Florida hit-and-run motorcycle accident
after a pickup truck hit him from behind.
The second transplant was completed on
May 20, 2008 after a 13-hour procedure.
Just 27 years old, Compton was up to a
third heart.
He walked out of the hospital 15 days later
emaciated at 129 pounds. He was living but
wondered if the golf dream had died. After all,
while lying in the intensive care unit, Compton
says he came to grips that he’d never play golf
again. He had sold all of his equipment and
had no status on any tour. But his father read
Golfweek to him as he lay there recuperating,
subtly suggesting that he could play again.
Compton had always been a dreamer.
Think big, worry about the consequences later.
Almost six months later he played in the
Children’s Miracle Network Classic at Disney
and made the cut. It gave him hope. He
knew he had talent; he hadn’t been that far
removed as the country’s top-ranked junior
before attending the University of Georgia
as a stellar amateur.
Between the ages of 27 and 30 he healed,
took his medication and hoped his body didn’t
reject the new heart. He played golf when
he could, attending PGA Tour Qualifying
School with unhappy results. He fidgeted
to stay busy and hardly slept while his wife,
Barbara, and young daughter, Petra, did. He
took dozens of pills and still takes a healthy
regimen each day.
As for the here and now, he tires of the
questions. It’s like h