Sports / Cricket
Marc Cayeux gives everyone hope after top ten finish in Cape Town
21 Sep 2018 at 06:27hrs | Views
Marc Cayeux's story is one that stays with you for the rest of your life once you are aware of it. For anyone unaware of the Zimbabwean's journey so far, observing the final leaderboard of the Vodacom Origins of Golf tournament at Arabella in Cape Town and seeing Marc Cayeux in seventh position wouldn't have meant a great deal. For Marc Cayeux's wife, family, friends and fans, it would have been an emotional day.
Cayeux was making his way back to his parents home in Zimbabwe in September 2010 after having picked up a new car. Sadly Cayeux's father had suffered a stroke and his son had sold both his vehicles in order for the family to be able to cover the medical bills.
It was during the journey back home that an approaching police truck was hit by a cow and then swerved into the oncoming lane that Cayeux was driving in. This resulted in a head-on collision that shattered both Cayeux's legs and left him upside down in a burning car in the middle of nowhere.
Cayeux was pulled from the burning wreckage by a friend who was driving behind him at the time. The nearest ambulance was four hours away and his left foot was dangling by a thread. Mercifully a nurse who was driving past was able to stabilize the professional golfer and he was loaded into the back of a car and driven down the bumpy road to Harare.
Upon arrival in Harare, there wasn't any morphine available to him and, instead, he was offered paracetamol for a severed foot that doctors wanted to amputate. His brother pleaded with doctors not to take the easy route then and there by doing so, and stressed that he needed his foot because he was a golfer.
It would only be an eye-watering 18 hours later after being flown to Johannesburg that Cayeux was given morphine. The Zimbabwean golfer would stay in hospital for three months and undergo 27 operations before returning home, but not before doctors told him to forget about ever playing golf again. Instead, Cayeux would spend the next four years learning how to walk.
It's become human nature to complain at any supposed bad luck but for a 32-year-old Cayeux in 2010, this was a devastating blow that rocked every aspect of his life. This was a golfer, after all, that had played with Tiger Woods, won nine times on the Sunshine Tour and had gained a European Tour card.
Cayeux's story is one that brings perspective to any situation not least failure on the golf course. When you see that Justin Rose, a player tipped to miss the cut at the 2018 Open by Oddschecker who then fought back with a birdie on the Friday evening to make the weekend, subsequently going on to almost win at Carnoustie, you would normally be struck by how well he did to fight back. Ordinarily, that would be a comeback that gets everyone talking but, in reality, it pales in comparison to what Cayeux has done since that tragic night in September 2010.
After 27 surgeries, Cayeux made the cut at a professional event in November 2017 that was played at Simola Golf and Country Estate. It was an extraordinary fightback and the 40-year-old didn't stop there.
Cayeux's top-ten finish at Arabella in September 2018 defies all reason and logic and proves the impossible can be done. Neil Schietekat may have won the tournament but the real champion was Zimbabwe's Cayeux after shooting consecutive rounds of 68, 70, and 72.
Cape Town has been the backdrop to many momentous events over the years. It was under Table Mountain that Nelson Mandela walked out of prison in 1990 after 27 years in jail and it was in the Western Cape's Kleinmond that Marc Cayeux pulled off the unthinkable by quite literally coming back from the brink to triumph.
Cayeux was making his way back to his parents home in Zimbabwe in September 2010 after having picked up a new car. Sadly Cayeux's father had suffered a stroke and his son had sold both his vehicles in order for the family to be able to cover the medical bills.
Want to say how proud I am of fellow Zimbo Marc Cayeux on shooting 2 67's after 5 YEARS of operations/rehab from horror accident. @cmjrj22 👍
— Tony Johnstone (@TonyJohnstone56) March 15, 2016
It was during the journey back home that an approaching police truck was hit by a cow and then swerved into the oncoming lane that Cayeux was driving in. This resulted in a head-on collision that shattered both Cayeux's legs and left him upside down in a burning car in the middle of nowhere.
Cayeux was pulled from the burning wreckage by a friend who was driving behind him at the time. The nearest ambulance was four hours away and his left foot was dangling by a thread. Mercifully a nurse who was driving past was able to stabilize the professional golfer and he was loaded into the back of a car and driven down the bumpy road to Harare.
Upon arrival in Harare, there wasn't any morphine available to him and, instead, he was offered paracetamol for a severed foot that doctors wanted to amputate. His brother pleaded with doctors not to take the easy route then and there by doing so, and stressed that he needed his foot because he was a golfer.
It would only be an eye-watering 18 hours later after being flown to Johannesburg that Cayeux was given morphine. The Zimbabwean golfer would stay in hospital for three months and undergo 27 operations before returning home, but not before doctors told him to forget about ever playing golf again. Instead, Cayeux would spend the next four years learning how to walk.
It's become human nature to complain at any supposed bad luck but for a 32-year-old Cayeux in 2010, this was a devastating blow that rocked every aspect of his life. This was a golfer, after all, that had played with Tiger Woods, won nine times on the Sunshine Tour and had gained a European Tour card.
2 huge comebacks for differing reasons this week. Marc Cayeux in SA & Tiger in Albany. Best wishes to both @marccayeux2 @cmjrj22 @TigerWoods pic.twitter.com/Xuv9TTZmOb
— Michael Verity (@MichaelVerity) November 30, 2016
Cayeux's story is one that brings perspective to any situation not least failure on the golf course. When you see that Justin Rose, a player tipped to miss the cut at the 2018 Open by Oddschecker who then fought back with a birdie on the Friday evening to make the weekend, subsequently going on to almost win at Carnoustie, you would normally be struck by how well he did to fight back. Ordinarily, that would be a comeback that gets everyone talking but, in reality, it pales in comparison to what Cayeux has done since that tragic night in September 2010.
After 27 surgeries, Cayeux made the cut at a professional event in November 2017 that was played at Simola Golf and Country Estate. It was an extraordinary fightback and the 40-year-old didn't stop there.
Cayeux's top-ten finish at Arabella in September 2018 defies all reason and logic and proves the impossible can be done. Neil Schietekat may have won the tournament but the real champion was Zimbabwe's Cayeux after shooting consecutive rounds of 68, 70, and 72.
Cape Town has been the backdrop to many momentous events over the years. It was under Table Mountain that Nelson Mandela walked out of prison in 1990 after 27 years in jail and it was in the Western Cape's Kleinmond that Marc Cayeux pulled off the unthinkable by quite literally coming back from the brink to triumph.
Source - Agencies
