Ken Green's At Senior PGA, Still Fighting For A Shot

Ken Green, who five years ago lost everyone close to him in an unimaginably awful accident and who hit such a low a year ago that he admits to having contemplated suicide, opened with an 80 at the Senior PGA Championship, writes Bill Fields.

Even better, despite struggling to get any sponsor's invites in his efforts to come back, Green hasn't lost his sense of humor.

Fields writes:

Disappointingly for Green, he hasn't had much success gaining sponsor's exemptions into Champions Tour events in an attempt to "tell his story" and inspire others with disabilities. He said he's 0-for-12 in his latest attempts, but got a spot at Harbor Shores as a former United States Ryder Cup team member. The undulating Jack Nicklaus design was a tough challenge for Green, who opened with a nine-over 80.

"I heard the greens were off the charts. I didn't know Jack also did the fairways a litle bumpy," Green said. "For your average two-legged person, maybe they're not [that difficult], but for the one-legged yo-yo that I am, these fairways are nasty. It's discouraging. The one thing I didn't want to do is embarrass me or golf. I know it's not, but in my brain I feel like it is."