Chris Cassetta played in a Tanglewood Golf Association tournament over the weekend.
That alone isn't newsworthy. Cassetta is one of the top amateur golfers in the area.
What made the tournament special for him, and for those who know him, is that he was playing just months after a horrific car accident left him with injuries so severe he spent four days at Duke Hospital.
"I've gone awhile between tee times," he said.
Cassetta, 36, was on his way to a golf tournament in Richmond, Va., in August when he stopped for gas in Durham. He doesn't remember much after that.
"A tractor trailer hit me, and the next thing I know, I was on a gurney," he said. "People see the pictures of the car, and (say) they don't know how I survived."
Cassetta was hit as he was leaving the gas station, by a truck traveling about 45 miles an hour. His 2002 Acura was totaled, and his insurance adjuster, also a friend, told Cassetta he was lucky. Cassetta' injuries included a shattered upper arm, a broken scapula, three broken ribs, a collapsed lung, a dislocated kneecap and strained knee ligaments. During surgery, he had plates and screws put in his left arm.
Most of the injuries were on his left side, and as luck would have it, Cassetta is a left-handed golfer. His right arm is still strong enough for him to keep it straight on his swing, and Cassetta said he hopes to make a full recovery. Still, he has a long way to go.
He won the Tanglewood club championship three days before the accident, shooting 70 in the final round. The week before that, he finished sixth in the Forsyth Invitational. Before the accident, his handicap was plus-3.
In his first round since the accident, he shot a 93 on Saturday. The score didn't matter.
"I can only drive the ball about 160 yards, and my 7-iron, it can go about 110 yards," said Cassetta, who estimates his current handicap at 12. "I've got hardly any swing speed at this point."
James Gore, a friend, said he has been amazed by the determination that Cassetta has shown since the accident.
"I think about 10 days after the accident, he came out to Tanglewood and was trying to putt even though he had a big cast on his arm and everything else," Gore said.
Cassetta has had plenty of support from friends and from girlfriend Terra Beal, who learned about the accident from two N.C. Highway Patrol troopers but wasn't given any more information until she arrived at the hospital in Durham.
"She's been great through all of this," said Cassetta, a salesman for UniFirst Corp.
Cassetta played golf at Greensboro College in the early 1990s, has won numerous tournaments around the state and has been a consistent top-10 finisher in the Forsyth Invitational. He said what he has missed most in his time away from the game are the competition and camaraderie.
"I don't want to expect too much too soon," he said. "It's going to take time, but I know I want to be out there and competing because that's all I've known."
Although Cassetta's car was totaled, the golf clubs he had in the trunk were not damaged.
"The clubs were fine," he said. "My game, at least at this point, is what needs a lot of work."
jdell@wsjournal.com.
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