HK OPEN PREVIEW | KEN GREEN
The
Greatest
Comeback
Robin Moyer talks to 1990 Hong Kong Open champion Ken Green, who despite losing part of his leg in a tragic crash four years ago, has triumphed over adversity by getting back on the course and playing the game he loves.
W
i th five career wins o n t h e P G A To u r and three more international victories bet ween 1985 a nd 198 9, 32 -ye a r- ol d American golfer Ken Green was on a roll heading into the first round of the 1990 Martell Hong Kong Open. His clubs had gone astray somewhere over the Pacific, but arrived in time for a lively skins game with Bernhard Langer, Seiichi Kanai and Hong Kong favourite, Yau Siuming on the Wednesday before the tournament. “I remember the skins coming down to the last hole – it was Langer, myself and the local hero,” Green said recently. “Langer blew his tee shot, so it was down to the two of us. He (Yau) hit a fair shot just short of green and I hit a push shank about 70 feet right on the edge of green. He chipped up to tap-in and then I proceeded to hit this big breaker and it goes in the hole. “I’ll never forget the complete silence and then when they realized they hadn’t clapped, they all clapped. I understood it as they were rooting for their man. “I won $65,000 if I remember right,” said Green. There may have been some side bets, as his actual haul was US$59,000 of the US$100,000 pool in the inaugural Martell International Skins Game. Fifty-four thousand of those winnings came from that lengthy putt on the final hole. 48
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Langer, who had been playing like a champion, walked away with US$37,000; Kanai, the 1985 Hong Kong Open champion, had a rough day with his putter and pocketed only US$4,000 while luck-less Yau Siu-ming left with nothing. A s for t he tou r na ment it sel f, Green continued: “it was very wet and muddy.” So wet and muddy was the course that the third round was washed out and the foreshortened tournament was nearly cancelled as the rains on Sunday morning postponed the final round: the flight of Green and Yau Siuming, his closest competitor, did not tee off until 2:40 in the afternoon and finished precisely four hours later in the very last minutes of the gloaming. The sun officially set on 25 February 1990 at 6:25pm nearly in what is called nautical twilight, a time when the sun is six degrees below the horizon and sailors can still navigate using a visible horizon for reference. “I hate to say that the only real memory I have of the actual tournament was that I played well and I was always in total control and won the tournament,” said Green. Wearing his trademark bright green shoes, hat and glove, Green never relinquished his three-shot lead on that final day. Shooting a oneover-par 72 gave him a three-round total of 205, four shots ahead of compatriot Brian Watts, who would return to win the Hong Kong Open in 1993, and Canadian Danny Mijovic. Yau fell HKGOLFER.COM
Robin Moyer
Ken Green, Montreal, September 2013
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Robin Moyer (Green); The Standard (Hong Kong Open)
Wearing his trademark bright green shoes, hat and glove, Green never relinquished his threeshot lead on that final day at the Hong Kong Open. Shooting a one-over-par 72 gave him a three-round total of 205, four shots ahead of compatriot Brian Watts.
Green’s experimental bionic leg cost him (above) over US$40,000; celebrating his 1990 Hong Kong Open triumph with his former girlfriend (opposite) – it proved to be a profitable week for Green 50
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back to finish with a 76 in eighth place. The only other Hong Kong professional to make the half-way cut was Dominique Boulet who, in his first outing as a pro, finished with an even par 71 to tie with Langer in 19th place. Highly touted as the man to beat and ranked world number 17, Langer said at the time, “I had a horrible day. I played very badly and couldn’t get near the hole. (But) I enjoyed it here, and I’m sure if the weather was better the course would have played well. I’d love to come back here again sometime.” One good resu lt from t he persistent downpours was the tournament committee’s decision to hold future Opens in December
when Hong Kong’s weather is historically drier. And Langer returned to win the tournament the next year. Green had a reputation on the PGA Tour for being a bit of a wild-man, or at least a wildchild. Bored with practice he was known to hit full-on 3-woods off the carpet and through a narrow gap in the doors of his den to the golf course outside. He once had a beer delivered to him while playing a special event paired with Arnold Palmer, just so “I could say I had a beer with Mr. Palmer.” Often fined for swearing, he was usually portrayed by the media as “prickly” or having “temper issues.” Whatever he had, he combined it with a long run of bad luck. In 2009 on Interstate 20 near Hickory, Mississippi, Green’s recreational vehicle, which was being driven by his brother, Bill, blew a tire, ran off the road and down an embankment, hit a tree and took the lives of his girlfriend, Jeanne, Bill, and his dog, along with mangling his right foot and leg. Before the accident, Ken’s was called “a sad life” by journalists chronicling his rise and fall. Clinical depression, combined with gambling, divorces, drinking and financial disasters, led to him losing his fortune and his Tour card. Then came the crash, followed by the accidental overdose of his estranged 21-year-old son in 2010: it made for tough writing and tougher reading. After the accident he was given a choice by his surgeons: amputate the lower right leg, or give up golf. Ken loves golf, lives golf. His life has been defined by golf. He opted for the amputation. The amputation left him with a possibility of playing again, but also with constant nerve pain in his stump, a problem suffered by only a small percentage of amputees. “It’s like a tenth of the pain you get sticking wet fingers in an electric socket,” he said. “(Like) like being Tasered constantly at a low level. Sometimes I even act like I’m being Tasered.” Green is nothing if not persistent. He was determined to get his game back, to play a decent top 20 and leave the game on his own terms. Within five months after the accident he was tinkering with a new swing, one that didn’t rely on the power he used to derive from kicking off his right leg, a swing with a restricted turn with a little draw instead of the power fade he used so well in the 1980s. He might be missing a leg, but he has hands, hands that make for a magical short game. His Ryder Cup experience (Green played in the 1989 match at The Belfry) gives him a lifetime exemption to the Senior PGA Championship, but he will have to rely on sponsor’s exemptions for regular Champions Tour events. He has an annually renewable major medical exemption, but Green does not HKGOLFER.COM
In 2009 on Interstate 20 near Hickory, Mississippi, Green’s recreational vehicle, which was being driven by his brother, Bill, blew a tire, ran off the road and down an embankment, hit a tree and took the lives of his girlfriend, Jeanne, Bill, and his dog, along with mangling his right foot and leg. feel he can rely on the Tour’s claims that it will open up half a dozen events a year. In April 2012, he played in a special Champions Tour event, the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf Tournament, a 54-hole best ball event, partnered with his long time friend, Mike Reid. The team finished 12-under. Green contributed two birdies and had become the first golfer with a prosthetic leg to compete in a tour event. “I thought I loved the game a lot,” said Reid after the round. “But I am certain that I would not have paid the price and would not have kept the dream alive that he has kept alive by virtue of his love for the game.” An operation in May 2013 reduced some of the pain in his stump, though there are still issues to be dealt with, mostly around the violent twisting that emanates from the swing HKGOLFER.COM
itself and causes a lot of friction where stump fits to prosthesis. In September he played all three rounds in a full-field Champions Tour event (where every shot counts), the Montreal Championship at Vallee du Richelieu Rouville, in Sainte-Julie, Quebec. He chose the Montreal tournament for his debut because the course is fairly flat, but still a real championship layout, not too long but with very tricky greens. It was recently renovated by Asia-based design firm Nelson & Haworth, who were responsible for the East Course at The Jockey Club Kau Sai Chau. The fairways are soft, but the new greens are very firm. That is fine for Green, as it suits him not to have too many awkward stances and he has the touch of an angel around the greens. “I was so nervous on the first tee,” he said. “Like it was my first tournament. I didn’t want HK GOLFER・NOV 2013
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An operation in May 2013 reduced some of the pain in his stump, though there are still issues to be dealt with, mostly around the violent twisting that emanates from the swing itself and causes a lot of friction where stump fits to prosthesis.
Robin Moyer
Green, celebrating here as he walks up to the 18th green in the second round, put in a quite brilliant performance to make the cut in Canada (above). As far as comebacks go, this was among the greatest 52
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to screw up. Was hoping to break 80 and not embarrass myself.” On a sunny day with a little nip in the air, Green teed it up and promptly made a bogey on the first hole. On the second tee he pulled-hooked his drive left into the trees and had no option but a punch under the limbs to a raised green 220 yards away. He executed it perfectly, hitting a low runner that ended up just short of the fringe. One deft chip and a putt for par restored his confidence and calmed his nerves. Two more bogeys, two birdies and a lot of short game in between and the crowd at the 18th gave him a standing ovation as he ambled onto the green to make yet another par save to finish his first round at one over. Only 15 of the 80 players had scored better. Ken was four shots off the lead. The second round dawned cold and damp, the least ideal conditions for Green. He came to the first tee all bundled up, looking like Snoopy’s Red Baron, trying to keep warm. He looked absolutely miserable. But he played like a dream nailing three birdies against three bogeys to remain at one over. And the crowd cheered on. Green was the story of the tournament, an
inspiration for all. Alas, though the final day began with a birdie on the first hole, living through two days of the Cinderella story had just beat Ken down, physically and emotionally. One bird doesn’t offset seven bogeys and a double. Still, rounds of 73, 72, 80 for a total 225 beats a lot of wily old pros. “I’m very pleased with what happened this week,” Green wrote on his blog, which can be read at kengreenscomeback.com. “Today was just impossible for me. I had three things going against me and I’m just not that good a man yet. I had only one hour sleep due to discomfort, my wound opened and turned into a blood bath down in my socket and the cold wind was just too much for me. “I’m thrilled with the progress I’ve made since June. Once I get this winter under my belt, I truly believe I will be much better and from there I just must play more tournament golf, so I can get my brain reacting to tournament golf. To be where I was before this myriad of problems hit today is just awesome. “Thank you all for caring and please know your support means the world to me.” With his new computer operated prosthetic, a wonderfully grounded girlfriend and lofty but realistic goals, his life may be back, and on a new track. “Maybe if I get little stronger it would be nice to go back (to Hong Kong) and continue my hope of bringing the story of hope and fight to the East.” HKGOLFER.COM