Two-time heart transplant recipient Erik Compton won the Mexico Open for his first Nationwide Tour title, closing with a 7-under 65 on Sunday for a two-stroke victory over Richard H. Lee.
The 31-year-old Compton was diagnosed at age 9 with cardiomyopathy, an enlarging of the heart that hinders its ability to pump blood. Three years later in 1992, he received a new heart. That one failed in 2008, and he needed another transplant.
''This tournament has kind of summed up my life,'' Compton said. ''There was a lot of adversity to overcome in this tournament just like what I've dealt with personally.
''To win this is everything to me. I never thought I'd play golf again, at least not at this level, and I proved to myself I'm more than just a guy with two heart transplants.''
Compton finished at 17-under 271 on the El Bosque Country Club course. He earned $126,000 to jump from 15th to second on the money list with $215,709, nearly guaranteeing a 2012 PGA Tour card as a top-25 finisher on the developmental tour. He also has made $83,962 this year in four PGA Tour starts.
''I do get a lot of opportunities to play in PGA Tour events because of my story,'' he said. ''But now that I've won out here and I've pretty much secured my tour card and I'll get into events on that alone. And I've been playing professionally since I was 20 years old and never won, so I feel like it's a monkey off my back.''
