Wherever Christy O'Connor Jr. went at Firestone Country Club earlier this month for the Senior PGA Championship, there was someone to welcome him back. Legends like Jack Nicklaus and players you've never heard of all seemed to gravitate toward O'Connor.
"To me, it's easier being nice than not being nice; it's 10 times easier," O'Connor said one morning, sitting by the practice green and eating a ham sandwich. "I like to try to have a smile on myself. What the hell's the use of frowning? I'm lucky to have a chance to play it."
O'Connor, 53, is fortunate in another way.
He is back playing the Senior PGA Tour after a 14-month absence. After winning twice in 1999, including the State Farm Senior Classic in Columbia, as well as the Senior British Open in 1999 and 2000, O'Connor was ready to see his career take off last season.
Instead, he nearly saw it come to an end.
Cleaning his Harley-Davidson motorcycle at his home in Galway, Ireland, last March, O'Connor was dragging the almost 2,000-pound machine back to his garage when it slid in his gravel driveway. He lost his grip and the motorcycle fell onto his left leg, breaking the fibula and tibia.
"It couldn't have come at a worse time," said O'Connor, who'll be one of the fan favorites in the Greater Baltimore Classic that begins Friday at Hayfields Country Club in Hunt Valley. "I'm kind of in the prime of my Senior Tour years.
"If it had happened when I was 44 or 46, it would have been a lot easier. To take a year off from 50 to 55, that was a massive hole. But it happened, and that's history."
The initial prognosis wasn't good. O'Connor was told that he might not play golf again. While O'Connor tried to remain optimistic, his concerns grew even deeper when the bones didn't regenerate themselves at all after nearly three months.
Through the course of his rehabilitation, which consisted of lifting weights with his legs as well as doing a variety of exercises to help strengthen his back, O'Connor slowly started regaining the use of his leg muscles, which had atrophied badly. He didn't touch a club for 11 months.
The broken leg did more than take its toll physically on O'Connor, considered by many to be among his country's greatest players.
"The confidence has to be built back, too," said O'Connor, who had a distinguished career on the European Tour that included 11 victories, a third-place finish in the 1985 British Open and two Ryder Cups. "I feel like I belong out here again."
Buoyed by a recent third-place finish in the Irish Senior Open, O'Connor is looking forward to his return to the Baltimore area. It was here that O'Connor gained his first success on the Senior PGA Tour, beating Bruce Fleisher in a 100-degree showdown at Hobbit's Glen Golf Club three years ago.
O'Connor nearly won at Hobbit's Glen again in 2000, sharing the lead after two rounds before a final-round 76 left him tied for 16th. His victory at Hobbit's Glen had been an emotional one for O'Connor, who dedicated the win to his late son, Darren, who died in a car accident the previous year at the age of 17.
"You always feel a thing for a golf course when you win on it, you know certain horses for courses," said O'Connor, who'll play in next week's U.S. Senior Open at Caves Valley in Owings Mills. "I have a lot of friends and a lot of fans in Baltimore. Hopefully, everything goes well for us."
Those tournaments will be part of what has amounted to an extended family vacation, since his wife, Ann, joined him and their son, Nigel, is caddying for him. The O'Connors had thought about buying a house in Florida to accommodate his schedule on the Senior PGA Tour, but the ties to Ireland remain strong.
O'Connor has a blossoming golf course design business going there, and has helped develop 24 courses since 1990. Three of his courses have played host to European PGA Tour tournaments and Irish PGA events. Some of the requests for his design talents are starting to come from other countries in Europe.
"And if I get a request over here, I'll be glad to listen," O'Connor said.
O'Connor is hoping to get his game back to the level it was three years ago.
In only 16 Senior Tour events in the United States, O'Connor won twice and had five top-10 finishes, earning $710,749 to place 26th on the money list. While he slipped to 50th in 2000, his victory in the Senior British Open at Northern Ireland's Royal County Downs was nearly as emotional as the win in Maryland.
"It was very big,"said O'Connor, whose best finish this year on the Senior Tour has been a tie for 24th at the Royal Carribean Classic.
He has, for the time being, given up on riding his Harley.
"I'm riding the buggies," he said of the golf carts allowed on the Senior Tour. "It was a fun thing. When I finish playing, I'll go back again."
As O'Connor was finishing the interview, as well as the ham sandwich, Larry Nelson happened by.
"Hello, Lawrence, great to see you," said O'Connor.
"Great to have you back, Christy," said Nelson.
O'Connor turned as Nelson left and smiled.
"I don't have a single enemy out here," he said.