Scott McCarron ready for return after successful foot surgery

Scott McCarron hasn’t played on PGA TOUR Champions since July 4.

But he hasn’t played like Scott McCarron since the start of the 2020 season, before it was interrupted by COVID-19 and before he suffered an ankle injury that wasn’t diagnosed as two torn tendons until he had played on it for nearly a year.

“I didn’t know it was that bad,” McCarron, the 2019 Charles Schwab Cup winner, said this week. “I didn’t get an MRI. I thought it was gout, thought it was a couple of other things. I got cortisone shots, just tried to tough it out.

“But I just couldn’t play with it. I couldn’t walk on it, let alone swing with it. I tried to ice it every day and take medications just to get out there and play. Then I finally bit the bullet and had the surgery.”

McCarron believes the injury happened at the PURE Insurance Championship at Pebble Beach. He muddled through 15 more events in the 2020-21 extended superseason and even scratched out two top-10s, but he knew he wasn’t the player he had been or wanted to be in the future.

The left ankle is a key piece of equipment for a right-handed golfer. It carries the load through the swing, often looking like it might twist right off. And McCarron is a power player. If he can’t go full bore and swing as hard as he’d like, everything goes off the rails.

He also knows now, hindsight being 20/20, that he tried to tough it out for too long.

“As athletes we always play on it too long and then we always come back too early,” McCarron said. “And I was classic. … Constantly rolling over on the left ankle where you finish … I just couldn’t do it.”

Because his intention is to play competitively on PGA TOUR Champions for as long as his body allows, McCarron’s surgery became a little more complicated. His tendons couldn’t simply be reattached because with his high arches there was no guarantee they wouldn’t tear again.

So he opted to have his left heel surgically broken and his foot realigned so it would have less arch. The tendons were reattached and two long screws were place in his foot to hold everything in place.

“It was a longer surgery, obviously, and it takes longer to heal,” McCarron said.

McCarron says he’s now ahead of schedule 3½ months out from the surgery. He has played 18 holes on a few occasions, albeit with the use of a cart. He said he did walk seven holes recently while carrying his own bag.

“The rehab guy comes over a couple of times a week, and I’m working out on it two or three times a day,” McCarron said. “It’s still early in the rehab process. The biggest thing is not to mess it up. But I can swing and it feels pretty good.

“I have every intention of playing at Hualalai (the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, which opens the 2022 season in mid-January). I’m sure I’ll be able to play. I don’t know if I’ll be able to walk 18 by then, but I can take a cart in those first few events.”

He will rejoin a Champions Tour that is as strong as it maybe ever has been. Last year saw a slew of high-profile rookies turn 50 and turn in some dominant outings. Hall of Famers Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els and Jim Furyk each won multiple times in the elongated season. Fellow rookie Alex Cejka won two majors. Mike Weir notched a victory, as did Steven Alker, whose stretch run caught McCarron’s attention.

Then there was the indomitable Bernhard Langer, who bested them all in the race to the Schwab Cup, winning it for the sixth time at the age of 64.

“Scott is not just a great champion but also an amazing friend and a very positive person,” Langer said. “We missed him the last few months and very much look forward to having him back on Tour soon."

McCarron is itching for the competition.

“I think I will be as good as I’ve ever been and even better at some point next year,” McCarron said. “I just kind of need to keep those goals down a little bit starting out because I haven’t played competitively in a long time. But if I can go ahead and swing and get after it without pain, there’s no reason I can’t come back and play some of the best golf of my life.

“My hero is Bernhard Langer, and look what he did last year. He won the Schwab Cup again. He is proof you can get better with age. Like a fine wine.”

With a vintage McCarron returning, PGA TOUR Champions will only be stronger in 2022.