EUGENE, Ore. – When former PGA Tour golfer Casey Martin had his proper leg amputated mid-thigh in October 2021, he hoped for some reduction from the excruciating ache that had held him again since delivery.
As a substitute, Martin traded the all-too-familiar ache for a complete new stage of discomfort.
“The ache I’ve had for 49 years is gone,” Martin mentioned. “Sadly, it got here with a brand new set. I wasn’t 100% prepared for what I used to be about to take care of. I am not going to lie, it was a little bit of a struggle.”
Martin, who has coached Oregon’s golf group for the previous 20 years, hasn’t performed an 18-hole spherical in almost two years. He can stand on his prosthetic proper leg whereas gamers heat up for apply and hit a 7-iron about 150 yards. He can nonetheless play in opposition to the perfect gamers.
However all the things else the sport requires is bodily an excessive amount of for Martin, who turns 54 on Tuesday.
“It’s extremely troublesome to play and it hurts,” Martin mentioned. “In some way, I felt prefer it wasn’t price it. In the event you put it on a flat floor, it is advantageous. However if you happen to put it on Yokoyama within the bunker, it isn’t doable.”
It took a really totally different type of therapeutic to surrender the sport he had spent a lot of his life in, and the game he fought in a well-known authorized battle that reached the U.S. Supreme Courtroom 1 / 4 of a century in the past.
“I used to be fully unprepared for it,” Martin mentioned. “It was a little bit of a tragic course of.”
with the king Melinda Martin’s second son was born in Eugene on June 2, 1972, and he cried consistently. Casey’s mother and father ultimately seen an uncommon birthmark on her proper foot.
When Martin was 10 months outdated, medical doctors recognized him with a uncommon degenerative congenital illness known as Klippel-Trenaunay-Weber syndrome. This incurable illness impacts the circulatory system in his legs.
In his 1998 ebook Stroll a Mile in My Footwear: The Casey Martin Story, writer Tom Kaneff described Martin’s situation: “Blood in a wholesome leg is carried by arteries to the decrease legs and pumped again to the legs by means of veins. As a result of the blood is flowing by means of the veins in opposition to gravity, the valves within the veins are designed to maintain the blood from flowing down. However in Casey’s proper leg, the valves within the veins by no means shut and the blood would not circulation again up, as an alternative pooling within the decrease leg.”
The prognosis was grim. A leaking vein in Martin’s proper leg might have brought on his tibia to deteriorate through the years.
As a toddler, Martin continuously needed to have blood drawn from his proper knee with a syringe. He wore compression socks from his hips to his ankles to extend blood circulation and stop swelling. He cooled his proper foot and soaked it within the bathtub.
Even earlier than he was a young person, Martin knew that dropping his leg was in all probability inevitable.
“I used to be prepared,” Martin mentioned. “When folks ask me about carrying stockings on my toes, I feel, ‘Effectively, I will in all probability by no means put on stockings.’ I knew that. I did not have wholesome toes.”
As a toddler, Martin was unable to play sports activities due to his toes. He was the designated quarterback not tackled in yard soccer video games. He performed basketball and golf along with his brother Cameron, who was two and a half years older.
“Casey may be very grateful to his brother for letting him take part in all of the athletic actions that his brother tried,” King-Martin mentioned. “Cameron did all the things he might to incorporate him, and Casey was a pure.”
In eighth grade, the Martin household made the household choice for Casey to stop group sports activities and concentrate on golf. Contact was too harmful.
“From an emergency standpoint, we knew it was only a slip and fall or an accident to the purpose the place his leg needed to be (amputated) as a result of there was an actual danger of dying from bleeding,” King-Martin mentioned.
At South Eugene Excessive College, Martin gained the 1989 Class AAA state particular person title, two years after his older brother completed the identical factor. Cameron signed with Stanford as an alternative of staying house to play for the Geese, the place he performed after transferring from UNLV. He was a two-time All-American and a member of the 1994 nationwide championship group that ended this system’s 41-year title drought.
Martin redshirted in 1993 and was in a position to play his remaining school season with a freshman named Tiger Woods.
2 years later Martin, who turned professional, filed a preliminary injunction in opposition to the PGA Tour in November 1997, denying him the usage of a cart through the remaining stage of Q College’s 108 holes.
Martin’s attorneys argued that the PGA Tour violated the Individuals with Disabilities Act (ADA) by stopping folks with disabilities from taking part in tournaments. The tour mentioned it was a personal group and never topic to ADA laws. A federal Justice of the Peace choose in Oregon granted a short lived restraining order.
All 168 Q College golfers had entry to carts on this tour, with almost 20 utilizing them, together with winner Scott Verplank. Martin misplaced by two strokes and did not earn a PGA Tour card, however he did earn a full exemption on the then-Nike Tour.
In February 1998, the identical U.S. Justice of the Peace choose issued a everlasting injunction in opposition to Martin from utilizing karts at Nike Tour occasions. He had already gained a playoff in his first look on the Lakeland Basic, after the tour agreed to let him play in two tournaments earlier than the lawsuit was resolved. That is his solely victory as knowledgeable.
That very same 12 months, Martin completed tied for twenty third on the U.S. Open at San Francisco’s Olympic Membership with 11 over whereas utilizing a cart.
He completed 14th on the Nike Tour cash record in 1999 and earned a PGA Tour card for the next season. He made his debut on the 2000 Bob Hope Basic, however did not qualify. His greatest end on tour was a tie for seventeenth on the Tucson Open a couple of month later.
Martin gained once more in March 2000, when the Ninth Circuit Courtroom of Appeals upheld a Justice of the Peace choose’s choice to permit Martin to make use of a cart in PGA Tour occasions, rejecting the Tour’s arguments that strolling and stamina are necessary parts of the game and that Martin would have a bonus from using.
Golf legends Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer testified on behalf of the tour on the trial.
“I obtained to know Jack after that, and I obtained to know (Nicklaus’ son) Gary,” Martin mentioned. “Clearly, once they’re in opposition to you, it type of breaks your coronary heart. Gary advised me that the tour put a whole lot of strain on his father, and his father felt sorry for it. So I am a giant fan of Jack.”
They weren’t the one skilled golfers to object to Martin’s using through the event. Paul Azinger, Fred {Couples}, Davis Love III, and Mark O’Meara additionally disagreed with the courtroom’s choice, though some later sided with Martin.
“It by no means felt private,” Martin mentioned. “I did not really feel like they had been in opposition to me. It was extra of an idea of, ‘Hey, we now have to stroll.’ I understood the argument. All through the entire ordeal, I understood that there have been each side, so I attempted to maintain an excellent stability. Okay. I used to be on this aspect, however I used to be in a position to at the least have a civil dialog with somebody who felt prefer it should not be carried out.”
In September 2000, the U.S. Supreme Courtroom agreed to listen to the PGA Tour’s enchantment of this choice. The listening to date was scheduled for January 17, 2001. On common, the Supreme Courtroom hears and decides lower than 2% of the appeals it receives annually.
Martin completed 179th within the 2000 PGA Tour cash rankings, showing in 14 of 29 video games however failing to retain his card. He was unable to make it again in Q-College and was despatched again to the minor leagues of a tour known as the Purchase.com Tour.
Due to the authorized battle and all the things happening round Martin, he mentioned he hardly ever had peace of thoughts whereas enjoying.
“My coronary heart fee went up and I used to be pissed I could not even get to the tee field,” Martin mentioned. “It isn’t ultimate to be in that scenario while you’re making an attempt to play elite golf. I want I had requested for extra assist or talked to extra folks as a result of I used to be simply making an attempt to take care of it by myself. Trying again, I feel that was one of many issues that basically held me again from being profitable.”
On January 17, 2001, the US Supreme Courtroom heard oral arguments. Legal professionals for the PGA Tour argued that the ADA doesn’t require athletes to waive the requirement to stroll, and that skilled sports activities have the suitable to make their very own guidelines.
Justice David H. Souter appeared to agree: “If the individuals who set the foundations for the PGA Tour say, ‘We wish this explicit sport to be more durable than the common sport of golf,’ why should not we respect that?”
Mr. Martin’s lawyer, Roy L. Reardon, argued that strolling shouldn’t be the idea of golf, which is all about swing and ability.
On Might 29, 2001, the Supreme Courtroom dominated in Martin’s favor by a 7-2 choice. Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas wrote a dissent, saying the tour had the suitable to make its personal guidelines.
Martin was free to trip a cart at PGA Tour occasions. Nonetheless, on account of weak point in his proper leg, he didn’t rank within the high 100 on the coaching tour after 1999. Since 2001, he has made a number of begins on the PGA Tour and made the minimize 3 times.
Martin was named Oregon’s golf coach in Might 2006, however has largely given up on enjoying professionally.
In 2012, the 40-year-old Martin gained the qualifying spherical at Emerald Valley Golf Membership in Oregon and returned to the US Open at Olympic Membership. The rating was 74-75, however he fell brief by one stroke.
he’s now He was the longest-serving coach on the College of Oregon, main the Geese to 12 NCAA Match appearances. His group gained the NCAA title in 2016 and was runner-up the next 12 months. He grew to become one in every of solely three folks to win an NCAA championship as each a golfer and a coach. Former U.S. Open champion Windham Clark and PGA Tour winner Aaron Sensible are amongst his former gamers.
“It offers you a aggressive edge by means of your friends, and it offers you a goal to go assist them,” Martin mentioned. “I study loads and I get to share loads. I really like teaching. I get pleasure from teaching.”
Six years in the past, Martin was nonetheless dreaming of enjoying on the PGA Tour Champions, the place he might use a cart at age 50. At age 46, he set a course file with a 9-under 62 from the again tees on the Outdated McDonald Course in Bandon, Oregon.
Former Oregon golfer Peter Jacobsen, who has gained 18 world championships, watched Martin’s swing and mentioned he had little doubt his membership pace would permit him to play on the senior tour.
“I feel he had ambition for it,” Cameron Martin mentioned. “It has been 4 years because the Senior Tour and you are still taking pictures course information off the again tees at locations like that and you are still actually, actually good. In actual fact, I even assume he was enjoying the perfect golf his complete life, together with his earlier years in school and the professionals.”
That dream ended on October 4, 2019. Then-Oregon soccer coach Mario Cristobal requested Martin to testify at a chapel service the night time earlier than the Geese performed California at Autzen Stadium.
When Martin returned house, his then-wife requested him to retrieve the trash can from the curb. It was darkish and Martin had forgotten that the street was below building when he pulled out of the driveway. He fell right into a ditch and broke his proper tibia.
A neighbor, former Oregon State College golfer Kyle Hudson, heard Martin screaming. He discovered him in a ditch and known as 911.
Cameron Martin lived throughout the road along with his household however was out of city.
Cameron Martin mentioned, “Casey is hard as nails as a result of he is needed to be that method his complete life.” “However this was very painful. Being born with a delivery defect was a life-changing occasion from the start, however this was the second life-changing occasion.
“In some methods, I am glad I wasn’t there. I’ve felt a few of his ache all my life as a result of I used to be the older brother who cared a lot about him. So to be sincere, possibly I am glad I by no means discovered him.”
Attributable to Martin’s situation, there was no circulation in his proper leg to permit his tibia to heal. He was bedridden for 2 months. He was put in a solid after which had a prosthetic-like gadget hooked up to his leg, hoping that gradual compression over time would assist the tibia heal. One other physician gave him an experimental injection that labored for a soccer participant with a leg harm.
However Martin’s toes had been totally different.
“Even earlier than that, his toes had been black on the X-rays, and your toes and mine had been white,” Cameron Martin mentioned. “It was simply porous.”
One winter night time, Martin was soaking his toes within the bathtub to alleviate the ache.
“After I pulled my foot out of the water, my tibia buckled,” Martin mentioned. “It was like a noodle. Not just a bit bit, however actually a noodle.”
When medical doctors noticed that Martin’s leg was not therapeutic in any respect, they made the choice to have it amputated.
“When it broke down, deep down I knew it was going to be an unattainable trip,” Martin mentioned.
Martin might have died on the desk on account of bone bleeding attributable to Klippel-Trenaunay-Weber syndrome. Surgeons have no idea how a lot of the leg they might want to take away till they open the leg.
Surgeons on the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., eliminated his leg in a three-and-a-half hour surgical procedure. An above-the-knee amputation allowed them to save lots of extra leg than they’d hoped. Attributable to an an infection, a second surgical procedure was quickly required.
“The medical doctors did an important job by way of saving a whole lot of lives,” Martin mentioned. “However they might have preserved an excessive amount of of the bone, as a result of it is like my bone is popping out from the underside. The highest of this bone shouldn’t be designed to assist weight.”
That’s the reason for Martin’s present ache. After I first had the Ottobock C leg prosthesis, I used to be in a position to stroll with out a cane for a couple of 12 months. However then I spotted that the open area within the socket created a suction impact, drawing fluids to the soles of my toes.
“Over time, the underside grew to become so swollen that I could not put any strain on it,” Martin mentioned.
Martin solely has one prosthetic leg, however he used about seven totally different sockets to search out its stability. His toes swell when it is scorching and humid. It shrinks when it is chilly. He has been engaged on eliminating sodium and sugar from his weight loss plan.
Since dropping his leg, Martin has additionally suffered from excruciating phantom limb ache. His mind is receiving nerve alerts from the legs that are not there but. The burning, throbbing, sharp ache is very unhealthy at night time.
“We had been warned about that,” Martin mentioned. “I have been in ache all my life, so I used to be advised that in a method, nerves have a reminiscence and preserve firing. I’ve by no means skilled something like that. I’ve by no means felt the outdated ache. Sadly, it is solely the brand new ache.”
His first marriage led to divorce. A pal advisable he meet Kaylee Peterson, a 39-year-old lady who lives in Eugene. The previous College of New Mexico softball pitcher served as a Christian missionary all over the world. She has celiac illness and different sicknesses.
Martin and Peterson had been married on August 9, 2025 at Hendricks Park in Eugene, Oregon. The one witness was the pastor.
With journey round airports and golf programs changing into more and more troublesome, Martin is not certain how for much longer he’ll be capable to coach Dax.
“I have been disabled all my life, so to talk,” Martin mentioned. “However that is one other stage.
“I belief God with this, and I can have hope as a result of I do know this would possibly not final perpetually. But it surely’s additionally been a problem.”
