Casey Martin is well known as the golfer who sued the PGA in 2001 and won a landmark 7-2 Supreme Court decision. According to a report by ESPN, with the Americans With Disabilities Act behind him but the PGA opposing him, Casey was allowed the use of a golf cart in a PGA championship.

The PGA’s position was that golf is a game where participants walk, and fatigue is a factor. The PGA delayed the court case for years while it argued that walking forces players to exhibit their skills while fatigued.

The PGA took the stance that using a golf cart gives a player an advantage. Arnold Palmer took the stand and agreed with the PGA. Many professional golfers sympathized with Casey but were still against giving him an exemption.

Back In The News

Casey is the University of Oregon’s golf coach, having coached there since 2006. He is in the news again this week as he is having his right leg amputated.

His tibia was broken as a result of Klippel-Trenaunay-Weber syndrome a rare circulatory disorder. The disease interfered with the circulation in his right leg. Yet he managed to qualify for the PGA Tour in the 2000 season.

Then Casey now age 49 broke his right leg two years ago. It has been almost impossible for him to play eighteen holes on foot.

His leg has been in a cast since then. He has not had any relief from continued injections. His doctors at the Rochester Mayo Clinic felt that amputation of his right leg was the only solution. Casey felt it was inevitable.

Ironically, Casey was a teammate of Tiger Woods on the national championship team at Stanford. Tiger made a public comment that as a friend he would love Casey to have the use of a cart. But looking at the situation from a playing standpoint, Woods asks whether a cart would be an advantage.

It is noteworthy that Tiger casually mentioned his U.S. Open win when he played with a broken leg for one week.

In retrospect, Casey says that he went far beyond the prognosis by his doctors when he was a child. But he also said that he felt he would eventually be seriously disfigured by his disease.