Your schedule was limited a bit by your bad back. It's been nine years since you first felt a sharp twinge on the practice range at Doral. What happened?
I was playing well all the time at that point — I played with John Huston that week, and I still tell him he won because I pulled out. It felt like a bullet, like someone shot me. I'd never felt anything like that, and I haven't felt anything like that since, thank God.
What happened then?
I went through all this work, had a guy look at me who did some MRIs, and I went through a 90-day exercise period to strengthen my back. One week I was paired with Don Pooley, and on Saturday my back started bothering me. On Sunday, Pooley found me and says, "You need to go see this guy, Tom Boers." Then Jim Mackay, who was caddieing for Larry Mize at the time, found me and said, "Look, I don't know you that well, but you need to go see this guy." So I flew down to Georgia and saw him. Boers said, "If you'd come to see me 90 days ago instead of this exercising, you'd be way ahead of the game." Anyway, he's been my guy ever since.
If I could take six months off, I'd be the better for it, but to me, that's been almost impossible to do. So I fight my back, and there are times I do really well. I've also put on a pair of pants and kind of lost my balance, and my back will go out.
I get away with stuff for a long time, then I could be picking up a carpet or unloading my golf bag — even packing Tuesday morning for Houston [this year], I was putting some stuff on top of my suitcase and I buckled and fell over. I was in bed for about 20 minutes to let it calm down. I didn't feel very good, but I got to Houston, went to the range and felt fine. That doesn't happen very often. Usually it's both. If I don't feel right, I can't hit the ball. It's not like surgery or anything like that will fix it. It's an old-looking, beat-up back.
What's the worst your back has been on the course?
I've never walked off the course because of it. I haven't played in tournaments, obviously, but when I've gotten to a tournament, I've gotten through it. The worst? I can remember a Bob Hope a few years ago, and I was playing well. I went through a three- or four-hole stretch where I semi-topped a drive and shanked it around.
You've overcome a lot. Are you glad that Thais pushed you to improve?
Her way of looking at it was, "Hey, let's practice, let's get better." She's very, very smart — not many people have said that to me. The kids are a little older now. They respect what I do, and they love that I play golf. They were very excited that I won, and they're excited I'm playing better. I hadn't done much for them before this year. Thais has been very instrumental in this. She's the greatest mom I know, and that makes it easier on me.
I have to play. This game is never played in your backyard, at least very rarely, and there are 200 guys going for the same thing. A great home life is a huge part of what's going on here.
- Text Size:
- Small Text
- Medium Text
- Large Text
