One of the Best Things that Could Have Happened

2002 PGA Championship winner and Austin resident Rich Beem was interviewed last month on The Horn (104.9 FM) by Chip Brown and Erin Hogan on The Morning Rush show. One topic was his recent back surgery by Dr. Daniel Peterson of Austin Brain & Spine, a division of the Seton Brain & Spine Institute. Here is what they said:

Rich, you were sidelined because you underwent back surgery to repair some vertebrae and now you're playing on a medical exemption this year. Talk about your situation and how you're feeling and what's next for you.

Last year, about this time, actually, I was diagnosed with a herniated disk and had to go in and get an MRI. I found out [about the herniated disk] from my doctor, Dan Peterson, there in Austin, who's a fantastic doctor and just really, really helped me out just immensely. You know, he spent almost an hour with my wife and me. He went through the process and said, "This is what's wrong with your back and there's a bunch of different ways to attack it. If your disk is herniated as bad as it was, your best option for you to be competitive is to have surgery done."

I've heard a lot of people talking about how they've got disk problems, back problems - and the last thing they want to do is go under the knife. They're going to get injections and figure out a way [to get] through it. I'll tell you what, Dr. Peterson put me so at ease that, by the time I walked out of there, I went straight to the hospital - I signed up and it was a no-brainer.

And I'll tell you what - it was absolutely life-changing. My strength is coming back. It's almost 100 percent back. It [herniated disk] changed the way I swung the golf club. I got into some really bad habits because of the degeneration of the muscles on my right side. I just couldn't swing it [a club] the way I normally did. After the surgery, I'm able to kind of get back into swinging it like I used to - and it's making the game exciting again. It was probably one of the best things that could have happened to me - which is kind of funny to say, that I had back surgery and it was great!

Sometimes it's the thing you need to get back on track.