Green surprised, touched by support in challenging time
By Craig Dolch, PGATOUR.COM Contributor
Ken Green has always been a polarizing individual on the PGA TOUR.
Either you loved or hated him. There was usually little in between.
His fans admired him because there wasn't a pin -- or a person -- he wouldn't aim at. It didn't matter if the topic was whether Augusta National was over-hyped, if World Golf Hall of Fame member Raymond Floyd once took an illegal drop or the fact he treated the old Greater Hartford Open as his fifth major, Green always said what was on his mind, not worrying about the consequences.
It was an approach that served him well for almost a decade, helping him win five PGA TOUR titles in the 1980s, take home more than $3 million and earn a chance to play for his country in the 1989 Ryder Cup.
But his critics decried his unconventional ways -- how he would throw his driver to his caddie after a tee shot, his penchant for wearing lime-green shoes, his brutally honest answers to questions, his constant fines from the PGA TOUR. No doubt his detractors took some pleasure in Green's fall from grace, starting in the 1990s, when his marriage fell apart, followed soon thereafter by his body and his game.
But since the 50-year-old Green was involved in an accident June 8 on I-20 near Meridian, Miss., that claimed the lives of his older brother, William; his longtime girlfriend, Jeanne Hodgin; and his German shepherd, Nip; and a week later he had to have his right leg amputated below his knee, the two sides of Ken Green have melded into one.
That was clear when Green turned on the TV at the University of Mississippi Medical Center last weekend and saw what transpired at his favorite event, the now-named Travelers Championship in Hartford. With tears in his eyes, Green watched as fellow PGA TOUR players not only wore green ribbons in support of him, but so did more than 5,000 fans. Players at the Champion Tour's Dick's Sporting Goods Open -- where Green would have been competing -- did the same, donning green ribbons for the rookie on their tour.
"He was bolstered by it, touched by it," said Kevin Richardson, Green's longtime agent and close friend. "Not only to have players on both tours wear those ribbons, but also the fans."
Green has been many things to many people during the last 25 years. A sympathetic figure has rarely been one of them.
But legends of the game such as Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus have called Green at the hospital to show their support while he's undergone nine surgeries on his leg since the accident. Green also has received lots of love from the PGA TOUR's rank and file. They have called him a "fighter" and a "survivor" and they have encouraged Green to do what appears to be the impossible -- try to return to competitive golf with a prosthetic leg.
There was nothing artificial about their support, either. They know no athlete should have to go through the horror of the last three weeks, let alone the self-called "demons" he's fought the last 20 years.
The PGA TOUR has set up a trust fund that will help cover Green's immense medical costs. The PGA TOUR has offered used of its private plane to fly Green from Mississippi to his sister Shelly's house in Ormond Beach, Fla., hopefully later this week if he's finally allowed to leave the hospital and begin his lengthy rehabilitation. Shelly is married to Slugger White, the PGA TOUR's vice president of Rules and Competitions.
Green's friends have already started to set up charity golf events in his hometown of Danbury, Conn., and his longtime residence of West Palm Beach in the fall to raise hopefully six figures for Green at each tournament. Close pal Mark Calcavecchia and two-time U.S. Open champion Curtis Strange already have committed to playing, and many other pros on the PGA TOUR and Champions Tour are certain to follow.
The golf world has rallied around Green. Who would have seen that coming?
"Ken has received a lot of support that he never thought he really had," Richardson said. "It's been broad based ... from his fellow tour players, the public at large and, quite frankly, the PGA TOUR. So many people didn't know the real Ken.
"It's unfortunate it has taken something like this for some people to come around with Ken. He is unbelievably loyal. So many people didn't know that because in large part of the way he decided to live his life and sometimes he said the wrong thing. He's not one of those guys who says, 'I speak the truth.' He spoke the way he felt. Those who know Ken the best always knew he was a regular guy, he says what he feels and he's been incredibly giving."
The road ahead for Green will be more difficult than any path he has traveled. It will take months of intense rehabilitation just for Green to do the simplest tasks in life. A return to competitive golf remains a long shot, but it will provide him with the motivation to trudge on and attempt his greatest comeback ever.
There will be many times when Green feels isolated and all alone. But that's no longer the case. The last three weeks have shown Green he has more support than he ever imagined.
He will need it, too.
Craig Dolch is a freelance columnist for PGATOUR.COM. His views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.
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