Simpson making most of second chance at golf

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Read more about Simpson's journey back to golf

PALM COAST, Fla. -- Tim Simpson used to have a glass half empty approach to golf. If things didn't go his way, he'd get discouraged and frustrated.

Tim Simpson carded a wild and woolly 68 on Saturday. (Miller/WireImage)

Inside the Numbers

Simpson thru 36 Holes

Category Total Rank Eagles 1 T1 Birdies 12 3 Pars 17 T72 Bogeys 5 T49 Double Bogeys 1 T24 Other 0 N/A Driving Accuracy 50.0% T67 Driving Distance 267.0 yds. T43 Greens in Regulation 77.8% 1 Putts per Round 27.5 T24 Putts per GIR 1.607 8 Sand Saves 100.0% T1

That all changed when he underwent a massive nine-hour brain surgery. Simpson had a hereditary condition that caused a benign essential tremor in his left hand. Naturally, this didn't help on the golf course. Imagine having to make a putt when nothing can stop your hand from shaking.

The operation took place just over three years ago. Everything went so smoothly that, within a few days, he was back on the golf course.

"I never lost faith that somehow, some way, someone would help me," Simpson said at the time. "I may never be 100 percent. But I feel like with the talent I have left and with the incredible desire I have, there are still great things in store for me."

After surviving that ordeal at age 49, he joined the Champions Tour. Now, three years later, he thinks his swing and his game are getting back to where they were at his prime.

Simpson's confidence is also back. Shooting rounds of 69 and 68 for a 7-under-par total in the first two days of the Ginn Championship at Hammock Beach Resort have helped remind him that he belongs here.

"Success breeds confidence," he said. "I'm building my confidence and getting closer to heading in the right direction."

His second round was full of ups and downs, including six birdies, two bogeys and an eagle immediately followed by a double bogey.

The eagle came on the 10th hole after a near-perfect drive and what he called "one of the best" 5-iron shots of his life. But well-struck shots don't always land quite where one would expect.

"Even the people up at the green said I got a bad break," Simpson said of his second shot, which landed in a nearly impossible spot behind the green. But he squeezed lemonade out of lemons when his third shot, a 26-foot chip, landed in the hole.

With his momentum in full swing after that hole, he headed to No. 11. But his tee shot went to the right of the fairway and, since no marshal was nearby, they never found the ball. As Simpson put it, he wasn't about to go looking where rattlesnakes might be living.

He was forced to tee it up again and made double bogey on that hole, which he immediately followed up with a bogey. That effectively killed any positive mojo gained from the eagle at No. 10, right?

Nope, his day turned around again as he managed three more birdies and made a key 19-footer for bogey on No. 18.

"My drives on Nos. 11 and 18 were the only bad swings I made all day," Simpson said. "And I don't get as fiery about things like that anymore. After all I've been through, I realize that's life."

His confidence is high heading into Sunday, which he will begin four shots back of leader Bernhard Langer. Also ahead of Simpson, a four-time PGA TOUR winner, are Lonnie Nielsen and Fred Funk.

The University of Georgia Bulldog last won on the PGA TOUR at the 1990 Walt Disney World/Oldsmobile Classic in Orlando, just a few hours from this week's tournament in Palm Coast, Fla. Though winless on the Champions Tour and going up against some heady competition, the veteran golfer is glad he can even play golf.

"Now I look at [bad shots] with a glass half full mentality. I'm getting a second chance that nobody can explain."