Investment, belief in Compton paying dividends

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NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. -- Michael Hanzman was one of the few believers in Erik Compton. Now Hanzman is getting a return on his investment that goes way beyond any sort of monetary value.

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By winning the Nationwide Tour's Mexico Open last week, Compton pretty much assured himself a PGA TOUR card for next season. It will be the first time Compton, a double heart transplant recipient, will be on the TOUR full time.

Of course there was a time when it looked like Compton might not live much less play professional golf for a living.

His story is well-known by now -- when Compton was 9 years old he was told he suffered from viral cardiomyopathy, a condition where the heart is unable to pump as hard as it should, and he subsequently underwent two transplants over the next two decades, the second of which came in 2008.

"I made a call four months after my [second] transplant to just about everybody in the country in golf and said that I was going to make a comeback, and there were very few people that were willing to take a chance on me," Compton said. "I get chills thinking about it, but these people all invested in me and all trusted that I would be here, and now I'm doing it."

Hanzman was one of those people. He helped Compton get a car, a house and did whatever he could financially so Compton could focus on golf.

"I fell in love with the kid," said Hanzman, who got to know Compton through Charlie DeLucca, Compton's longtime teacher and a friend of Hanzman's. "I really enjoyed being with him and thought his story was so compelling. It was just amazing that someone who'd been through what he'd been through accomplished so much."

Hanzman, a circuit court judge in Miami-Dade County, should know. He was in the hospital with Compton as he underwent his second heart transplant.

As Compton was about to undergo surgery, the two were watching Compton's good friend, Brad Adamonis, win on the Nationwide Tour.

"Here he is laying in bed watching him win and he looks at me and says, 'We'll be there, I'm going to do that,'" Hanzman said. "This kid's fighting for his life, literally, and he's looking at me and telling me we're going to get this done.

"What's amazed me the most about him and made me want to support him is that I've just been blown away by his positive outlook. Never a complaint. Never a woe is me.

"I still believed he was going to accomplish it. Despite the odds I just know he has the inner-strength and character to do this. He's the most awesome and inspiring guy I've ever met in my entire life."

Still, Compton's road was always uphill. He constantly battled fatigue, which resulted in him struggling on the golf course, which resulted in his dream nearly being dashed.

Mortal men would have melted in the Miami sun under such circumstances. But Compton, who is in the field for this week's AT&T National on a sponsor's exemption, proved he is one of the game's immortals, even if he's yet to win on TOUR.

Compton, now 31, had every reason to believe he could make it on the golf course -- he was the nation's top-ranked played coming out of high school and after graduating from the University of Georgia in 2001 had a stint on the Nationwide Tour and dominated the Canadian Tour, where he won twice in two years on his way to winning its Order of Merit title. He also won in Morocco as well as on the Hooters Tour.

Winning is winning and Compton knew how to win. But that wasn't what gave Compton the confidence to know he belonged.

"I know that when I walk around and I walk onto a golf course, if I've overcome what I did as an individual, as a human being, golf is not that big of a deal," Compton said.

But it's Compton's golf that has persevered, too. He showed flashes of belonging, like when he opened with a 63 at The Greenbrier Classic last year and this year on the Nationwide Tour, where he's second on the money list.

"I'm not so much of a sideshow freak anymore," Compton said. "I've proved that I can play on the TOUR, so that does give me a lot more confidence."

Compton wants to do more than just play, though. He wants to win and he wants to pay back all the people like Hanzman by proving their belief was right.

"I've won on the Nationwide Tour, I've won on the Canadian Tour, I've won on the Hooters Tour, and now I want to win on the PGA TOUR," said Compton, who admitted he still has to pace himself so he doesn't get too fatigued. He still only warms up 20-25 minutes before his tee time, doesn't practice after a round and rarely plays when he's at home.

And now Compton will have that opportunity in a made-for-Hollywood script.

"My friends joke and say that I look like Paul Giamatti," Compton said when asked what actor would play him if a movie was ever made about his life. "I don't think there will be a movie."

He's right. No one would believe it anyway.