more power.

I’m so psyched about playing with “Radar” Mike Reid in the LEGENDS. [ April 23-25, Savannah, http://tinyurl.com/yhkx4ur ]. I will have enough time to bring my game up a notch or two. I am currently at level 2 with only 3 to go before I can honestly say it’s time to go play out there. I can get one more by Legends time, and the other two will probably take the rest of the year. I don’t want to play out there if I can’t compete. I will not to be a “show and tell“.

The news on the PGA Tour giving me a major medical is still up in the air.  There’s a slim chance, but there is a board meeting on the 22nd and all will be determined then. I’m still baffled as to how it has not been decided all ready. Tim Finchem, the commish, has decided not to do anything himself. (he has the power).  I believe in my heart that they will do the right thing, and give me what I have earned.  The game of golf is what keeps me going. The thought of playing professional golf keeps me going. I refuse to believe they will not give me what I have earned.

Mr. Munch wants to caddy.  He is so smart I’m toying with training him to pull a cart so he can caddy. Sadly, he may be smarter than me already. That sucks.

Take care and know that spring is close,

Ken

 The shocks of pain that sometimes jolt through what remains of his right leg acted up in the final round, but Ken Green nevertheless came away from the Coors Light Open encouraged enough to continue his professional golf comeback bid.

The 5-time PGA Tour winner shot a 6-over-par 77 in today’s final round at Fort Myers Country Club to finish tied for 39th in the 47-player field at 8-over 150.

“It wasn’t a very fun day, but that happens,” said Green, 51, who had the lower portion of his right leg amputated last summer after a motor vehicle accident that also killed his brother, girlfriend and dog.  “I’m happy. I finished. I did break 80, and I don’t think I finished last, so I’m happy. It’s a good start. Baby steps are baby steps. There’s a reason they came up with that saying. That’s what I have to do.”

Green said his play in the tournament was good enough to convince him to follow through with plans to team with Mike Reid in the Champions Tour’s Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf in late April in Savannah, Ga.  “I’ve hit enough quality shots that I’m definitely going to play with him,” said Green, happy with “just hitting some decent shots and feeling good. The putter is still with me. I haven’t lost that. The big guy was kind enough to leave that for me.”

Green shot an 80 in the first round of a Sunbelt Senior Tour event 2 weeks ago in West Palm Beach in his first individual tournament since losing his leg. He withdrew from the 54-hole event with his score ballooning late in a cold, windy 2nd round, conditions that exacerbate nerve pain in his leg.  He said he won’t compete again until the Legends of Golf but will work on his game and try to get a little stronger. Green said he drives the ball about 250 yards but will be able to add about 15 yards of length when he gets stronger.

“It’s out there. It’s close,” he said. “It all depends on what my buddy (his leg) wants to do. If he can be calm for a month or so, I can make that jump. Right now I’m at level, maybe, A and hoping to get to, say, F. I’m on the board, so to speak.”

Green, who was applauded by the gallery as he finished his round today, remains touched by the strong support he’s received from players and fans.  “Ken Green and inspiration were not exactly synonymous,” he said, noting his brash, once-divisive behavior on the PGA Tour.  “It’s a wonderful feeling when the people that you don’t know come up and just say that you’re really giving them hope and joy. As men, we don’t like to (admit) that it hits us, but it does. It’s a great feeling when that many people care.”

*end*

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Rehabilitating Green Fires 73 in Coors Light Open
PGA Tour winner learning to play with prosthetic leg
3-14-10, by Seth Soffian, Ft. Myers News-Press

Attempting a comeback to golf after having the lower portion of his right leg amputated after a motor home accident last year that also killed his brother, girlfriend and dog, Green shot a 2-over-par 73 in Saturday’s first round of the Coors Light Open at Fort Myers Country Club.

Green, 51, had 3 birdies, 2 bogeys and a double bogey — on the par-4 17th hole — in one of his first tournaments after learning to play with a prosthetic leg.

“It’s kind of way over my potential at this point,” said the West Palm Beach resident, noting Saturday’s strong winds and Fort Myers Country Club’s small greens.  “It was howling, which makes it virtually impossible to control your distance. You can’t, which makes it that much harder to hit those little things.”

Fort Myers resident Nolan Henke, 45, who played on the PGA Tour with Green in much of the 1990s, commended his peer’s attempt at a comeback. When Henke finished his round, he checked the scoreboard for only one result: Green’s.  “He’s trying to make it work. Give him all the credit,” Henke said. “Two-over par out here, in this wind, that’s pretty good playing.”
http://www.news-press.com/article/20100314/ENT10/100314003/1064/RSS1006

BTW, in this separate article about Rnd1 of the Coors Open in Ft. Myers, I see that buddy Craig “The Kid” Thomas shot a 71 in Round 1…
http://www.news-press.com/article/20100313/ENT10/100313028/1075/Three-share-lead-at-Coors-Light-Open-in-Fort-Myers

Picture: Ken Green putts on the 16th green during the 1st round of the Coors Light Open at Fort Myers Country Club on Saturday (3-13-10).  (John David Emmett/news-press.com)

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
3-12-10: “Fort Myers Event Can Be Big Step for Ken Green”
- Tour Player’s Been Beset By Setbacks…
By Seth Soffian, Fort Myers News-Press
http://www.news-press.com/article/20100312/ENT10/3120382/1075

5-time PGA Tour winner Ken Green had the lower portion of his right leg amputated last summer after a motor home accident that killed his girlfriend, brother and dog.  In January, his estranged son died tragically at the age of 21.

Amid those tragedies, he has turned to the same place he’s always turned: golf.

Brash, flamboyant and unflinchingly outspoken during his playing heights in the late 1980s, Green arrives at this week’s 48th annual Coors Light Open at Fort Myers Country Club hoping it will prove an early stop on his comeback from the gut-wrenching losses. [ see http://tinyurl.com/yehwop4 ]

“Honestly, I’m still leap years away from trying to play what I consider good golf, but you’ve got to start somewhere,” said Green, 51, who is learning to play with a prosthetic leg. “You’ve got to do it and suck it up and just keep fighting to find out what you’ve got to fix and keep doing it.”

A Connecticut native who’s lived on Florida’s east coast in recent years, Green saw his game obliterated in the 1990s by a bitter divorce, mounting debt, clinical depression, thoughts of suicide and paralyzing voices in his mind he called demons.  He had been making headway in yet another attempt to revive his career when a tire blew on his motor home in June and sent it careening down an embankment and into an oak tree.  Green was thrown through the windshield, battering his body and face.

Golf, which had sustained him dating to a childhood being raised by an alcoholic father, would have to be his salvation again.  Once identified by his green shoes, green golf glove and oversized glasses, Green is recovering from a broken eye socket, missing tooth, jaw thrown out of line and deep gash through his scalp.

“I’m going to turn this around to try to play professional golf again,” said Green. In November, he told Golf Digest, “If I couldn’t play golf, I wouldn’t want to be on the planet.”

Craig Thomas, a friend and regular participant in the Coors Light Open, suggested Green play here because the 2-round event permits players to use carts and would not overly task Green, who has limited strength, stability and endurance in the leg.

Fort Myers Country Club, relatively short at 6,421 yards, also would benefit Green.

“Golf is a lot about hope and confidence,” said Green. “The more good shots you hit, the more confidence you gain. I’m no different than anybody else. I need to see some positive feedback.”

He has had some.  Playing with friends in West Palm Beach in November, Green shot a round of 68 despite heavy winds.  Last month, he and Thomas shot 62-73 in a 2-man scramble event near Daytona Beach and finished just out of the money.

But in his first solo competition last month in a 3-round event on the Sunbelt Senior Tour, Green struggled to a first-round 80 amid cold, wind and shocks of pain through his leg. With his score ballooning in the second round, he withdrew.

“The more and more I play, the more I’m recognizing how much harder this is going to be than I planned,” said Green, who has been forced to adjust everything, from his full swing to his short game. “But I still think I can do it.”

Amid one tragedy, Green recently was hit by another, the unexplained death in

January of his estranged son, Hunter, 21, a golfer at Southern Methodist University in Texas. A friend who called 911 said he believed Hunter Green had committed suicide.  “I can’t tell you how difficult understanding this is,” Ken Green wrote immediately afterward on his Web site, http://www.kengreenscomeback.com . 

One thing has changed for Green through the events of the past 9 months: Fans and peers, once a divided lot on Green’s prickly behavior, have rallied behind him.  Several golf fundraisers have been held to help Green, and active PGA Tour players voted almost unanimously recently to donate half their earnings from Wednesday pro-ams this year to Green and fellow player Chris Smith, 40.

Smith’s wife was killed and his two children severely injured in a car wreck only a week after Green’s accident last summer.  Estimates are each man will net $200,000.

“It’s pretty humbling,” said Green, who has been flooded with supportive e-mails and letters. “I read them and I read them over sometimes. There’s been a lot of stuff that’s happened. There’s been some pretty hard blows. They’re tough to take sometimes. Getting help in words, they’re good for you.”

“It’s good for the soul.”

*end*

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
KG to play Mar13-14 in ‘Coors Light Open’, Fort Myers FL!
“5-time PGA Tour winner Ken Green to play in ‘Coors Light Open’ at Fort Myers Country Club, Mar13-14 2010”
Feb. 19 2010, By Seth Soffian, news-press.com
http://www.news-press.com/article/20100219/ENT10/100219091/1002/RSS01
5-time PGA Tour winner Ken Green, who lost his lower right leg in a motor home accident in June that also killed his brother and long-time girlfriend, plans to make one of the first stops in his attempted comeback in the Coors Light Open, March 13-14, at Fort Myers Country Club ( see http://tinyurl.com/yehwop4 ). 

In June of 2009 Ken Green’s life was turned upside down. While travelling to a Champions Tour event in his RV, the right front tire blew, causing the vehicle to veer down a steep embankment and hit a tree. The crash killed his brother, girlfriend, and precious dog, all who were travelling with Green. Green sustained multiple injuries from the crash, most notably having to have the lower portion of his right leg amputated. 7 months later, fate dealt Green another heartache when he was informed that his 21 year-old son Hunter, was found dead in his SMU dorm room from a cause that is still unknown. Throughout it all Ken Green has shown a determination and positive attitude that not many could muster if put in a similar situation. I recently had an opportunity to catch up with Ken on a range of topics including how he is able to stay so positive to his earlier “bad boy” reputation on Tour.

First, I’d like to offer my deepest sympathies for all the losses you’ve suffered in the past year. You’ve been through so much since June ‘09, more than most people go through in a lifetime. How do you keep such a positive attitude through it all?

Ken Green:   I believe that the only way to move on without going insane is to keep a positive outlook on life. If you let the disaster get into your head you are just “as dead” as your loved ones. Cry but accept and cry some more and then move forward.

You’ve accomplished a lot in your career on the course. The 1989 Ryder Cup, 5 Tour victories, some great finishes in Majors. What are you most proud of?

Ken Green: My wins are clearly what I covet the most. The Ryder Cup was a thrill and an honor, but second. I also like the fact that I’ve won on four continents and had hole-in-ones on five continents.

You’re playing as Mike Reid’s partner at Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf tournament at the end of April. Do you feel your game is close to where you’d like it to be for the event?

Ken Green: Mike Reid is an absolute angel for playing with me at The Legends, as my game will be about 70%. My hope is to be able to make a few birdies for him and tell him to grind hard Mr. Radar.

Physically, what’s been the biggest challenge for you now that you are back on the course?

Ken Green: The are two things thats are nightmares for me. Bunkers and the side hill lies are “ouch not again”. The physical nerve pain drops you to the ground when it strikes. It is the most pain I have ever felt in my life. Sadly, it can last for up to two hours of serious intensity.

Your story has touched so many people and the entire golfing community seems to be behind you. Describe what that outpouring of support has meant to you. Was it at all surprising?

Ken Green: I have been astounded at the outpouring of love, support and generosity. Strangers, friends, and family have joined together to give me the oppurtunity to try and play professional golf again. Without them I would be in deep trouble as I had nothing to my name. They have shown me that with support your goals are achievable.

I know currently you have a dispute with the Champions Tour in regards to your major medical exemption. Is there anything new to report there that you could share?

Ken Green: As of right now there is nothing new to report on whether or not I receive the major medical exemption that I have asked for. I personally feel this is a no brainer and have only asked for what I had already earned. Only the Tour can answer that and certainly they will spin it so they don’t look like they are doing anything wrong.

In regards to your reputation earlier on in your career as a bit of a “bad boy”, you were to somewhat of a lesser degree “John Daly” before John Daly. Do you regret any of those actions that may have led to that reputation? Most of those incidents, to me at least, seem to have all been in good fun and the PGA Tour being a little uptight.

Ken Green: I regret nothing that I have done in the past in regards to my actions. I never did anything with intent to hurt me or the game of golf. Some things people may not have agreed with but I just simply enjoyed my life in golf, there is no better way to make a living. My “so called actions” today would not even being mentioned at all. The tour was simply not ready for me then, today they are.

- – - – - – - – - – - -

Ken Green will be playing in the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf ( http://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/s504 ) tournament on the Champions Tour when it takes place from April 23-25. Look for Ken when it’s televised then on The Golf Channel & CBS.   You can follow Ken’s come back at his website: http://www.kengreenscomeback.com. I’ll also be checking in with Ken from time to time to see how is progress is coming along.

*end*

3-6-10, by Chris Elsberry, CT-POST

http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/ELSBERRY-Ken-Green-just-keeps-moving-forward-394942.php

One step forward. Two steps back. Sometimes it’s even 3 or 4 steps back but each time, Ken Green gathers himself and keeps moving forward. Forever forward. He keeps looking ahead because he refuses to look back. That’s the past. His eyes are focused on one thing, the future.

The former Danbury resident and 5-time PGA Tour winner is trying to do something that no one else has ever done — become the first player to compete on the Champions Tour on a prosthetic leg. Last June, returning from a tournament in Texas, Green’s RV blew a tire near Jackson, Miss., and crashed, killing Green’s brother, his girlfriend and his dog. Green lived but lost his right leg just below the knee.

He has spent these last 9 months defying the odds, learning how to play golf again. Everything is different. The swing. The stance. The results.

But the determination that burns inside the 51-year- old is more than enough to make up for whatever adjustments have to be made in his game.

“You have to keep trying. If you don’t keep fighting and keep playing, how are you going to improve? How are you going to get better?” Green said last week by phone from his West Palm Beach, Fla., home.  “If you make a fool of yourself, you do, but you’ve got to keep fighting. And I’m not ready … my brain’s not ready to say quit, so I won’t do it. I can’t do it.”

He can’t because Green made a promise. He promised that Billy Green and Jeannie Hodgin and Nip didn’t die in vain.

He wants to show the world that this can be done, that you can return to professional golf with an artificial leg.

And each day he fights through the pain in his stump and swings the club is one day closer to getting back on Tour.

Actually, he’s already has been back. In late February, Green and his good friend and caddy, Craig Thomas, played in a 2-day Treasure Coast Senior tour event in Jupiter, Fla., and last Tuesday, Green played one round in the Sunbelt Senior Tour event at the Rees Jones course at the Breakers Country Club.

In brutal conditions (wind gusts were 40 miles an hour and temperatures were in the low 50s), Green shot an 8-over-par 80 over the 6,670-yard, par-72 course. However, because of the pain in his right leg, he was unable to continue and withdrew during the 2nd round on Wednesday.

“I’m trying to look at the positives of it, but it’s tricky because I literally couldn’t make a golf swing out there,” Green said “The weather was just brutal. When the leg doesn’t work and it’s cold and windy, you just don’t make a turn and without a shoulder turn it’s hard to play golf unless you’re God. You’ve got to have a shoulder turn.”

Still, there are hopeful signs. Green says that he’s hitting his driver on the fly about 245 yards off the tee, an amazing stat when you think that before the accident, his best efforts were around 270 yards.

“So, if I can get 10 or 15 more (yards) back, then I’m literally where I was before, it’s just a question of bringing the consistency back,” he said.  “Besides the physical difficulties, like having to come up with a new golf swing that you’re trying to put into professional play immediately. It’s not an easy task. But realistically, where we’ve come and where we are is actually very good.  I know I’m pressing. I’m playing way earlier than I should be, so when you put all the facts together you’ve got to say, `Hey, this is pretty good. You’ve come a long way.’ I’m actually starting to get a little distance back and starting to his some more quality shots.”

Because of that, Green is not only playing in some of these smaller Senior events in Florida to see where his game stands but he’s also made the commitment to return to the Champions Tour for the first time since his accident on April 23-25 in the Liberty Legends of Golf event in Savannah, Ga., with partner Mike Reid [ see http://tinyurl.com/yhkx4ur ].

“I have committed to it and I’ve got to …it wouldn’t be fair to Mike, I’ve got to make a decision in a week or two whether I’m definitely going to play. He knows that we’re probably not going to be competitive, unless he goes on a run because I don’t know how many birdies I could make,” Green said.

“I do believe I’ll be ready to play with him. That’s my hope and that’s my goal. I can’t tell you how excited I am about playing and also how petrified I am. I don’t want to go there and make an absolute fool of myself. That scares the hell out of me. But people are going to be interested and wondering …so it’s something we’re going to have to keep working.”

And going forward.

Forever forward.

By Michael Arkush, Editor, Yahoo! Sports

http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/pga/news?slug=ma-playingthrough030510

Don’t ask Ken Green to make any sense of it. He can’t. Nobody could.

He lost his girlfriend, his older brother, the precious dog who once saved his life, and portions of his right leg in an RV accident last June and then, seven months later, his 21-year-old son to a cause still unknown.

Fate didn’t deal him a blow. Fate unleashed all its might.

“If they were to ever do a movie,” Green, 51, said on the phone this week from his rented house in West Palm Beach, Florida, “people would say, ‘That’s baloney.’ It’s been unbelievable.”

Unbelievable doesn’t begin to sum it up. No words do, and Green – a longtime PGA Tour pro – doesn’t seem interested in words anyway. Words will not bring their lives back. Or his.

His new life is defined by constant pain, physical and emotional. On the physical side, the feeling he receives in the stump below his right knee compares, he says, to the shock one gets from touching an electrical outlet – except the sensation never goes away. Some days are worse than others, the agony almost unbearable.

“All you can do is cry,” Green said.

As for his grief, where does he start? Where does he end? How can it ever end?

And it’s not as if Green hadn’t been through his share of troubles before June.  He has been through more than his share, and they are to blame for derailing a solid career in which he won 5 tournaments and played in the 1989 Ryder Cup. In 1996, he tied for 7th in the U.S. Open at Oakland Hills.

Green had plenty of game. Nobody ever doubted that.

But his toughest opponent, diagnosed in 1998, was depression, and it was kicking his butt. For three years during the 1990s, Green, who was divorced twice, thought every day about killing himself.

In 1999, he finally tried, swallowing a “gazillion” pills which knocked him out. He would have succeeded if not for his alert dog, Nip, who awakened Green’s girlfriend at the time. Green woke up in the hospital 36 hours later.

The depression came under control, thanks to medication, but the golf demons did not. They had been stalking him for years, whispering into his ear at the worst possible moments:  “You’re going to miss this shot.”

Which he did. He missed a ton of them. Every golfer, even the best in the world, is paid a visit at one point or another by these same demons. Only Green’s demons stuck around – for good, it seemed.

That’s what makes the tragedies over the past nine months more heartbreaking, if that’s even possible. Green was happier than he had been in a long time – with his life and his game. A rookie on the Champions Tour, the potentially life-altering mulligan for golfers 50 and older, Green was playing like his old, unpossessed self.

But on June 8, 2009, everything changed. Forever.

A day after tying for 37th at an event in Austin, Texas, Green was on Interstate 20 in the back seat of his 40-foot motor home, driven by his brother, Billy, 57, who also was his caddie. They were on their way to Louisiana for the night, then planned to spend a week at the North Carolina home of Green’s girlfriend, Jeannie Hodgin.

Near the town of Hickory, Mississippi, the RV careened down an embankment and struck an oak tree. Dead at the scene were Billy, Jeannie and Nip, the dog who saved Ken’s life. Ken Green went through the windshield, fracturing a bone in his left eye, and tore ligaments in his left ankle. But the right leg got the worst of it. One week later, it was amputated below the knee. In 30 days, he underwent 7 operations.

And yet, from the start of his recuperation, Green did not give up on his belief that somehow he would play golf again – and at the highest level.

Green was fitted with a prosthetic lower leg. Fortunately, because he wisely enrolled only six weeks beforehand in the PGA Tour’s health plan, many of his medical expenses have been covered. Given his financial difficulties, if he hadn’t been on the plan, he admits: “I have no idea where I’d be.”

Becoming an elite golfer again, however, may take nothing less than a miracle.

Green has already shot a 68, at his home course, the Breakers, but that was from the white tees, which measure only about 6,500 yards. He’s driving it roughly 240 these days, and says he’ll need another 15 or 20 yards to compete on the Champions Tour. There are some shots, though, from sidehill or uphill lies, which Green, who plays twice a week, simply cannot pull off – and may never be able to properly execute.

Doctors told him that his left ankle, which still has ligament and tendon damage, may never fully heal. Green needs the ankle to be at least 80% for him to play golf competitively, and it’s nowhere close.

He has trouble with bunkers – not with getting the ball out but getting himself out.

Green knows what the odds are, but they don’t scare him. What scares him is how he might feel if he doesn’t make it back to the Champions Tour. It would be another loss to add to all the others.   “It would be devastating,” he said.

Nothing, however, could possibly match the loss of his son, Hunter, who was found dead in his dorm room on the Southern Methodist campus in January. Green expects to receive the autopsy results any day.  A part of him doesn’t want to know if the death was accidental or if Hunter, who had some trouble with the law, took his own life. Father and son, after many years apart because of the breakup of Green’s first marriage, were becoming reacquainted. They played golf every few months, and texted each other frequently.  “He realized I was not the evil person he was led to believe,” Green said.

Over the years, people have been led to believe a lot of things about Green.

He was known as a true rebel on the PGA Tour, incurring fines for a long list of antics which included sneaking friends into the Masters in the trunk of his car; drinking beer on the 15th hole at Augusta National while paired with his hero, Arnold Palmer; and criticizing officials. Green accepts responsibility for some of his bad-boy behavior but contends he was often unfairly singled out.  “I’ve always spoken from my heart,” he explained.

No matter. Green, who lives with another son, 28-year-old Ken Jr., isn’t worried about the past. It is complicated and painful, and it is over.

The future is what he’s focusing on – the chance that maybe there’s another, better fate awaiting him.  “I’m assuming there’s a reason for this happening,” Green said. “I have no idea what it is. I think it’s too much for me to handle at the moment, but I’m working on it.”

*end*

I’m desperately trying to figure out something positive regarding my first step forward. I may have to go with the “step”.

My first round Tuesday from the 6,800 yard course at Breakers Rees Jones, Sunbelt Seniors Tour, in the cold and just brutal winds of 30+ was an ouch = 80. 10 pars & 8 bogeys.

I have to tell you, I had no chance as the cold weather sent the nerves off and I just couldn’t even come close to making a shoulder turn which equals disaster. As you can imagine, I’m limited with a shoulder turn now and the cold just made it tougher.

The score itself is not a complete disaster if you consider how nasty it was out there. The 2nd day was even harder, and when I lost a ball up by the green on 16 I just didn’t have it in me to go back and replay another one. I was well on my way to a mid-80 and was hurting worse than the first day. No real excuse but I was just zapped. I clearly got the message that I will never be able to play quality golf in bad weather again.

With that being said I am not throwing in any hankies just yet. I intend to regroup and play in the Fort Myers “Coors Light Open” event next weekend.  I do hope that normal weather does reappear soon.

I’ve been taken a godzilla amount of pills these past few days so my normal humor is comatose at the moment.

I don’t have any new news from my friends at PGA headquarters, although I was promised a update call today which I never received. I don’t understand why people say one thing and then don’t execute. Since I said ‘I do’ twice and didn’t, I must realize there was a valid reason. I still refuse to believe the right thing will not be done in regards to me getting my major medical year exemption given to me so I will not open my mouth any more and explain all the facts. Kind of like a lawsuit. Can’t wait for those facts either!!

Good day my friends and the best to all,

Ken

3-4-10, by Chris Elsberry, CTPost  

Ken Green of Danbury fought all the way to the end, through brutal winds and cold temperatures. This was not a golf day by any stretch of the imagination. It was the kind of day that if you didn’t have to play golf, you wouldn’t.

But Green did. This is part of the comeback, part of the plan. Success doesn’t come without suffering, and Tuesday afternoon, Green suffered.

Playing in just his second professional event since losing the lower half of his right leg in a horrific RV crash last June that took the lives of his brother, Billy Green, his girlfriend, Jeannie Hodgin, and his dog, Nip, Green shot a respectable 8-over-par 80 in the first round of the Sunbelt Senior Tour event at the par-72, 6,670-yard Breakers Rees Jones course in West Palm Beach, Fla.

[March 2-4 2010, “Ken Green's Comeback Trail”, Limited Field - Invitation Only,

WPB FL http://www.sunbeltseniortour.com/tourschedule.html ]

Green fought through 40 mph winds and temperatures in the low 50s, but the round came with a price. The pain in his amputated leg was so bad afterward that Green withdrew from the tournament before Wednesday’s second round.

“It really stunk. I knew I wasn’t close to being ready, this weather was just impossible for me,” Green said Thursday by phone from his Florida home. “The cold … it fires (pain) off the leg and my ankle was bad. It was just bad luck. It wasn’t a disaster, I shot 80, I grinded it out and tried my best, but it was just brutal out there. You would never have played unless you had to.”

For a former 5-time PGA Tour winner and a member of the 1989 Ryder Cup team, shooting 80 is simply unacceptable, and Green admitted he was disappointed after that first round. But he also knows what he’s trying to do — become the first professional to return to the Champions Tour with a prosthetic leg.

“It’s hard for my brain because you know how I think, to feel like that,” Green said. “I’m trying to look at the positives, but it’s tricky because I literally couldn’t make a golf swing out there.”

But the disappointment of having to drop out isn’t stopping or slowing Green down, by any means. Next up on the schedule is a 36-hole, two-day, Pro-Am event in Fort Myers, Fla., on March 13-14, called the Coors Light Open. Green will play with his good friend and caddy, Craig Thomas.

[ see http://tinyurl.com/yehwop4 ]

Green and Thomas played in a Treasure Coast Senior Tour event just before the Sunbelt tournament, shooting a 62 the first day but finishing out of the money in the two-day event.

“I played well the first day. I hit good shots but then the second day, I didn’t play well,” Green said. “Obviously, I’m pressing. I’m playing way earlier than I should be, so when you put all the facts together, you’ve got to say, `Hey, this is pretty good.’ I’ve come a long way. I’m actually starting to get a little distance back and starting to hit some more quality shots.

“I’ve got to keep playing because I know I have to. If you don’t keep fighting and keep playing, how are you going to improve? How are you going to get better? If you make a fool of yourself, you do, but you’ve got to keep fighting.”

*end*

http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Pain-forces-Ken-Green-to-withdraw-from-Sunbelt-392365.php

Slap me silly, gentlemen.  All sorts of news flying round my little world these days. I’m not going to open my mouth too much and set all the facts straight right at the moment, as I told the Tour I would wait and hear from the director of the Champions Tour first.

I want to tell you all that I will absolutely tell you the whole truth after my conversation with Mr. Stevens. We should all try and remember that I am, and always will be, What & Who I am – period.  I will not play a PR game as most do in the world.  I will explain my point my way.  I will save my dog from any gator again!!!!

Well bull doggy to that political world…

We speak now of some neat new facts:

1) I can fly my driver 245 yards – not often but damn close – that will only be about 15 short of “systems all go”.

2) I have developed a new whacky looking stance for my bunker shots – the monster leg gets in my way.

3) I bowled a 233-189-205 to lead my team to first place – I started with a 117 average 6 weeks ago, and now have a 172 average – my goal is to finish with a 180 average.

4) I know I will be able to represent myself well when I tee it up at The Legends with Sir Reidomatic – not counting the choke factor. [ April23-25/Savannah http://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/s504 ]

5) I have nothing else to say – Be good my friends,

Ken