Toms Got Major Scare, Delays Surgery

An intravenous tube dangling from David Toms’ arm and a heart monitor beeping above his head, emergency medical technicians sprayed nitroglycerin and jabbed aspirin tablets under his tongue to try to calm his racing heart.

Moments before, one of the world’s best golfers was fretting about his three putts on No. 18 -- his ninth hole after starting at No. 10 -- at the 84 Lumber Classic. Now, he was strapped down in an ambulance racing to an unknown hospital in an unfamiliar town, his family far away and his life in danger.

Finally, unable to quiet a heart that was beating more than 170 times a minute, the technicians gave the 38-year-old Toms a shot that intentionally stopped his heart, then used electrical impulses to start it again.

“It was a scary situation,” Toms said Saturday after returning to the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort, where he plans to rest before going to the Presidents Cup matches, which begin Thursday in Gainesville, Va.

“I really didn’t know what was going on. It got obviously kind of hairy there for about 45 minutes. ... I knew right away my vitals weren’t very good, and I was hurting real bad in my chest. At that point, they don’t know if you’re having a heart attack.... One girl started to try to put an IV in my left arm, and I said, ‘I’ve got to go hit my second shot or I’m going to be disqualified.’ ”

Toms, No. 4 on the PGA Tour money list and No. 11 in the world rankings, said the latest incident was one of about half a dozen heart-related problems he has suffered in the last four years. One at the NEC Invitational in Akron last month prompted him to have a physical exam, but doctors found no problems.

This flare-up was much worse than any before.

He was initially taken to nearby Uniontown Hospital, but a helicopter ride to Pittsburgh’s UPMC Presbyterian Hospital was quickly arranged. There, Toms was first placed in the critical care unit, and a series of tests revealed an electrical malfunction in the upper chamber of his heart.

If he weren’t playing in the Presidents Cup matches, he would have stayed in Pittsburgh and undergone corrective surgery Monday. Instead, Toms will take medication, play his matches, then have an operation that can last as long as six hours.