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BOB HARIGPaul Azinger's lymphoma might've been ignored had he not played the sport.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. - There is no bitterness, nor is there any regret. Paul Azinger is glad to be alive, glad to still beplaying golf at the highest competitive level, looking ahead to more good times, and someday, the senior tour.
But every now and then, Azinger does wonder.
What if cancer had not interrupted his career just when it was soaring?
This week marks the 10-year anniversary of Azinger's PGA Championship victory, a win that stamped him among the game's best, but one that was quickly put in perspective when only a few months later he was diagnosed with lymphoma.
Azinger missed most of the 1994 season to fight the disease, and never returned to the same level of success, winning just one PGA Tour event in the subsequent years.
Now 43, Azinger has fond memories of his playoff victory over Greg Norman and, of course, not so fond memories of the aftermath.
"I wish I could have been announced as the PGA champion all year in 1994," Azinger said in the locker room at Oak Hill Country Club, where the 85th PGA Championship begins this morning. "I could have gone to the press room at Augusta as the PGA champion; I would have liked to have done that. I didn't get the financial benefits out of it because I couldn't capitalize on it.
"And my confidence was over the top. I was the hottest player, no question. I finished top three 12 times that year. That's good. By Tiger (Woods) standards it's not, but I was confident. I would have liked to have seen what might have happened. That's the hardest thing, not knowing."
Azinger, who grew up in Sarasota, attended Brevard Community College and Florida State and now lives in Bradenton, had emerged as one of the game's top players in 1993. Then 33, he had 10 PGA Tour titles, two that season, going into the PGA and a streak of seven straight years with at least one victory.
He was starting to hear that he was the best player without a major, talk that only intensified after he tied for third at the 1993 U.S. Open at Baltusrol.
"Before I left town, I told my friends that if I didn't win the tournament, it was because I was scared to win," Azinger said. "That shows how confident I was. I remember how nervous I was while I practiced on Tuesday and Wednesday, because I just had this feeling I would be in contention."
The '93 PGA was at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio, and Sunday's final round had an incredible leaderboard of major winners such as Norman, Nick Faldo, Tom Watson, Hale Irwin and Scott Simpson.
Azinger was struggling early on, then missed short putts at the 10th and 11th holes to seemingly fall out of contention. He had not made a birdie all day.
"I kept asking myself if I was going to let myself do this," Azinger said. "The talent was there. "You're hitting it great, you're the most confident guy here.' Not arrogant, but confident. I knew where the ball was going. I had total control and freedom. It's the perfect combination."
Azinger made three straight birdies starting at the 12th hole, made another at the 17th, and finished with 3-under-par 68. He watched from the television tower as Norman narrowly missed a birdie putt that would have won in regulation at the 18th. Playing the 18th in a playoff, Norman barely missed again, then made a three-putt bogey on the second playoff hole to lose.
Finally, Azinger had his major.
"When I did it, I made history," Azinger said. "Then, all of a sudden, I got sick. Golf was such a big deal, and it's amazing how quickly all you do didn't matter. I needed to learn that lesson. This was a life-or-death struggle."
In November of that year, Azinger visited a specialist because of nagging pain in his right shoulder. It had bothered him off and on throughout the year, but didn't affect his golf.
Then came the startling revelation: lymphoma, a form of cancer, was found in a small portion of his right shoulder blade. Azinger would endure six months of radiation and chemotherapy treatment.
"All those years I played to make history and be perceived a certain way," he said. "Then I get sick and I realize I'm going to be perceived another way. That's hard. I won't be remembered for this and that in golf. I'll be remembered for coming back from cancer. That's great, too, if it helps other people deal with their lives. But it's not what I thought it would be. So I've had to re-adjust my state of mind.
"You look back and say, "Too bad it wasn't different.' But I think that I'm very lucky to play golf. If I hadn't, I probably wouldn't have had my shoulder checked. It just hurt. I thought I had tendinitis or something. So the two came together. Without golf and all the success, I wouldn't have had my shoulder looked at. So I would have died."
This has been a tough year for Azinger, who has struggled with a back injury and made just three cuts in 16 tournaments. But he tied for 12th two weeks ago at the Buick Open.
Though Azinger is in danger of losing his PGA Tour card (he is 187th on the money list) he can fall back on a one-time exemption for players ranked among the top 25 on the all-time career money list. Azinger is 21st with more than $12.5-million in earnings.
"If my body doesn't let me down, I think I'll be okay," Azinger said. "My desire to play well is still there. I said to (wife) Toni the other day, "I better start playing this game like it's my job.' Desperation is a great thing."