PGA NOTES
MEDINAH – Billy Mayfair had never been as happy to participate in a practice round as he was yesterday at Medinah. Mayfair, 40, will compete in the 88th PGA Championship this weekend after recently undergoing surgery for testicular cancer.
“Just walking, hitting shots, just mentally trying to get ready to play golf again, it’s fun,” Mayfair said yesterday.
“If I get mad and swing a club or kick something, I’ll get mad at myself because I should be thankful just for being here.” Mayfair, the winner of five PGA Tour events, underwent surgery two weeks ago after an examination revealed a lump in his right testicle to be cancerous. The cancer was contained in one area and his prognosis is good. “The biggest thing is I caught it early,” he said. “I had a fabulous doctor that took good care of me and stitched me up real well.”
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There will be a record number of Europeans playing in the PGA Championship this weekend, but the 48-player contingent will be without Darren Clarke of Northern Ireland, who is taking a break from golf after his wife Heather died Sunday following a battle with breast cancer.
Clarke said he’ll return to the game “when he feels ready.” Fellow Irishman Paul McGinley also withdrew from the PGA to support Clarke. A European hasn’t won the PGA in 76 years, but Padraig Harrington of Dublin said he’ll donate his earnings this week to breast-cancer research.
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LPGA player Laura Diaz is competing in the PGA, sort of. For the second straight year, she’ll caddie for her brother, the reigning PGA Professional National Champion Ron Philo. Philo, the head pro at Metropolis in White Plains, won the national title last June at Turning Stone Resort and Casino.
Other area club pros in the tournament include Greg Bisconti of St. Andrews in Hastings on Hudson, Mark Brown of Tam O’Shanter in Brookville, L.I., and Craig Thomas of the Muttontown Club in East Norwich, L.I.