Golf Central

Todd Demsey is such a special Qualifying School story he deserves an entry of his own after joining the select few that earned full playing privileges on the PGA Tour at Q-School last week in Florida.

He is the only one who has had two surgeries to remove a golf-ball sized tumour from his brain.

Demsey has done the PGA Tour thing before, you see. Ten years ago, a former amateur rival of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, it looked like Demsey had it made. Coming out of Arizona State University, where he won the national collegiate title in 1993, it looked like his future was all set up.

He first qualified for the PGA Tour in 1997 and only made nine cuts. But five years later, he had a real wake-up call when, after persistent headaches and sinus pressure, it was discovered he had a tumour going into his brain.

Two surgeries removed it. Now 35, Demsey's career is right back on track, albeit delayed. But he's where he always thought he would be: on the PGA Tour. Needless to say, after what he has been through, Demsey didn't feel quite as much pressure as his competitors.

"It feels good to be calm under the most stressful situations," he said. "I came to get my card, but it's not life or death. I have things in perspective."

Perhaps that first PGA Tour victory, so much on the cards 10 years ago, will actually emerge at last this year then.