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The Loop

Ken Green: Rebuilding his life, a few tentative steps at a time

August 20, 2009

Eight days ago, Champions Tour golfer Ken Green began walking again, however tentatively, with the aid of a prosthesis that he hopes will help him return to golf as soon as Sept. 28, in a tournament to raise funds on his behalf, the Connecticut Post reports today.

Green had his right leg amputated in the aftermath of a tragic accident that claimed the lives of his brother Billy and girlfriend Jeannie Hodgin (along with his dog Nip) on June 8, when Green's motor home blew a tire, causing the vehicle to veer off the road, down an embankment and into a tree.

On Aug. 12, Green took his first steps toward his ultimate goal of becoming the first to play tournament golf with a prosthesis.

"Well, the way I've looked at this," he tells the Post in his first public comments since the accident, "is I have a pretty good faith in God and my belief is that if you believe in God you shouldn't be too upset over the fact that you've lost three of your best friends on the planet. They're having a hell of a lot more fun right now that I am, I can tell you that. I know that He's kept me breathing because I have to do something. One, I have to go figure that out, and, two, I have to go do it. That's pretty much all I'm thinking about.

"I'm assuming that it's through golf that I have to go out and try to accomplish some things that haven't been done and make people aware of certain things. So, in that sense, it's given me a desire and a motivation to do it and I have to it. And as far as I'm concerned, if I don't do it, it's a complete failure."

-- John Strege