Injured Paulson is back -- on PGATOUR.com

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Carl Paulson wasn't nervous.

Carl Paulson

Three hours before he was to make his debut as an analyst on PGATOUR.com's LIVE@ the FBR Open on Thursday morning, Paulson found time to do a phone interview. He was animated and amiable, clearly looking forward to the task.

"If all I have to do is talk about golf, I'm fine," Paulson said, laughing. "I got used to all the electronics last night. We went over a ton of stuff, and I'm sure I forgot more than I learned, but it should be fun."

Paulson said he looked over the field list Wednesday night and immediately found a comfort zone. He only saw a handful of players he didn't know from playing the PGA TOUR off and one for the last decade.

Not to mention, Paulson is well-acquainted with the 16th hole at the TPC Scottsdale, which is the focus of the LIVE@ coverage. He played in the FBR Open three times and experienced the raucous, rowdy crowd gathered at the par 3 first-hand.

"One time I hit the pin but the ball rolled off the green -- and they booed me all the way up there," Paulson recalled.

Unfortunately, though, he hasn't been able to play much anywhere lately. Paulson has been sidelined by a back injury for more than two years.

"It's the degeneration of some disks that's been going on for as long as I have been playing," he explained. "It was a straw that broke the camel's back kind of thing. Three of them broke at same time. I could barely walk for about three weeks."

Paulson hasn't played competitively since withdrawing from the U.S. Bank Championship in July of 2005. He's worked with a variety of doctors, chiropractors and trainers, most recently focusing on workouts three times a week to strengthen his upper and lower body.

"That way when my back gets tired, I still have healthy and fresh muscles to take the strain off," Paulson said. "The only surgery that will work is fusion, and at my age, I'm not old, but at 37, the chances of coming back and playing golf are slim.

"So surgery is something I will do when I am done with golf -- if I need it. I still have some morning stiffness, and after long day if I play and practice, it stiffens up pretty quick. It's something I have gotten used to, though."

Paulson plans to test his back in March at the Chitimacha Louisiana Open presented by Dynamic Industries. The two-time Nationwide Tour champ will probably play two of the next three weeks, as well, which "will give an indication of how much to plan for," he said.

Paulson has been granted a major medical exemption for the second straight season. He'll have 15 events to earn $428,522 that, when added to his earnings before the injury in 2005, would equal the total of Nick Price, who finished 125th on the TOUR money list that year.

"I want to see how my back holds up," Paulson said. "If it doesn't, well, we'll cross that bridge when we have to, but I don't want to sit around for two more years and have it go out. I'm in pretty good shape now for an old, crippled golfer."

Paulson has managed to find plenty of things to do during the layoff, though. He and his wife Heather have three young children to keep them busy, and the 1994 South Carolina graduate is an avid follower of Gamecock athletics.

And last September, Paulson went to Iraq with three other golfers -- TOUR veteran Jim Carter and LPGA players Suzanne Strudwick and Molly Fankhauser-Cavanaugh. The trip, which lasted 11 days, was organized by Pro Sports MVP.

The four golfers went to different Army installations and FOBs (forward operating bases) from Baghdad to the northern border with Turkey. Sometimes they'd give impromptu golf clinics while at other stops, they'd simply talk with the soldiers.

"We just tried to get their mind off what they were doing for a few hours," Paulson said. "Sometimes we'd hit balls into the desert. We had people who had never touched a golf club to scratch golfers."

Among the highlights for Paulson was getting to drive a tank and shooting machine guns off the top of Humvees. He also brought a Gamecocks flag, which he happily left on the wall of a mess hall with ones from about 30 other universities.

"There were some South Carolina national guards there, and we took some pictures with it," Paulson said.

The trip was especially meaningful to Paulson, whose father was a lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps while he was growing up. His maternal grandfather was a two-star general in the Marines while his father's father was a Navy captain.

"So this trip was more of a confirmation for me," Paulson said. "I have always believed heavily in the military. Regardless of your political stance, we have 140,000 troops over there for us.

"The thing irks me is when people are not supportive. Who cares why we are over there? They are ours and we should support them. You have to give these guys credit for the selfless acts they are doing."