Demsey defies tumour to make US Tour return

FORMER European Open champion Kenneth Ferrie starts his new career on the US Tour in Hawaii today — and does so alongside an American who, for a very different reason, is just as excited to be at the Sony Open.

Todd Demsey, a former college team-mate of Phil Mickelson, is back as a member of the circuit for the first time since 1997 and five years after a second operation to remove a benign brain tumour.

Left alone, the tumour could have been fatal and he was told there was still a 5% chance of dying during the operation or of him coming out of it paralysed.