His first steps weren’t cautious, they were taken with confidence.
His first exercises weren’t exhausting, they were exhilarating. So much so, that when the patient wanted to do more, the therapist agreed. At the end of the first day with his new prosthetic, Danbury native and professional golfer Ken Green felt like a new man. A man with a mission and a driving passion to succeed in that mission. For the past two months, Green has slowly but surely started to put the pieces of his shattered life back together. On June 8, Green his brother Billy his girlfriend, Jeannie Hodgin and his dog, Nip, were driving east across Mississippi toward Florida on Interstate 20 in Green’s RV after he had finished playing Near Hickory, Miss., the RV’s right front tire blew, sending the vehicle down an embankment and into a tree. Billy, Jeannie and Nip were killed. Green, who remembers being in the back of the RV, suffered serious injuries, one of which eventually forced the amputation of his right leg below the knee. Now, the Danbury native, who grew up honing his golf game on the fairways at Ridgewood Country Club and Richter Park, is in the process of making the greatest comeback in the history of golf. Green wants to become the first person to play professionally with a prosthetic, and on Aug.12, in the office of his therapist, Stan Patterson, Green took his
But so far, so good.