TimeOut with Tambo: Injuries don’t stop this golfer
Caitlyn’s coach, John Rathbun, was concerned that she would not be able to finish the round and did not want to put undue pressure on her. Caitlyn has been rehabilitating from injuries and battling pain since the end of last school year. Rathbun was just happy to have her on the team and was willing to let her play herself into shape.
Caitlyn doesn’t have a nickname, but if she did it would not be Lucky.
On May 17, the day before the Ramona High School prom, Caitlyn and her dad, Tim, and twin brother Jonathon were coming back from picking up Jonathon’s tux when they were involved in a car accident. Caitlyn was in the passenger seat and took the brunt force of the hit. Her skull was severely lacerated. A plastic surgeon needed over 60 stitches to close the wound and stop the bleeding. The emergency room doctors told her she could go home, but Caitlyn said her back hurt too badly to walk so they took X-rays and discovered that she had broken her pelvis and sacrum. Caitlyn missed the prom.
After a five-day stay in the hospital, Caitlyn returned home and started rehabilitating her injuries, mostly on her own.
“I swam a lot and my dad made me do a lot of stretching,” she said.
Caitlyn had earned two varsity letters in golf and by late August she was ready to resume golfing to get ready for the season. Then she broke her toe. When asked how she broke her toe, she laughed and said, “Don’t ask.” When pressured, she admitted that she just stumbled and stubbed her toe. Maybe her nickname should be Grace.
She practiced golf but used a golf cart. High school golfers must walk the course. Caitlyn got her swing back, but her endurance and pain threshold were questioned. She answered those questions by carding a 41 and 46 in her first two matches.
She started junior golf at age 8 but never seriously took up the sport until her sophomore year when she made the varsity.
“I played softball mostly but I decided to give golf a try,” she said. “I am glad I did. It is a great sport and we have a great team and coach.”
She plans to make golf a lifelong endeavor.
When Caitlyn is not hitting the dimpled ball, she is hitting the books. She has a 4.13 grade point average, wants to attend Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to become a veterinarian for small animals.
Her dad and brother play golf, but her mom, Colleen, does not. When asked who is the best golfer in the family, Caitlyn used some diplomacy in her answer, “Jonathon hits the ball a lot farther than me,” implying that she hits it straighter and has lower scores.
When I called her to get the information for this column late on a Sunday evening, she asked if she could call back. She was golfing.