Erik Compton is back on the PGA TOUR and with PNH's Kelly Murray on the bag.
One of the sponsors exemptions at this week’s Honda Classic is going to Erik Compton, a professional who has never won on the PGA TOUR, yet has beaten far greater odds. Kelly Murray calls Compton his friend and knows his story well. He will lend the South Florida based professional his own wisdom and expertise as he caddies for the former University of Georgia All-American this week at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, FL.
This is quite an honor for Kelly, not because he gets to go back out into the big time tour environment, where Ernie Els, Sergio Garcia and their caddies are ready to capture the over $1 Million winners share. Not because he gets to hang at one of the best golf courses in the United States, a Nicklaus classic that features the famous “Bear Trap”. It’s because he gets to do it with Compton at his side.
Erik Compton is living with his third human heart and the fact that he is playing in a PGA TOUR event is nothing short of a miracle. He received his first transplant at the age of 12, then beat the odds, becoming a junior golf and college standout, then a Nationwide Tour with the occasional PGA TOUR event thrown in the mix. His new heart, received from a 15 year-old girl who was tragically killed in a car accident, lasted 16 years. One more than hers. In 2007 a heart attack led to him receiving his second transplant in March of 2008. Now in March of 2009, he’s out to take on one of the best fields in golf. Many of the world’s most famous golfers are friends of Erik Compton. Even though he can’t be out there with them full time, they, too, realize the his accomplishment.
As Compton’s caddie next week, Kelly Murray will be writing a daily dairy entry, to be posted here on ProsNHackers.com . Stay tuned for first hand accounts of Erik Compton’s 2009 debut on the PGA TOUR, live from the Honda Classic at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
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