Martin Brings His Game, God
MARTIN BRINGS HIS GAME, GOD Nike Tour's cause celebre comes to town, serving as inspiration to many who share his pain. By CARL DUBOIS The Times Consider this before you approach Casey Martin: All he really wants to do right now is play golf and be a good witness for Jesus. Both are becoming more challenging every day. Martin's time management is based on this simple premise: His God is eternal, but his next tee shot could be his last. This is the thought which drives him from hole to hole, not the cart. The cart is the vehicle, not the fuel. But this is Martin's life at age 25 - press conferences, photo opportunities, questions, autographs, curiosity seekers, contractual obligations and, when time and space permit, 18 holes. Martin's next tee shot will come at Southern Trace Country Club, the site of this week's Nike Shreveport Open. In the two months since a federal court judge allowed him - under the Americans With Disabilities Act - to use a cart on the Nike Tour, Martin's life has been quite a ride. And it, like the game he loves, will never be the same. Martin suffers from Klippel-Trenaunay-Weber Syndrome, an incurable birth defect so uncommon its name is frequently misspelled in news reports. In his lower right leg, he's missing a vein critical to proper blood circulation. The undersized veins he does have wage a constant battle to carry blood back to the heart. Martin wears a tight support stocking to squeeze the blood along and keep his right leg from swelling two sizes larger than his left.
[Show full text]