DeLaet eyeing September return after two years of injuries

Bob Weeks

TSN Senior Reporter

Follow| Archive

When the RBC Canadian Open gets underway this week in Hamilton, Ont., one of this country’s best players will be missing. Again.

For the second consecutive year, Graham DeLaet is on the sidelines, recovering from procedures on his back. It’s been a long, slow return for the Weyburn, Sask., native who made his last start on the PGA Tour in October 2017. But there is finally some light at the end of the tunnel.

“I’m slowly getting better,” said DeLaet from his home in Boise, Idaho. “I’ve actually been playing golf three or four days a week. I started playing once a week, then two and now I’m up to three or four. I still have to ride in a cart and I can’t put in big hours practising yet, but I’m getting there.”

After dealing with excruciating pain in his back and legs, DeLaet opted to try a stem cell procedure in late 2017. But it failed to alleviate his discomfort; in fact, it left him feeling worse than before. That led him to the last resort – the operating table for a microdiscectomy.

It was the second time DeLaet has had such a procedure. The first time came in 2011 on a different disc in his back. He missed the better part of a year following that operation.

For much of his career, DeLaet has played in pain, his back hampered by hockey injuries. He’d require long periods with a physiotherapist before and after every round to stretch and crunch and twist his body just to allow him to play. Even with that, he played most of his rounds in pain.

At the 2017 PGA Championship, his back was so sore he couldn’t hit a single shot in practice. When he did tee off in the first round, he was in such agony that he almost withdrew after two holes. But he battled through the discomfort to finish tied for seventh.

Much as he did the first time around, DeLaet is working slowly through this recovery, moving step by step to build the strength and mobility in his back.

“The surgery basically took care of the stabbing pain and the pain down my leg and the inability to sit for prolonged periods of time,” he related. “I’m still dealing with some general aching and soreness. I just kind of feel like I’m 60 years old, especially when I get up in the morning. But I have a stretching and exercise routine that I’ve been very diligent on. Once I get moving I’m pretty good.”

While DeLaet is back to playing golf, he still can’t practice for extended periods of time. His routine consists of about 10 minutes of warm-up and then out to the course for a round.

There are even small steps within that routine, such as testing out the body with a morning start time instead of the afternoon, when he’s already loose.

But the progress is such that he’s putting a return date in his calendar.

“I’m optimistic that I’ll be back playing by September,” stated DeLaet. “My goal was to be back mid-summer, right around this time actually, but it just wasn’t realistic. So I started to set my sights on the new PGA Tour season that starts in September.”

DeLaet is currently on a major medial exemption. When he returns, he’ll have 24 events in which to earn just over 266 FedEx Cup events to retain his exempt status. He is also allowed to play up to five times on the Web.com Tour as warm-up events and currently plans to make two starts on that circuit.

As he pointed out, making swings is just part of the return process. He also wants to see how his back holds up to things such as walking 72 holes, traveling on airplanes and sleeping strange hotel beds.

“There are days when I really hit is nicely and I feel like a tour player again and shoot six or seven under on my home course,” said DeLaet. “And then the next day I’ll struggle and the rust will show. I might shoot a couple under. That’s at my home track where I always expect to shoot a few under. It’s coming. I feel like every week I’m getting closer to being a good player again and that’s going to be the last hurdle from a golf standpoint.”

While the 37-year-old misses life on the PGA Tour, the long layoff has allowed him to stay close to his family. Rather than being on the road or off at the course playing and practising, he’s been at home with his wife, Ruby, and three-year-old twins Roscoe and Layla. Now reality is returning.

“That’s been a tough transition because it’s been almost two full years of being around the kids, pretty much all day long,” he stated. “Now I get up and get them off to school, and head to the course and I don’t see them again until five o’clock. It’s a little bit different but in order to get back to where I want to be, it’s what I have to do.”

This week is a particularly difficult one for the former Presidents Cup player. The RBC Canadian Open is one of his favourite stops on tour as it is for many Canadian players. It’s also being held at Hamilton G&CC, a course that he loves.

“It’s obviously disappointing,” said DeLaet, who has played in nine Opens, with a tie for seventh in 2014 his best finish. “That’s a tournament that I love to play. The fans have always been really good to me, although they have a lot of good young kids to cheer for these days. I’m kind of the old guy on the block now. Hopefully they’ll still remember me.”

It’s doubtful anyone will forget the bearded one. And if his back finally holds up to the rigors of professional golf, it’s likely his return will bring him even more fans.