CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Golf is a constant mind game. It doesn’t matter how good your skills are — if your mind’s not right, you have no chance. That applies to everyone from Tiger Woods to the 35-handicap at the local muni.
So you wonder how a guy like John Senden does it. Sure, he’s a professional, he’s won twice on the PGA Tour and he’s cashed $21.5 million in career earnings.
None of that matters, though, when your teenage son — your only child — has an inoperable brain tumor.
This week marks just more than two years since Jacob Senden was diagnosed. Jacob, 13 then, went through a couple of operations to relieve the pressure on his brain and then went through multiple rounds of chemotherapy and radiation, and he battled through all of it.
Today, still with the tumor lodged next to the brain’s pineal gland, 15-year-old Jacob Senden fights on.
That’s what his 48-year-old dad is doing, too, albeit in a much less significant fight.
Senden, who stepped away from the PGA Tour for 14 months to be with his son through all the treatments and doctor visits, had a good day Thursday in the opening round of the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow, where he shot a 3-under 68 and is in a tie for seventh, just two shots out of the lead shared by Rory McIlroy and Joel Dahmen.
Not bad after carding bogeys on his first two holes.
If you have a heart and pulse, you’re rooting for three more of those 68s for Senden before nightfall Sunday. That might be good enough to get him the top-10 finish he needs this week to get into the Byron Nelson field next week in Dallas, where Senden, an Australian, and his family live. That way, Jacob can come watch his dad play in the tournament after school.
“The worst was always the unknown, right from the beginning,’’ Senden said Thursday after his round. “That was a low point, thinking, ‘Is he going to survive? Which direction is this going to go?’ I didn’t think I’d ever get back to the golf course. I think if anything had ever happened …’’
Senden’s eyes watered and his voice trailed off as he shuddered at the thought of losing his son.
“It would have been really tough to come back out,’’ he continued. “I think I would have packed up and never played again.’’
In January 2018, after doctors believed they had a sound plan in place to manage Jacob’s tumor, Senden starting to think about playing golf again.
At that time, he received a Family Crisis exemption from the PGA Tour, which allowed him to play a certain number of events to regain his full-time playing status.
He played in seven events in the 2018 season and made three cuts with his top finish a tie for 34th at the John Deere Classic. This season, he’s played in 11 events and made six cuts, with his top finish a tie for 57th at the Farmers Insurance Open. He entered this week having missed the cut in three his previous four starts.
“I thought I was ready to go, but it was more difficult than I thought,’’ he said. “I’m really at a point now of trying to believe, ‘Is the music still in me?’ ’’
It’s sometimes trite to say that golf inside the ropes is a respite, because it isn’t that way for everyone who’s enduring difficult times.
“Sometimes, if it’s not going so well, the mind wanders and you get a bit emotional,’’ Senden said. “I’ve got to dig deep and feel good about myself, because what’s worse that can happen, really? Golf’s been great to me. The PGA Tour has been unbelievable to me. So I’ve got to accept that and keep working hard and make it count, because we’ve all worked hard with Jacob and his sickness and he’s come out of it great. He’s a strong little kid and he’s got through it to this point.
“Now that I’ve been given almost like a green light again, I can go out there and play. I’ve just got to get out there and work really hard to make something of it, because [Jacob’s] body and mind have really gotten through this and he’s strong. I’ve got to be strong, too.’’
