Golf

Cancer patient makes PGA Tour debut at Sony Open

Cancer patient makes PGA Tour debut at Sony Open

Michael Castillo has fulfilled his lifelong dream at the age of 60 by playing at a PGA Tour event. Castillo recently underwent radiotherapy as he battles cancer in the liver but nothing was going to stop him from teeing off at the Sony Open in Honolulu. 

Like many PGA Tour events, the Sony Open reserves a spot for a PGA professional golfer in the local area. Castillo, a Honolulu native, was victorious at the Aloha PGA section last year which made him the prime candidate for the spot. 

Castillo’s family have a rich history at the Sony open with his father and two brothers all having competed in it in the past. He was joined on the course by one of his brothers who caddied for him, while the rest of his family were in attendance to cheer him on. 

Castillo shot an opening round of 79, which does leave him second to last on the leaderboard but that won’t dampen his spirits one bit. With the cut now an unlikely target, he will spend Friday savouring every moment as he competes alongside some of the best golfers in the world. 

A day to remember

After initially being diagnosed with colon cancer five years ago, Castillo has been engaged in a daily battle against the disease. The chances of making your PGA Tour debut at 60 are slim, never-mind when you’re 60 and battling cancer. He can be extremely proud of what he has achieved and after the round, he admitted he didn’t really care about his score. He said:

“I hit the ball nicely but didn’t score very well but it doesn’t really matter. I had a great time walking with my brother on the bag. My family is here. It was all good. I couldn’t draw it up better than maybe the score.”

castillo

After he finishes his round tomorrow, attention will once again turn to the fight with cancer. Last year, the cancer spread to his liver and he underwent radiotherapy to try and get him back into remission. Over the past five years he has undergone chemotherapy once and radiotherapy twice and he is now awaiting to find out how successful his last round of radiation therapy went. 

“Next month I will do a PET scan and if everything looks good they say I will be in remission. That’s a good thing. I will probably be doing some what they call maintenance or preventive treatments to keep the lid on it, but it looks pretty good,” Castillo said. 

“There is great medicine out there and I’ve got great doctors and I listen to them, even though my wife thinks otherwise,” he added.

Spieth shares the lead

At the other end of the leaderboard, world number 15 Jordan Spieth has a share of the lead after round one with Chris Kirk and Taylor Montgomery. Speith is the highest-ranked player in the field and is looking to get his 2023 off to a good start. After his round he said:

“The stuff I’ve been trying to work in my stroke I decided to go full trust from the get-go today, and to see those go in was a nice confidence boost and led to a good putting day. I feel like I left a couple out but I also really had fun today. I had fun playing the shots in the wind.”


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