Kyle Lograsso Update

For the many, many of you who've been taken with young Kyle Lograsso, the five-year-old who's used his love of golf to help him fight and overcome eye cancer, the recent HBO Real Sports program on Kyle is a must. It's episode #124, and still available on HBO on Demand. Frank Deford was the reporter.

A transcript doesn't do it justice, but here are few snippets...

On his first meeting with instructor Bob Huber:

BOB HUBER: Well, he called he said, "I got a three-year-old boy, I'd like to have you look at him."  I said, "Sure.

Voiceover>

And that's when local instructor Bob Huber first saw it: a pint-sized replica of Tiger Woods.

BOB HUBER:>

I just had 'em, put-- gave some ball-- golf balls there on the practice range, and he started hitting them, and-- and it was like, "Wow.">

FRANK DEFORD:>

Did you know that he had-- was missing an eye?>

BOB HUBER:>

His dad told me that.  But, when I watch him swing I don't even notice there's any handicap at all. It doesn't appear in his golf stroke or in the way he plays golf.

Surprisingly, the toughest part of the game for Kyle hasn't been trying to overcome his limited depth perception.  He's already shot a remarkable 41 for nine holes.  But rather, it's learning to accept the fact that even prodigies occasionally miss shots.

KYLE SOT "How did that not go in?"

Of course, while having a prosthetic eye doesn't make golf any easierâ¿¿it makes being a little brother to his older sister Kristen a lot more funâ¿¿.

KYLE LOGRASSO:>

I put my eye in a cereal box.>

FRANK DEFORD:>

You put your eye in a cereal box.>

KYLE LOGRASSO:>

Yes.  And Kristen put cereal in her bowl, and-- and she-- she taked a big bite and she says like; There's something in here.  And she screamed so loud that she even ate my eye

Worth revisiting....

--Bob Carney