Good Luck Fulton

I had the opportunity Tuesday morning to play with Champions Tour rookie, and Golf Channel personality Fulton Allem. The South African turned 50 this past Saturday and is making his debut this week at the SAS Championship, but this is more than a Senior Tour debut, this is a hopeful return to the world of golf.

“Fulty," as he is known to most everyone in the golf world, had a successful career going in the early 90’s with wins at two of the most prestigious non-majors on tour, the ’93 Colonial(Byron Nelson’s tournament) and the ’93 World Series of Golf. Allem was a rising star, and one of golf’s wittiest, most outspoken and popular personalities. He seemed to have the world at his feet. The World Series win alone carried a 10-year exemption to the PGA Tour, and he was so talented that at one point Tom Lehman called him the best player he’d ever seen.

After that great year, things took an awful turn starting with a plague of injuries that stripped Fulton of his golfing ability. First it was a herniated disk, followed by plantar fasciatis in both feet. These injuries are crippling to a golfer, and they also took their toll on his finances. Allem eventually went dead broke, lost his home, and was in deep to the IRS. He was in so much debt that his clubs were taken after a round at Doral. “Fulty” fell off the map, went through a bitter divorce and said that the back got so bad he almost had to give up the game.

Now fast forward to Tuesday morning. Allem recently had back surgery that seems to have given the once hobbled pro new hope. The engaging, chain smoking, Diet Coke guzzler told jokes, gave tips, and just basically had a good time with a few of us hacking it around. When I asked him for his best piece of advice his response was simple “just don’t stand over the ball and think too much, just get up there and hit it”.