Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 3, 1994 TAG: 9408030059
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: GRAND BLANC, MICH. LENGTH: Medium
Paul Azinger plucked his right wrist with two fingers of his left hand, lifted it limply from his lap, and let the hand fall on his right knee.
``That's how I had to move it,'' he said Tuesday at Warwick Hills Golf and Country Club. ``There was no strength, nothing.''
As he gave that singular example of how cancer and its treatment ravaged his body, he snorted a laugh and followed the movement of his arm through the air with eyes that burned with the intensity that helped him become one of the best players in professional golf.
Now, after nine months away from the tour, after six months of chemotherapy and five weeks of radiation, Paul Azinger is back, free of cancer and ready to win.
``The reality I had to face is that I might die and I might die soon,'' Azinger said, the once-weak right arm now flopping casually from the ankle of his crossed right leg to his face in a repetitive nervous gesture as he talked.
``All I wanted to do was live. I now join a long list of people who have survived cancer.''
And he now rejoins the PGA Tour, teeing it up Thursday at the Buick Open here for his first competitive round of golf since November, since cancer in his right shoulder ended a season in which he won three times and had 10 top-three finishes, the most since Tom Watson in 1980.
``I wouldn't be here if I didn't think I could be competitive Thursday,'' Azinger said. And you knew he meant it. Just like he meant it when he said he would beat cancer.
He has played only six rounds of golf since Thanksgiving. He started hitting balls only about two weeks ago after not practicing for 40 days. And he has no real timetable for his comeback except this tournament and next week's PGA Championship, where he is the defending champion - and the last American to win a major tournament.
``I have those little butterflies,'' Azinger said. ``I don't know quite what to expect.
``I'm sure my competitive juices will get flowing once I tee off. Maybe even today if I get a good gambling game going.''
Listening to him talk, you get that feeling that deep down inside Azinger, 34, feels he could keep alive his streak of winning at least one tournament a year every year since 1987, the longest active streak on the PGA Tour.
``I'm hitting the ball fine,'' he said. ``I shot a 70 at Winged Foot on Sunday from the back tees,'' he said, his laughing eyes registering his competitive fire as he told how Jim McGovern birdied the last hole to take $5 from him.
``I have no pain or discomfort in the shoulder.''
Sitting calmly in the small, overflowing press room, in a striped shirt and beige pants, a straw hat atop the short brown hair once lost to his chemo treatments, Azinger was funny, reflective and determined.
He did a hilarious imitation of his doctor's voice, poked fun at his grip, and said of one of his painkilling medications: ``It was nice,'' his eyes bugged out, his tongue drooping from his mouth and his faced twisted comically.
But he also talked about being alive.
``I'm scared of dying just like anyone else,'' he said. ``I love the game of golf. It's what I do best. But I did not miss it. I had other things to worry about. I just wanted to live.''
To live he had to endure six months of chemotherapy, during which he lost 20 pounds.
``Chemo was a nightmare,'' he said. ``I didn't feel sick until chemo. If you've got to do chemo, brother, you know you're sick.''
Each treatment was an hour and a half of intravenous ``chemo-drip'' after which Azinger would feel nauseous for seven to 10 days. The next 20 days were pretty normal, he said.
That was followed by five weeks of radiation, five times a week.
He was able to hit balls for a while during radiation, but then his shoulder started hurting and his doctor, Frank Jobe, told him to stop.
``I went 40 days without hitting any balls,'' Azinger said. Then when it appeared earlier this summer he might be able to start practicing seriously, doctors decided to remove a fatty tumor on his lower left side unrelated to his cancer.
``That set me back another two weeks'' Azinger said.
But now, he says, he's stronger than ever.
``I feel like I'm in the best shape of my life,'' Azinger said, detailing an exercise program involving cycling, a Stairmaster and jumping rope.
``If I miss a couple of four-footers I'll pull out my jump rope and do 100 reps.''
There will be some special precautions.
``Dr. Jobe said to treat my arm like a major league pitcher,'' he said. ``Ice it after every round. And I can't practice after playing.''
And one other thing is just sightly different.
``My desire to win hopefully won't change,'' Azinger said. ``But where I rank it on the totem pole has changed.''
by CNB