Golf journey brings South Africa's Christo Greyling to Shadyside
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Christo Greyling watches his tee shot on the fourth hole during the first round of the U.S. Open at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md., on Thursday.
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BETHESDA, Md. -- Christo Greyling grew up in South Africa, a land that is suddenly producing major champions. He attended high school in Orlando, Fla., where his teammate was the more heralded Ty Tryon, who turned professional after his junior year and, at 17, became the youngest person to earn a PGA Tour card. As the top-ranked junior in the country, Greyling went to golf-power Georgia on scholarship.
Guess where he has landed now?
The 'Burgh.
Shadyside, to be exact.
He lives there now, on Bellefonte Street, having moved there last week because his fiancee, Laura Thornsberry, started her residency at UPMC Shadyside. In his short time there, he already has played Oakmont, St. Clair and Fox Chapel.
"I was like, 'Are you kidding? You're making me move to snow?' " Greyling said. "I grew up in Africa, moved to Florida and now I'm going up north?"
He can handle it.
Greyling, 28, is trying to find his way back from golfing purgatory, a bizarre period of uncertainty and anxiety in which his game mysteriously disappeared and he had trouble breaking 95. It got so bad his teacher, David Leadbetter, told him to put the clubs away, for fear of doing further damage to his swing.
It happened shortly after he went to Georgia, coinciding when he started taking a powerful acne medicine, Accutane, that was known to have several side effects, among them depression.
"I had a lot of doubts I've been trying to weed out the last three years," Greyling said. "I semi-know where the ball is going again. I was really confident when I was younger and it went the other way."
Thursday, nearly a decade after he had such high hopes for his career, Greyling was on the biggest stage of his golfing life, playing in the U.S. Open at Congressional Country Club. He shot 35 on the front, made a couple birdies on the back and finished at 1-over 72, seven shots from the lead held by Rory McIlroy.
And he did it playing with a bad back, the result of moving too much furniture into his new Shadyside residence.
First Published June 17, 2011 12:00 am
