Lyme Disease Strikes In The World Of Pro Golf
By Ray Glier: Gannett News Service

Tim Simpson missed the cut by three strokes at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am last weekend, but he isn't feeling disappointed and dejected. He's trying to make a comeback on the PGA Tour, and one tournament isn't going to ruin his joy.

Simpson, 40, once as high as No. 6 on the PGA Tour money list, says he is winning a five-year battle with Lyme disease, which attacks the central nervous system and makes his hands shake. "I'm 80 percent; my hands are shaking. It isn't easy," says Simpson, an Atlanta native. "But I'm not going to quit. I think I was pretty damn solid out there (at Pebble Beach). I was playing behind Fuzzy (Zoeller) and (Tom) kite, and Fuzzy came up to me and said, "Hey, you're swinging great, keep it up."

S impson was sixth in money won in 1989 and eighth in 1990. In 1991 he was a contender for the Ryder Cup team before his career fell like a rock.

After he missed the cut at The Masters in April, he went hunting with a friend, spending a night in a cabin. Simpson said he woke up the next morning with about 200 ticks covering his chest. A week later he had all the symptoms of Lyme disease.

He had constant fevers; he was so weak he  couldn't pick up his 30-pound daughter. He had to lie in bed at night with ice packs on his joints to fight the arthritic pain. He had headaches swollen glands, sweats and fatigue. A golfer who had earned more than $2.6 million, he kept missing the cuts in tournaments or finishing far back of the leaders. A golf magazine featured him in a story with the banner headline "Flops of '91."

Simpson shook so badly that when he stood over the ball, if he wasn't careful, he would knock a 2-foot putt 25 feet past the cup and into a sand trap. Still, he kept playing in 1991 and finished out the season amid the ridicule and speculation that he had reached a peak and was in a decline.

In April 1992, he surrendered after one round of the Greater Greensboro Open. "After the first day, I knew I couldn't walk the 18 holes," he says. "My strength had been my gift from God, but I was losing it."

Simpson plummeted on the money list: 144th in 1992, 134th in 1993. "My career," he says, "was totally in the toilet."

Simpson needed a medical exemption to play on the tour in 1994.  "I should have taken the whole year off in 1992 and taken the IV drips for it and the full medication, because it's a disease that can get worse and worse."

He went on the Nike Tour in 1995 and 1996. He took medication, and, gradually, his physical condition improved. Finally, last November he decided he was ready to make a comeback on the PGA Tour, which meant he had to go through Qualifying School to reclaim his exempt status. "It's been tough, very tough, but quitting was never an option," he says. "I feel like God's given me a second chance. If my hands ever stop shaking, I'll get back to the top."

Copyright 1997, USA TODAY. Reprinted with permission

For more information on Lyme disease see: Lots Of Links On Lyme Disease

Last updated on 29 December 2000 by
Art Doherty
Lompoc, California
doherty@utech.net

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