Solid play is just what doctor ordered for McCarron

text size

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. -- For the better part of the last 18 months, Scott McCarron was content to be Mr. Mom back home in Reno.

Scott McCarron is playing pain-free 18 months after having elbow problems. (Shamus/WireImage)

Inside the Numbers

McCarron thru 36 Holes

Category Total Rank Eagles 0 N/A Birdies 10 T4 Pars 22 T60 Bogeys 3 T131 Double Bogeys 1 T21 Other 0 N/A Driving Accuracy 71.4% T8 Driving Distance 270.3 yds. 135 Greens in Regulation 47.2% T97 Putts per Round 24.0 T1 Putts per GIR 1.471 3 Sand Saves 66.7% T27

He cooked breakfast in the mornings. He shuttled his two daughters to school and acting classes. He even coached their soccer team. What McCarron didn't do, though, was play golf.

The three-time PGA TOUR champion missed nearly 18 months of competition after having surgery in August of 2006 to reattach the radialis brevis tendon on his right elbow. It was nearly a year to the day before he could hit balls without pain.

McCarron is feeling much better, though, after Friday's 65 left him five shots behind Phil Mickelson at the midway point of the Northern Trust Open. He's tied for fourth at 5 under with Chad Campbell, Scott Verplank, Vaughn Taylor and Billy Mayfair.

It was McCarron's lowest round since he posted back-to-back 65s on the weekend at the FBR Open -- way back in 2005. And it came on one of the UCLA grad's absolute favorite golf courses in Riviera Country Club.

"I really have no business being in the hunt or near the lead, but I feel good coming in here," McCarron said. "I just love this place and ... lo and behold, I played pretty good today."

This time last year, though, McCarron really didn't know whether he'd ever be able to play golf again without pain. When the elbow first started hurting in January 2006, McCarron thought he had tendonitis. Cortisone shots kept him going for the next seven months.

"So I don't know if it tore right there in January, (or) if it tore right there during the next seven months," McCarron recalled. "But I was playing with almost one hand. Should have had the MRI done right, away and in hindsight, wish I would have."

Turns out, though, McCarron enjoyed his time away from the game more than he thought he would. In addition to the quality time he spent with his family, McCarron even tried his hand at TV -- working for GOLF CHANNEL during the Masters last year.

"I would say after about three months being at home my wife kind of turned to me and said, "You're really happy right now," and I said this is probably the happiest I've ever been, being able to be at home, it was a nice feeling," McCarron recalled.

"Still, I love playing golf. I miss the competition and as soon as I could start hitting balls and playing again, I really was setting my goals oncoming back here and playing well. So I've worked real hard to come back."

By last August, McCarron found he could hit balls without too much pain. Still, he had to learn to trust his elbow again. He admitted that he "played in fear ... not sure if I could ever come back.

"I was still kind of flinching at impact waiting for the pain. My brain still wasn't letting me hit shots and swing through and that lasted really up until, oh, I would say October, right around there."

McCarron played in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship that month, and he found he was finally able to let shots go without worrying whether his elbow would hurt or not. The Northern Trust Open is his fifth start in 2008, and his second made cut.

McCarron is playing this season on a major medical extension. He has 13 events to earn $485,171 -- which, when coupled with his 2006 earnings -- would equal the amount needed to have finished in the top 125 that year.

He's not concerned by the relatively slow start this year. Friday's 65 was only McCarron's third in the 60s in 14 rounds in 2008. He admits that he probably needed a few tournaments under his belt before coming back out, but the TOUR really was his only option.

"I knew it was going to be part of the process," said McCarron, who made birdie on the final three holes at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic to make the cut on the number. "One of the things about being injured, almost all of us played too long with injury and come back too early."

A return to Riviera, then, might be just what the doctor ordered. About 30 of his fraternity brothers were on hand Friday, and their words of encouragement echoed through the eucalyptus trees. And once he started making birdies, McCarron said things started feeling "normal" and he found his comfort zone.

"You get on this golf course and the trees really shape a lot of the holes which I love," he said. "I love being able to work the ball on the tee. It really sets up well for my eye. I like playing here. I've played here quite a bit.

"So I've got good memories here. I've also got some real hard memories when I lost to Len Mattiace on the last hole (in 2002), and then I lost the next week at the (World Golf Championships-Accenture) Match Play (Championship) in the finals.

"It took me a long time to get over those two losses. I was really disappointed. I really wanted to win those tournaments and especially win here at Riviera, just means so much to me with the nostalgia and being here and going to UCLA.

"I have a lot of good feelings, a lot of good feelings here."

He's making more this week.