After emergency surgery, Overton's back against wall

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PALM COAST, Fla. -- Jeff Overton has endured his share of painful cuts during his three years as a professional golfer. But it's one thing to miss a cut by a shot and another to have your stomach cut open so doctors can remove an appendix that's about to burst.

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Overton had two top-10s in the Fall Series before his surgery.

JEFF OVERTON

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That's what happened on Oct. 21. Just as Overton was preparing to play in the Frys.com Open last week -- at a Grayhawk Golf Course he considers his winter home -- he felt a nagging pain in his stomach. When the pain shifted to the right side, Overton was told by his doctor to go to a hospital. Sure enough, when he arrived, doctors had to perform an emergency appendectomy.

"I was scared to death going into the operating room," Overton said. "I couldn't believe I was about to have a major surgery. But the good news is I'm obviously still alive."

Still, the timing of the surgery couldn't have been worse.

When he had the operation, Overton was 122nd on the PGA TOUR money list. With three courses he felt comfortable on to end the season, though, he was confident he could keep his playing card by maintaining his spot in the all-exempt top 125. Moreover, Overton had finished in the top 10 in two of his last three starts.

While he was recovering from surgery last week, though, he fell to No. 126 with just two tournaments left. That explains why a visibly weak Overton has decided to play in this week's Ginn sur Mer Classic. Since he has already played 30 tournaments this year -- about two more than the TOUR's average for the top 125 players -- he's not eligible for a medical exemption.

So Overton has two choices: stay at home, and have absolutely no chance at finishing in the top 125 or try and play -- even though he hasn't swung a club 100 percent in the last 10 days -- and hope he can somehow make a cut and move back inside the magic number.

"It stinks," Overton said. "It was such total randomness for this to happen to me. It's unfortunate, but it's the game of golf. I was playing some of the best golf of my life and I was going to play on three courses that really fit my eye. I'm going to have to come out here and hope for a miracle."

Trying to move back into the top 125 with two events left on the schedule is enough of a challenge when a player is 100 percent healthy. Now try and do this with a pain patch attached to his stomach.

Overton estimates he's "65 percent," but that might be stretching it. He has done little but chip and putt since leaving the hospital. He won't play a hole before Thursday's first round, preferring to preserve his energy. Obviously, that's a pre-tournament routine shared by no other player this week.

Overton said he's hit his driver only three times this week, and none of them 100 percent. He was hitting his 8-iron about 125 yards Wednesday, roughly 40 yards shorter than normal.

"I'm not really sure what I'm going to be able to do this week," Overton said. "Honestly, I wasn't worried about (finishing in the top 125) before this happened, because I was playing so well."

Doctors have told him he can't do anymore serious damage to his body, except possibly suffering a hernia. He said the pain in his stomach last week was "like I had just done 500 crunches."

"I just have to do what my body lets me do," Overton said. "It's basically how much pain can I handle. If I play nine holes and the pain's too bad, I may have to quit and maybe we go out there next week. But you don't want to look back in two months and know that you didn't at least give it a shot."

If there's a positive to this, Overton believes he will have little pressure on him this week because of his situation. "I'm not trying to finish in the top 125," he said. "I'm just going to try to stand up and walk the 18 holes. If I can do that, I'll feel fairly good about myself."

At the same time, Overton realizes the ball could care less if the person hitting it is 100 percent healthy or just coming off major surgery. The rules remain the same for everyone.

"No excuses," he said. "I'll just go out there and mentally try to overcome everything," he said.