ESPN Golf

Search your memory for a moment and the name starts to ring a faint bell. Derek Tolan … oh, yeah -- the lanky kid with the glasses and the aw-shucks grin who lived every golfer's dream when he holed a 50-foot birdie chip during sectional qualifying to earn a spot in the 2002 U.S. Open. Arriving at Bethpage Black as the second-youngest person to play in the national championship, the then 16-year-old became an instant attraction, the raucous Long Island crowds treating the suburban Denver native as if he were a lifelong New Yorker, serenading him with chants of "Derek! Derek!" He missed the cut that week, but he made an impression nonetheless.

Maybe then it should come as no surprise that Tolan, who'll turn 20 on Oct. 21, has posted top-10 finishes in his first two starts this fall as a freshman at the University of Colorado.

Look closer though and you learn the road from Bethpage to Boulder has come with a detour, one that provided Tolan an unexpected opportunity to find out that there is more to life than hitting a dimpled white ball.

Indeed, Tolan's college career was supposed to begin last fall. Yet when he shattered his right ankle in a car crash on July 14, 2004, after falling asleep behind the wheel, everything changed.

"Things haven't gone the way I figured they would, with the accident and all," Tolan said, "but I don't think I'd change how things have turned out."

The irony is it may well have been Tolan's passion for golf that actually did him in. Shortly after graduating from Thunder Ridge High School, he was struggling to hit fairways and greens and his instinct to let "perfect" get in the way of "good" took over. After all, he was the U.S. Open darling about to try to help give the Buffaloes, a solid program run by Hall of Fame coach Mark Simpson, a boost into the nation's elite.

"The worse I played, the harder I tried to fix it," Tolan said. "I got to the point where I was pretty much obsessive-compulsive about it. There were days I was hitting balls 12 hours a day."

That he had unlimited access to South Suburban Family Sports Center, the lone double-deck, heated, lighted driving range in the state and where his father, John, was the head professional, only fueled Tolan's workaholic tendencies.

Five days before the accident, he nodded off while driving, and was jarred awake when he hit a traffic cone on the road. But the next time, while driving home along Interstate 25 with friend and fellow golfer Michael Baird, (now a sophomore at Pepperdine) after completing an early-morning round at Denver CC during the Western Junior, Tolan wasn't so fortunate. Witnesses told Tolan his car was going roughly 70 mph and traveled from the far right lane to the far left -- thankfully missing other vehicles -- until it hit a pile of sand near a construction site and flipped over, nearly careening off an overpass.

Amazingly, Tolan got out of the car under his own power, only to see his right foot turned sideways, his ankle so mangled it required four screws to be inserted permanently during surgery the next day to put everything back in place. Beard escaped with only minor injuries.

The consequences of the crash, coming less than a year after Tolan's father nearly died from an aortic aneurysm, could have been far worse. Still, the prognosis was chilling: After ruling out the need to fuse the ankle, doctors said it would be six months until Tolan could put weight on the foot and as long as 10 months before he could play golf again.

"Derek had hardly gone a week since he was 8 years old without playing golf," John Tolan said. "But now he had no choice but to put it aside."

"I always felt almost guilty when I took time off," Derek Tolan recalled. "I really had never done anything else. I was never able to do it on my own because I can't enjoy doing anything else."

Yet, instead of going stir crazy, as most who knew him predicted he would, he discovered something he never truly appreciated: Life isn't actually all about golf.

"I was always known as Derek the golfer," Tolan said. "When I couldn't play the game anymore, I really had to think about it, think about my self-worth."

In the ensuing months, Tolan started to experience being a "normal" teenager, albeit one sporting a cast up to his knee. He began dating someone from a nearby high school, something he'd avoided previously because having a girlfriend might get in the way of his game. He started to enjoy and appreciate school, going to a community college outside Denver for the fall semester to be closer to home during his physical therapy. He then enrolled at Colorado in January and got a taste of college life without the pressure of competing right away.

Perhaps not coincidentally, the healing process went more quickly than anticipated. Turns out it took only four months for Tolan to walk again. And around Thanksgiving, he was playing 18 holes again, shooting a 66 in just his third round back.

Upon arriving in Boulder, Tolan began practicing with his teammates, but his time was spent much differently.

"I can't stand for long periods of time without some pain, so it forced me to pull back a little," said Tolan, who benefited from not having to alter his swing because of the injury. "I'm on the course more than just sitting on the range, and I think that's been a huge benefit too. I'm enjoying it more. It's really been a blessing in disguise."

The chance to play more -- while his teammates traveled in the spring, he got in practice rounds with Nationwide Tour pros, and fellow Coloradans, Shane Bertsch and Scott Petersen -- helped Tolan improve his course management skills.

"The thing about Derek is he makes the right decisions," Colorado assistant coach Brad Neher said. "His ball striking is excellent, but it's his mental ability that's pretty unique."

More important, Tolan possesses a different attitude. Neher said that after shooting an 80 in the second round of the Club Glove Invitational last month, Tolan was able to shake it off and not let it bother him entering the final round, helping him grab a T-7 finish.

"My family would tell me if I played bad on the golf course that day, I was not fun to be around," Tolan said. "Now, totally without trying and not paying attention to it, I can have a rough day and still be laughing and OK. My parents and my girlfriend have all commented about this."

"I just think it rejuvenated him a little bit," John Tolan said. "I think a lot of things turned around when the accident happened. He was very lucky [it wasn't worse], but he also learned so much from this."

Truth is, the entire Buffs squad is having to mature as everyone comes to grips with watching Simpson continue to battle cancer. Suffice it to say, learning to overcome adversity is becoming old hat for Tolan.

There is still discomfort when Tolan walks anywhere, and the 36 holes he played at the season-opening Tucker Intercollegiate were not without some discomfort, though he did finish tied for eighth. With the weather turning colder, Tolan expects the pain to increase, becoming a constant reminder of his mistake.

But it's also a lasting reminder that life is short. As Tolan can attest, if you get too engrossed in hitting range balls, it might even start to pass you by.

Men: Isleworth-UCF Collegiate Invitational; Isleworth CC, Windermere, Fla.; Oct. 23-25
Participants deemed last year's inaugural event (won by Georgia) a smash success, and top brass at the club's parent company, the Tavistock Group, are contemplating making a bid to host a future NCAA championship. With one of the deepest fields (of the 18 teams competing, 12 are in Golf World's top 25, including seven of the top 10), Year 2 of this fall tournament is anticipated to be even more exciting. This time, the schedule calls for three 18-hole rounds, eliminating a difficult double round on the course set to play at 7,426 yards. Meanwhile, the tournament is held just after the PGA Tour's Funai Classic at Walt Disney World, allowing for tour pros to check out their alma maters and potentially even for a Tiger Woods sighting on his home course.

Women: Mercedes-Benz Women's Collegiate Championship; Cherokee CC, Knoxville, Tenn.; Oct. 21-23
Ohio State is the two-time defending champion, having set the tournament's 54-hole scoring record (874) in 2004. That said, coach Therese Hession has a different team traveling to Knoxville, with seniors Kristen White and Lindsey Knowlton having moved on. Host Tennessee already has one victory at the Cougar Classic this fall and is the second-highest-ranked team in the field (behind No. 4 Georgia), yet the fifth-ranked Lady Vols have yet to win their home event, which is now in its ninth year.

98.8
Percentage of fairways hit by Auburn senior Maria Martinez in her first two tournaments of 2005-06. The U.S. Women's Amateur runner-up has missed just one fairway (83 of 84) in six rounds.

Just when you think the Georgia Tech men might be facing a down year, they pull off something like they did this past week, knocking off top-ranked Georgia by 6 shots in claiming the team title at the Jerry Pate National Intercollegiate in Birmingham, Ala. The performance proved two things: (1) The Bulldogs aren't unbeatable, as many professed after their easy victory at the Ping Preview last month, and (2) never write off a Bruce Heppler team. Although Heppler was prepared for his team to struggle at the start of the season while it found players to replace departing All-Americans Nick Thompson and Chan Song, he clearly was genuinely excited about seeing how the team would respond. "Everybody is licking their chops when you've kind of had the better end of the deal for a while," he said in a preseason interview. "There are some guys who want to pay back a little bit. I think it's fun when other people outside don't think you're going to be very good. That motivates guys in a way where when you play well for a couple years with the same group, maybe you lose that edge of trying to prove things with other people." Thanks to solid starts by returning All-American Roberto Castro and senior Kevin Larsen, along with good play from freshmen Cameron Tringale and Taylor Hall, the hardest-working coach in college golf has reason to believe the Yellow Jackets will be just fine come spring.

OK, the Duke women winning their first two tournaments isn't much of a surprise, with the Blue Devils taking team title No. 2 at this past weekend's Lady Tar Heel. Same for Pepperdine, which on Oct. 12 added the title at the Edean Ihlanfeldt Invitational outside Seattle to its victory at the Dick McGuire last month. But what of the third two-win team among Golf World's top 25: Purdue? A 17-shot victory at the Badger Invitational followed by a 20-shot triumph at the Lady Northern have forced many to take notice. Instead of the Lady Boilermakers, maybe Devon Brouse's squad should be referred to as the Lady Melting Pot, with the lineup's international flavor. Junior Onnarin Sattayabanphot (Thailand) and freshman Maria Hernandez (Spain) have individual wins, with top-10 showings from Myrte Eikenaar and Christel Boeljon, both from the Netherlands. Going 3-for-3 with a win at the Mercedes-Benz will be a tall order, but after advancing to the nationals the past six years, Purdue is no flash in the pan.

Sure, it's early to say a team has something to prove, but there is some pressure on Carrie Forsyth's UCLA women to have a good showing at next week's Stanford Pepsi Women's Invitational. The Bruins appeared flat in their season-opening fourth-place finish at the Mason Rudolph, and with the strong starts by Duke and Pepperdine, anything short of a win no doubt will drop UCLA from the No. 1 ranking in Golf World's coaches poll. It also provides the second of four head-to-head faceoffs with the Blue Devils. Considering the Durham, N.C., school is off to another fine start, it's time for the ladies in Westwood to answer back.

Garrett Osborn, Alabama-Birmingham
An opening-round 62 at Old Overton GC, followed by rounds of 66 and 69, gave the junior an impressive 9-shot victory at the Jerry Pate Intercollegiate. The 62 broke the host Blazers' 18-hole scoring record, set by PGA and European Tour pro Graeme McDowell, and Osborn's 197 total equaled McDowell's 54-hole mark. It was also more than 16 shots better than the average score shot by the 60-player field on the par-71 course.

Carolina Llano, Pepperdine
The senior from Colombia was the catalyst in the Waves' final-round come-from-behind victory at the Edean Ihlanfeldt. With her team trailing Arizona State by 6 shots, Llano posted a 4-under 68 at Sahalee CC, helping her squad shoot a 290 on the final day and overtake the Sun Devils by 1 stroke. Individually, Llano jumped from T-21 to fourth place, finishing 7 shots back of medalist Jennifer Osborn of ASU.

After finishing second in her first two fall events, Texas A&M junior Ashley Knoll broke through at Finley GC with an 8-shot win at the Lady Tar Heel Invitational Oct. 9, shooting a school-record 10-under 206 (before 2005-06, the mark was 1 under). She has broken par in six straight rounds and seven of nine this season, looking more and more like the player Aggies coach Jeanne Sutherland was expecting when Knoll transferred from Oklahoma State in summer 2004. In making the transition to College Station, the native of The Woodlands, Texas, struggled to find her game. Not until April's Big 12 Championship, contends Sutherland, did Knoll finally appear comfortable on the course.

"That was the first time I'd seen her focused on what she wanted the ball to do," Sutherland said. "Prior to that, she had been focused on what she wanted to do. You could almost see the confidence pour back into her."

Ever since, Knoll has been a handful for opponents, winning the Texas State Amateur and finishing second in the stroke-play portion of the U.S. Women's Amateur. She credits work with instructors Alan Hodde and Dick Harmon, who helped shorten her swing, for much of her solid start to the 2005-06 season.

"I feel like I'm more consistent," she said. "We've just simplified everything, and the swing feels really good."

Ryan Herrington is a senior writer for Golf World magazine.