SOUTH BEND -ÊThe clock hit 10:10 Monday morning, but Warsaw golf pro Ford Olinger did not tee off in the U.S. Open qualifier at the South Bend Country Club.

That's because the event was running behind, not because he chose not to compete.

When 10:25 a.m. arrived, Olinger -Êwithout a cart - teed off. And at 3:40 p.m. - some five hours and four miles later - he limped off the course after finishing the 18th hole.

The 32-year-old Olinger has the degenerative hip condition bilateral avascular necrosis. His hips are dead. In a lawsuit decided last week, Judge Robert Miller ruled the golf pro could not use a golf cart to qualify for the U.S. Open and had to walk like everyone else.

Olinger shot 17 strokes over par and finished with an 88. Sixty-four golfers competed with the top five earning the right to advance to the next round, the sectional qualifier. Twenty-two-year-old Josh Habig, who is from Jasper, Ind., and golfs in the Big Ten for Northwestern, finished first with a three-under par 68.

Olinger was nowhere close to the top five but nowhere near 103, the worst score.

Olinger said last Friday he planned to go ahead and walk the course. He followed through, against doctors' wishes. Olinger had not walked 18 holes for three or four years.

"He highly advised me against it," Olinger said. "He preferred I not do it. I took that under consideration and went ahead and did it."

He sat on benches at the start of holes and had caddie Dan Beveridge lay his golf bag down on the grass so he could sit on it when in the fairway. He used his club as a cane to climb hills. He lost a ball in the weeds on the 13th hole and put two balls in the water on the 17th hole.

He converted none of his four birdie pars and had six pars, two double-bogeys and a quadruple-bogey on the 17th hole.

"The thing they talked about in court was that fatigue was a big factor," Olinger said. "There wasn't a fatigue factor. We were waiting on every shot. We started at 10:30 and got in at 3:45. I would say on only two holes did we get up and freely tee off."

For the first 15 holes, Olinger showed little pain. Leaving the 15th hole, he headed for the bench on the 16th hole and plopped down on the bench, grimacing, the most pain he had shown.

"(After 15), it was hang on for three more holes," Olinger said.

After teeing off at the 18th hole, Olinger yelled, "God, that hurt." He held his back while walking toward his ball.

"I'm definitely aching and feeling a lot of pain," Olinger said at his press conference afterward. "The legs are twitching very hard."

He was in good enough spirits to joke around. After looking at the scores, he cracked, "Somebody shot a 109 (actually 103). I wasn't dead last."

Critiquing his performance, Olinger said, "I should have concentrated harder. There were a few putts I twinged on."

A temporary injunction allowed Olinger to use the cart a year ago, when he shot a 12-over par 83 at the same course. This year, without the cart and with rain and a wind chill that made it feel 37 degrees, he shot five strokes worse. He shot a 44 on the front nine and a 44 on the back nine.

Asked how a cart would have affected his score, Olinger said, "I don't know. I didn't have it."

Twenty-three-year-old Ryan Chalfant golfed in Olinger's threesome. Chalfant, who golfed for Purdue University and now spends his time on tournaments like the Nike Tour, turned in one of the top five scores last year in South Bend's U.S. Open qualifer. He talked with Olinger often as they walked the course.

He knew about Olinger because he watched Olinger use a cart last year and because he watched The Golf Channel last week and saw Olinger could not use a cart this year.

"To me, it was obvious he was hurtin' very bad," Chalfant, from Winchester, Ind., said. "He was limping. He was looking for a break every chance he had. The last couple of swings were killing him. It's not like with a cart, he's gonna shoot 20 shots lower. It's just not gonna happen.

"I think he should get the cart. For him to go walk out there in this wind, it was eight times harder for him than me today."

Olinger was not the only hurting golfer in his threesome. Chalfant, whose 80 did not put him in the top five this year, has a wrist problem that could require surgery.

Unlike Chalfant, Habig had not heard about Olinger. Golfing is arguably only Habig's second claim to fame; the first is that he's good friends with Philadelphia Phillies star third baseman Scott Rolen, whom he grew up with in Jasper. Habig shot the first hole-in-one of his life during a Sunday practice round at the South Bend Country Club.

Asked if he would let Olinger ride a cart, he said, "One of the things it comes down to is whether it gives you an advantage over other players in the field. I think sometimes it could, when you get in tournaments in the summer when it's scorching hot. Other than that, I think it's a disadvantage. I would rather walk. It's easier to get into a rhythm."

What now for Olinger? He plans to compete in a few more tournaments, like the Indiana Open. He plans to try to qualify for the U.S. Open again next May. He works as a golf pro at Swan Lake Golf Academy outside Plymouth.

"I came here to play in the U.S. Open," he said. "I didn't come here to wimp out and go home. Unless I was dead or they were dragging me, I was finishing the golf course today." [[In-content Ad]]