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By Kevin Iole
Review-Journal
The life of a professional golfer -- in and out of airports, picking up rental cars, fighting traffic jams in unfamiliar cities -- was not a particularly attractive lifestyle for Terry-Jo Myers.
And it had nothing to do with a disdain for travel.
Instead, Myers' career on the LPGA Tour hasn't been everything she had hoped it could be and believed it would be under different circumstances. But Myers suffers from interstitial cystitis, which is an incurable bladder disease.
Playing a round of golf was a frightening experience, because the main symptom of interstitial cystitis is an uncontrollable need to urinate.
Imagine playing a five-hour tournament round in humid 90-degree temperatures, avoiding fluids because you don't want to make the bladder problem worse.
It is, Myers could tell you, excruciatingly difficult.
"Some of the things you have to do as a Tour player could be devastating for an IC patient," said Myers, who won the Los Angeles Women's Open in February and is 11th on the LPGA Tour money list. "It's pretty difficult to have to get up on a plane to go to the bathroom five times on an hour-and-a-half flight. You live in fear of the plane circling the city before landing, keeping you from being able to go to the bathroom.
"The anxiety and the uncomfortable feeling you have leaves the minute you leave your house. It made a pleasure round of golf at a country club, where they might only be two restrooms on the course, a nightmare. At least on the Tour, there are Porta-Johns every two holes, three max. But having to concern yourself with that first and not your game doesn't help your career too much."
Myers is now symptom-free thanks to the drug Elmiron, which was approved by the Food & Drug Administration last October. And Congress has provided funding for IC research, thanks in large part, Myers said, to the determined efforts of U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.
"He's my personal hero," Myers said of Reid, who read an account of Myers' victory in Los Angeles into the Congressional Record.
Myers now hopes to become a hero to others by her play. After finishing no higher than 68th on the money list in this decade, she is set on making the Solheim Cup team and qualifying for the IT&T Tour Championship, which will be held at the Desert Inn on Nov. 20-23. Only the top 30 money winners qualify.
"What I do as a golfer is up to me now and I don't have this other thing to worry about and take away my focus," Myers said. "And that's a great feeling to know you can have some control over what happens to you. And I definitely plan to be in Las Vegas, no doubt about it."
-- STRONG FIELD -- The field for the 1997 Las Vegas Senior Classic, to be played April 24-27 at the Tournament Players Club at the Canyons, is one of the strongest in the event's 12-year history.
Of its former champions, only 1988 winner Larry Mowry is not entered. Other high-profile champions who are entered are Las Vegan Jim Colbert, Raymond Floyd and Lee Trevino.
But the deep field also includes Hale Irwin and Dave Stockton. Jack Nicklaus is also expected to enter.
-- PAHRUMP TOURNEY -- Billy Harvey of Bonanza High School won the Pahrump Valley/Calvada Invitational, held Friday and Saturday at the par-72 Calvada Championship Course and the par-59 Calvada Executive Course.
Harvey shot rounds of 72 and 56 to finish at 3-under 128 to win the Gold Flight. Tyler Mays of Bishop Gorman was second in that flight at even par after rounds of 74-57.
In the Silver Flight, Brandon Howard of Durango was first after shooting 84-60-144. Lann Higa of Bonanza was second with 85-61-146. In the Maroon Flight, Derk Daley of Merced, Calif., was first at 92-69--161. Allan Creel of The Meadows was second at 93-69--162.
-- OB AT OASIS -- OB Sports, which owns and manages Angel Park Golf Club in Las Vegas and The Legacy in Henderson, has been named to manage the golf courses for Si Redd's Oasis Resort and Hotel in Mesquite.
Van Batchelor will be project manager for The Oasis.
-- PRO TOURNEY -- The 12th annual Zevo/All-World Sports Pro-Am will be held today and Wednesday at The Legacy featuring 300 players from around the country.
Among the local professionals entered are Jerry Holley, Dave Barnhardt, Joe Lescenski and Matt Heifner of The Legacy, John Herndon of SouthShore, Jeff Peabody of Spanish Trail and Keith Flatt of Los Prados.
-- SOUTHSHORE RANKED -- The SouthShore Golf Club at Lake Las Vegas, which was designed by Nicklaus, was ranked the sixth best new private golf courses by Golf Digest magazine.
The 6,925-yard, par-71 layout has elevations ranging from 1,200 to 1,750 feet, up to five tee boxes per hole and forced carries over canyons and water.
"We knew this championship signature golf course was going to be something special from the beginning," said Harry Turner, SouthShore's vice president of golf operations. "Jack was meticulous in his layout of this course. During construction of SouthShore, if some part of the course was not coming together just right or he saw a way to improve the golfing challenge for players, Jack would alter the design layout."
-- LEFTY TOURNEY -- The National Association of Left-Handed Golfers will hold its national tournament at the Las Vegas Paiute Resort June 24-27.
Entry fee is $350, plus $20 for dues for the National Association of Left-Handed Golfers, if not already a member. Entries close May 24. For more information, phone 1-800-844-6254.
Kevin Iole's golf notes appear Tuesday. To reach him, phone 396-4428, send a fax to 396-4408 or e-mail him at Kevin--Iole@lvrj.com.
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