Martin makes a triumphant return

Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO

Casey Martin has never allowed himself to look too far into the future.

Even looking back, it is no less amazing to see him and his cart back at The Olympic Club, riding between shots during a practice round Monday at the U.S. Open, then walking painfully back to the cart with a limp that has become as much a signature for him as a fist pump for Tiger Woods.

Martin could not have predicted 14 years ago when he left the U.S. Open after his historic ride that he would still be competing against the best in the world. He gave up tournament golf six years ago and took over as golf coach for the Oregon Ducks.

He could not have predicted he would still even have a right leg.

“I’m 40 now, and so this is at that point where I didn’t know if I would ever really be able to keep my leg,” said Martin, who suffers from a rare circulatory disorder that led him to sue the PGA Tour for a right to use a cart. “So it’s not great. When I wake up, I feel it. When I get out of the golf cart, I feel it. When I travel with the team and travel down here, I definitely feel it. That’s always going to be the case. And so I’m not complaining. It’s hanging in there.

“But I’m not going to be running a marathon, either.”

Running a marathon seemed more plausible than Martin playing another U.S. Open — at Olympic Club, no less.

The only competition Martin has had over the past six years was an occasional game with his players, or a charity event that often featured a scramble format on short golf courses designed for amateurs. But with Olympic hosting another U.S. Open, he figured it was worth a shot.

King Martin recalls his son telling him he thought he would enter the U.S. Open.

“As a USGA member, I got a USGA hat in the mail,” the father said. “I put it up in my office at home, let it sit there, clinging to that dream. It has a little more meaning to me right now. This is a godsend, I can tell you that.”

It’s a script even Hollywood would have a hard time believing.

Despite the controversy surrounding him and his lawsuit for the right to ride, Martin has nothing but the best memories of Olympic in 1998. He had sued the PGA Tour for a right to ride a cart. He qualified for the U.S. Open, and because a court had issued a temporary injunction against the tour, the USGA went along with it and let him ride.

Martin has a practice round scheduled today with Tiger Woods, his teammate at Stanford, and the gallery figures to be enormous.

“It kind of feels like 1998 all over again with a lot of the attention, and it’s great,” Martin said. “I’m totally flattered.”