Erik Compton has been
on the precipice of
death, but has realized
dreams while playing on
the PGA Tour.
Two-time heart transplant recipient Erik Compton’s battle
has emboldened his perspective by KEN KLAVON
H
ow do you measure the beat
of a heart?
What is its value, its
incalculable worth?
How about determining
the will to live and making
an indelible mark? And how about being
in the Grim Reaper’s crosshairs, not once,
but twice?
Hyperbole? Ask Erik Compton, a twotime heart transplant recipient, if it’s an
overstatement. His story exploded in 2010,
first at the U.S. Open, and then at The
Greenbrier Classic.
He finished 73rd at Greenbrier but shared
the first round lead with Matt Every after
blistering The Old White TPC course for
a 63. It may have been the most important
score of his life, because it afforded Compton’s
story to develop far-reaching tentacles. Not
only did it signify his courageous comeback
as a professional golfer, but it underscored
his work with organ donor facilitators,
such as Transplant Foundation and Donate
Life America.
Compton intends to play the upcoming
Greenbrier Classic (July 2-5) again. He has
registered to play every year except last
season due to a heavy lead-up schedule that
turned out to be too much.
Compton loves the welcoming atmosphere
that the resort presents to the players and
their families. In terms of the course layout,
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the easy walk between teeing grounds
is appealing.
“I don’t think it’s a terribly difficult golf
course compared to the ones we normally
play,” he says. “Obviously scores can be pretty
low there. But I think it’s a challenging course
and it’s fun. There are definitely some holes
that play tricky if you’re not careful with the
undulations on the greens and stuff. It’s not
one of the longer courses we play on tour,
but it definitely shows who is playing the
best that week.”
UNCOMMON DETERMINATION
Funny enough, with the way he’d been playing
as of early May, the prospect of Compton
registering a win is not out of the question.
Five years ago, with the cards of life dealing
him near busts, he couldn’t say the same thing.
Imagine at age 9, an age of innocence and
dreams, being told in medical vernacular that
viral cardiomyopathy—an enlarging of the
heart that restricts it from pumping blood—
would likely lead to a transplant. Less than
three years later a new heart would arrive. It
was a gift from a 15-year-old girl killed by a
drunk driver.
Months after the transplant he came to
the realization that playing baseball and
football, his first loves, wasn’t feasible.
Instead, golf would be taken up as a form
of rehabilitative therapy. It re-established
dreams and motivated him. He soon took
out the crayons and drew a picture of himself
one day playing in the Masters. Heck, why
not dream big?
“This game is obviously not football,
baseball, tennis or something like that where
you are running often,” says Sergio Garcia,
who knows Compton from playing on the
tour together. “But it is the kind of game that
also takes a big toll on your body, your heart
in some cases, and your head.”
In 2007, Compton’s head was filled with
confusion after flying home to Florida. He
had missed a Nationwide Tour cut in Boise,
Idaho, and there was no reason to stick
around. Back in Florida, he was driving
alone when severe chest pain forced him
to an emergency room. Unsure what had
occurred, Compton suffered a heart attack,
which rendered his heart to just 15-20
percent working capacity. The situation so
dour, Compton managed to call family to
say goodbye.
Doctors were able to put in a pacemaker
and defibrillator, but they were transitory in
buying him some time. Heart transplants
lasted about 15 years then and he had
exhausted about that much out of the one
put in at age 12. Doctors told him he’d need
a second transplant.
For six months, the constant waiting was
torturous, leading to a brief existential crisis.
He often worried whether his heart would
just shut down, but he managed to play some
golf, winning a local pro-am.
Word of a forthcoming heart came. Ohionative Isaac Klosterman, a strong believer
in organ donation, had been killed in a
MATTHIAS CLAMER
The Face of Courage
w w w. v s g a . o r g
5/8/15 11:45 AM