Azinger Eyes June Return to the Tour

Doctors tell Paul Azinger that he has a 90% chance of recovery from cancer, and the golfer is looking on the bright side of his recuperation period.

“I’m not in a fight for my life,” said Azinger, who has lymphoma, a form of cancer, in his right shoulder blade. “I’ve got a seven-month vacation.”

Azinger, 34, told The Augusta Chronicle that his shoulder doesn’t hurt for the first time since last May. He has a full range of motion, but he will not play in this week’s Masters, a tournament he’s played every year since 1987.

Azinger won $1.4 million and three tournaments last year, including his first major, the PGA at Inverness in Toledo, Ohio. He hasn’t played since November’s Skins Game.

Last week, many of his fellow PGA Tour pros played in the Paul Azinger Pro-Am at the Okefenokee Golf and Country Club in Waycross.

“I’ve told these boys I dropped about $1 million in the pot for them,” Azinger said. “They better get some before I come back out.”

Azinger said he hopes to return to the tour in June.

As he talks, Azinger rubs his bald head. When his hair started falling out from the chemotherapy treatments, Azinger shaved his head.

At first, Azinger wore a bandana over his head. The baldness reminded him that he was sick and made him believe he looked ill to others.

“I’m beyond being self-conscious about it,” said Azinger. “I’ve put the razor to it five or six times. I’ve only cut myself once. Other than that, I’ve been injury free.”

Once Azinger recovered from the shock of the cancer diagnosis, he set his sights on the Masters.

“I thought maybe I’d put the chemotherapy off if I had clearance to hit balls and play the Masters and then do the chemo,” Azinger said. “It turned out my doctors have told me not to hit too many balls so I haven’t been playing.”

So instead of facing Amen Corner this week, Azinger will head for Los Angeles and chemotherapy.

The treatments “beat me up pretty good and are nasty,” Azinger said. He experiences nausea and pain for about a week after each session.

In his time off, Azinger has been fishing and has spent time with his wife Toni and their two daughters at home in Bradenton, Fla.

The outpouring of support and prayers from across the country has made Azinger realize “as athletes, we have been given a platform that gives us the ability to encourage people. I never really took advantage of it.”

He does now.

“It’s amazing what just a simple two-minute phone call to someone who is hurting will do,” Azinger said. “If you can make somebody who is sick--if you can make their day better--then you’ve done them a service. It makes you feel better, too.