TROON, Scotland – Matthew Southgate’s dream of playing another Open never felt further away than a year ago Friday.
It was July 15, 2015, when he underwent surgery for testicular cancer. The day after the procedure, he was slumped on the couch, watching wall-to-wall coverage of the first round of The Open, broken, unable to walk, his lower abdomen ravaged. A struggling mini-tour player, he relived his own experience the previous year at Royal Liverpool and assumed that his playing career was over.
Turns out it was just getting started.
The 27-year-old Englishman has returned to The Open – nearly a year to the day after his surgery – in the best form of his life.