Page 19 - ARUBA TODAY

A19
SPORTS Wednesday 31 July 2019
Doug Barron has a week to remember

By DOUG FERGUSON ager. In 2006, doctors tour life. He had missed too And it showed.
AP Golf Writer found his testosterone level much time at home and Barron began posting
Doug Barron celebrated to be that of an 80-year-old wasn't going anywhere. scores in the low 60s. He
his 50th birthday with a last- man, and he began taking He became a medical rep won three times on the Em-
minute trip to England to a steroid to get his levels for British-based Smith & erald Coast Tour. Against
play links golf for the first normal. Golf began drug Nephew, but that wasn't bigger fields with younger
time with some old friends. testing in 2008, and Barron for him. "I quit right after I kids, he could make the cut
Only this wasn't the garden was denied a therapeutic passed corporate training," but little more. He wanted
variety golf trip. use exemption. He was so Barron said with a laugh. to feel nervous. Some of
He flew to Manchester, miserable for eight months Instead, he asked a long- the Emerald Coast Tour
drove to the Lancashire that he took one injection time friend to take a events had 40 players. He
coast and played with Wes three weeks before playing chance on him giving golf could handle that, even if
Short Jr. The last time they in Memphis. The drug test lessons at Windyke Country his biggest paycheck for
had played together was came back positive. Club. He taught for six years winning was $8,000.
nearly seven years ago in Instead of appealing, he when another opportunity In this Aug. 3, 2006 photo, "I wanted to play where I
the Jacksonville Open, the sued. The case was re- came up in the credit card Doug Barron drives on the first could win," he said.
final event of the year on solved out of court. processing business. hole during the first round of But it got him to thinking:
the Buick Open at Warwick
what is now the Korn Ferry Barron was never com- That allowed him to play Hills Golf & Country Club in Why not the PGA Tour
Tour. petitive when he returned, more golf, and that's when Grand Blanc, Mich. Champions? Just his luck,
Two days later, Barron fin- mainly because of five he hooked up with Shaun Associated Press he turned 50 the day be-
ished with three clutch shoulder surgeries. His last Webb at the David Toms fore the Senior British Open.
putts at Fairhaven to quali- full year on the develop- 265 Golf Academy in went from zero confidence "I talked to my wife, and
fy for the Senior British Open mental circuit was in 2012, Shreveport, Louisiana. in the driver to now driving she said to go for it," Barron
The day he turned 50 was and then he effectively "He was struggling with the ball as good as he ever said. "My wife has been my
the final practice round at fired himself. Enough of his swing," Webb said. "He has." biggest supporter. q
Royal Lytham & St. Annes,
where Barron and Dicky
Pride took 20 pounds off
Joe Durant and Scott Parel.
The week ended with Bar-
ron closing with a 67 in the
rain while playing with Colin
Montgomerie to tie for fifth.
He made $72,960, his larg-
est paycheck in 13 years.
And the most memorable
part of an unforgettable
week was after it ended.
Barron walked into the
locker room and saw Tom
Watson, who had just con-
cluded 45 years of com-
peting in the British Open
and Senior British Open.
"He told me, 'Good playing
today,' and it brought tears
to my eyes," Barron said.
"He was my hero growing
up." Golf has not always
been this good to Barron.
Ten years ago, he became
a footnote in PGA Tour
history as the first player
suspended under the An-
ti-Doping Policy. Oddly
enough, Barron was lov-
ing life at the Senior British
Open the same week as a
World Golf Championship
at the TPC Southwind in
his hometown of Memphis,
Tennessee.
It was at the TPC Southwind
where he played his final
PGA Tour event on a spon-
sor exemption in 2009 and
was randomly selected for
drug testing.
Barron had been on beta
blockers since a mitral
valve prolapse as a teen-