Compton's legend continues to grow and inspire

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Erik Compton was given a sponsor's exemption to play this week and is just five shots behind.

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. -- Was there any doubt the 30-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole was going to drop for Erik Compton? No, especially not after he was coming off a double bogey on the 17th hole at PGA National.

If there's anything that Compton has proved in his 29 years, it's he knows a thing or two about recovery.

Of course, coming back from double-heart transplants isn't even worth comparing to overcoming a double bogey in the second round of a PGA TOUR event.

But as much as we want to marvel at the fact that Compton is alive today, much less on the leaderboard of The Honda Classic, less than a year after having his chest ripped open and another person's heart installed, he didn't accept a sponsor's exemption this week simply to be a story line.

He has spent the last 10 years as a professional golfer, enduring the same highs and lows as any other golfer who has teed it up for a living. This is his profession, and he showed the last two days he belongs. Consecutive 1-under 69s have him tied for 13th place, five shots out of the lead.

"That felt good making that putt on 18, after what happened on 17," Compton said. "I'm like any golfer out here: I want to make the cut, and then see what I can do on the weekend."

Clearly, Compton is not like any other golfer. There's no record of anyone else competing as a professional athlete after having a heart transplant. His first one came when he was 12, the second one last spring, not long after he suffered a near-fatal heart attack.

Compton doesn't want sympathy. He could have accepted a cart this week -- the PGA TOUR allowed him to use one through the end of March. But Compton has walked all 36 holes, including 20 on Friday because darkness cut short his first round on Thursday and he had to be on the course at 7:45 a.m. -- after getting three hours' sleep.

Compton isn't looking for a free ride this weekend, either.

"It's more important for me to be back and healthy and walking than even hitting golf shots," he said. "I think by walking, I'm not only helping myself, but so many other people to see that I'm doing this and living life and moving on and playing well, as well."

Adding to the tug on the heart strings, if you will, Compton's standard bearer Friday was a 14-year-old kid from nearby Juno Beach named John Paul George who suffers from a HyperPlastic heart, meaning only half of his heart works properly.

When George ran out onto the green to high-five Compton after his closing birdie, you didn't know who to cheer for more. So the gallery cheered for them both as they walked off with smiles wider than the Atlantic Ocean.

"This was the greatest day of my life," George beamed afterward. "I've been on a golf course before, but never in a pro tournament."

Compton was approached by George's family earlier this week and he readily agreed to form quite a heart-to-heart duo. But Compton is first and foremost a golfer, so they didn't talk much during the round so he could preservere all of his energies to grind away during the five-hour round.

"You could see the kid has been through a heck of a lot, probably more than I have," Compton said of George. "I'm surrounded by people telling me their stories in life and obstacles that they have to go through. We inspire each other, so it's good."

Compton's story is almost too compelling to believe. Five months after the second heart transplant, last fall he advanced through first stage of the PGA TOUR's Qualifying Tournament and missed getting through second stage by a shot.

He was given an exemption into the Children's Miracle Network Classic at Disney World and made the cut, finishing 60th. The last time he had played the weekend on the PGA TOUR was 2005.

Compton and his new bride, Barbara, who he met last year, have a newborn girl named Petra, whom they conceived within days of his second heart transplant. If these kind of details were included in a movie script, it would likely be tossed out.

Too far fetched.

But this is reality, not a reality show.

And it won't end this weekend for Compton, who has been offered sponsor exemptions next week at the Puerto Rico Open and later this month at Bay Hill.

The story, like his life, just refuses to end.