Living it up: Yelton does not let cancer stop streak at World Amateur

NORTH MYRTLE BEACH -- Prostate cancer is serious business.

So, too, is the Golf.com World Amateur Handicap Championship, especially when you have played in all 26 World Ams entering this week's event on nearly 60 Grand Strand courses.

So when Don Yelton of Shelby, N.C., was diagnosed with prostate cancer in May, his first impulse was to postpone the surgery until he played in his 27th consecutive World Am.

His doctor, who considered Yelton's cancer aggressive, had other ideas.

"I guess I was more concerned about the golf tournament and the doctor basically said, 'Do you want to live or do you want to play golf,'" Yelton said. "I said, 'Well, as much as I love to play golf I think we'd better opt for the living, and if you want me to be here tomorrow morning for the surgery I'll be here."

Yelton had to wait the customary six weeks for the surgery following a biopsy, and inquired how long it would be before he could play golf again. He was told the recovery period is six weeks with little activity. "I'm sitting there ticking off the days and the weeks, and I thought, 'Well that gets me finished about a week and a half before the World Am.' I said, 'That will work.'"

Yelton, 65, an owner of a computer software development company, and his brother, Bob, 68, an attorney also of Shelby, N.C., are on the Strand this week as two of 14 participants who have played in every World Am.

Don was unsure a few weeks ago if he'd be able to complete four rounds, but he feels good and doesn't believe stamina will be an issue. "I was concerned because I wanted to keep the streak alive plus I wanted to play in it," Don Yelton said. "I said I never thought I'd do this, but I'll go down there and play as much as I can. I didn't know what it was going to be at that time. I didn't think it would be one drive and walk off the course, but I thought I'd play maybe one day or two days if it's all I can do."

Don Yelton played last week for the first time in three months, and played a total of four rounds in preparation for the World Am. He had the lowest gross and net in his small group of guys on one occasion. "I hit the ball well," he said. "My short game is not worth a toot, but I played well. I was pleased at that."

The 27-year streak has taken on a life of its own. "It's kind of the situation where you might not come if you weren't in this streak," Bob Yelton said. "I reckon it's an ego thing: I've played every one of them, and I'm going to keep playing every one of them as long as I can. We're part of 14 guys now that have played every one of them, and let's keep it going as long as we can."

The streak has bonded friendships between the 14 players. "If all of us haven't been playing in each one of them, we probably wouldn't like each other very much," Bob Yelton said.

Success isn't what brings the Yeltons back, and winning is obviously not their primary objective. Top-10 finishers in each flight earn prizes, and Bob Yelton has the only two top-10s in the brothers' combined 52 previous appearances, having finished eighth in his flight twice. The first time was in the tournament's infancy and he won an umbrella. The second time was a few years ago and he received a crystal trophy and $200 gift certificate to Martin's PGA Tour Superstore. "This tournament has come a long way," Bob Yelton said.

As they are this year, the Yeltons often play in flights with handicaps better than theirs so they can compete with and against each other and/or friends from Shelby, N.C. It facilitates car-pooling and side bets.

"We come to have fun and enjoy golf. It's just a fun event," Don Yelton said. "We don't think we're going to win this thing so we just want to have fun.

"The people that come down here thinking that they've got to win, they're missing the point. We've thoroughly enjoyed it. Even when you have the God-awful scores it's something you sit back and have drinks over and talk about and laugh about."

Bob Yelton has never come close to missing the event. Before this year's scare, Don came close one year when his son was moving to college, and another when his daughter got married two days before the opening round.

Don Yelton has a 13.5 handicap index made a 13 on the first hole of the first round one year, including three balls out of bounds. Bob matched the 13 a couple years later. Don Yelton shot 93 on Monday.

"It amazes me I can come down here year after year and be playing good golf before I come, shooting consistently in the 80s, and I come down here and the first thing I know I've got a 96, 102, 91, and I'm thinking. 'What in the world is going on here?' "

The brothers have been part of a group of between eight and 16 guys that has made a spring golf trip to the Grand Strand every year for about 35 years.

And go figure, Don Yelton is the only member of that group to not miss a day of that excursion.

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