Club pro living the dream after ‘little bit of a battle'
Club pro living the dream after ‘little bit of a battle'

By Jenni Carlson Comments 0
Published: August 9, 2007

TULSA — Six months ago, Chip Sullivan couldn't hit a bucket of balls without sitting down and taking a breather.

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Today, he'll play in the PGA Championship.

Sullivan comes to Southern Hills by way of the PGA Professional National Championship. He won the tournament for club pros, running away with a four-stroke victory and securing a spot in the granddaddy PGA.

Quite an accomplishment for a guy who was questioning his golf future earlier this year.

"I have gone through a little bit of a battle,” Sullivan said simply.

A little bit of a battle? Last anyone checked, finding out you have a potentially deadly disease, then having your blood cleaned out bit by bit is more than a little battle.

In case you're looking for an unknown to cheer this week, this is your man.

Around the holidays last December, Sullivan started feeling ill. He was tired. He was weak. As a father of three and the head pro at Ashley Plantation in Daleville, Va., he figured he'd just picked up a bug. Sullivan couldn't shake it, though, and finally decided to see the doctor.

The diagnosis: diabetes and hemochromatosis.

The first disease is widely known. The second, not so much. Yet, Sullivan knew all too well about hemochromatosis.

Three years ago, his sister, Kerry, died from the disease.

Simply, the condition creates too much iron in your blood.

"And that excess iron can damage your organs,” Sullivan said. "Poison your organs.”

That's what happened to Kerry, and slowly, it was beginning to happen to Chip. Sullivan needed to lower his iron levels, and the best way to do that was to have about 25 pints of blood removed over a three-month period.

Twice a week, Sullivan would have a pint drained from his body.

The treatments wore him out, left him feeling so fatigued that for more than three months this winter, he didn't even touch a golf club.

To think, Sullivan won 11 tournaments in the Middle Atlantic PGA Section a year ago.

"I never said, ‘Why me?'” he said.

He calls it a life change, a bump in the road.

Thing is, it could've killed him.

"We all get older, and things happen,” he said. "But it's something that when managed, it shouldn't affect your lifestyle one bit.”

After his initial treatment, Sullivan slowly returned to golf. Hitting an entire bucket of balls, something he's done thousands of times in his life, was a struggle at first. He'd have to sit down and rest before finishing up.

As this spring turned to summer, Sullivan returned to competitive golf. He missed the cut twice on the Nationwide Tour, but then playing a couple of quick rounds with members at his club, he had glimpses of his old game.

A few weeks later, he won the PGA Professional National Championship in Oregon.

This week, Sullivan will play in his fourth PGA Championship.

"Trust me, I still have the butterflies,” Sullivan said. "Any time I tee it up, whether it be just a fun pro-am back home or the PGA Championship here, I get nervous like anybody.

"That hasn't changed one bit.”

Not even after playing on the Tour in 1997.

Once upon a time, that was a life he wanted. Now, he's content being a club pro, a husband and a father to his three little ones.

"I have no interest in traveling the circuits and being away from them,” Sullivan said. "You could pay me many millions, and that wouldn't take over me leaving them at home and being on the road.”

Sullivan still requires treatment for both hemochromatosis and diabetes. Every two or three months, he'll have a pint of his blood removed to keep his hemochromatosis in check. And as many as six times a day, he gives himself an insulin shot to maintain his blood sugar.

The heat this week with make Southern Hills and the PGA even more of a challenge for Sullivan.

Yet, he doesn't see it that way.

"It's a great experience for me to be able to have both sides of the world,” he said. "I'm able to enjoy my job and my family at home, and every now and then, I get to come out here and compete against the best players in the world.

"I mean, you can't have it much better than that.”