Palmer is glad for new start after rocky 2017
Ryan Palmer couldn’t wait for 2018 to arrive.
It began with an upand-down week at the Sony Open — a 64 sandwiched between a pair of 71s, and a tie for 58th though his mood was decidedly steadier. Palmer was in good spirits when he arrived and nothing on the scorecard was going to change that.
It’s nice to have last year behind him.
He had surgery on his shoulder in October, and that’s now healed. A new home being built on seven acres in the Dallas area is almost finished. Above all that, his wife, Jennifer, is getting nothing but favorable scans in her recovery from breast cancer.
“I couldn’t have been any more calm when I got here Monday on the range, practice rounds, the pro-am, everything,” Palmer said.
A year ago when he arrived on Oahu, his wife was still undergoing chemotherapy for the cancer. Palmer missed four straight cuts to start the year and didn’t crack the top 35 until April. He had only three top-10 finishes, one of them the team event with Jordan Spieth at the Zurich Classic.
“It seemed like a blur,” Palmer said. “Usually you can go back and look at tournaments and see what you did. It was mostly bad stuff. But I don’t remember one thing about it. The time Jordan and I had was awesome. I know I had a good week in Reno (tie for ninth).”
One day he does recall clearly is when Jennifer had her last round of chemotherapy, which was followed by 35 radiation treatments.
“Each time she goes back to get checked the scan is good,” he said.
Palmer is on a minor medical extension and has five tournaments remaining
to earn 24 FedEx Cup points, the least of his worries.
He hadn’t played since August, when he failed to qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs. He knew he needed arthroscopic surgery to clean up a bone spur in his shoulder but thought about playing a few events when the new season began in October.
Instead, he took off the entire fall and spent time going to 10-year-old son Mason’s hockey games. It also allowed him to recover in time to go to Hawaii. He plans to play next three events in the California desert, Phoenix and San Diego. He’ll take the following two weeks off to move into his house.
“This year couldn’t be any better right now,” Palmer said.
LPGA RETURNING TO L.A. IN APRIL >> The LPGA is returning to Los Angeles after a 13-year absence with a $1.5 million tournament in April.
The HUGEL-JTBC Open will be played April 19-22 at Wilshire Country Club, which has hosted previous LPGA, PGA and Champions Tour events.
The 72-hole event announced Wednesday is part of the tour’s California swing that includes the year’s first major, the ANA Inspiration in Rancho Mirage, Kia Classic in Carlsbad and a tournament in San Francisco at Lake Merced Golf Club to be played April 26-29.