Arkansas’ own Ken Duke overcame the odds to win the Travelers Championship
HOPE, Ark. (BVM) — Ken Duke overcame seemingly impossible odds to become the professional golfer he is today by defeating a disease that affects around 3% of the United States population.
Duke was born in Hope, Ark., to Ray and Bettie Duke. When Duke grew older, the family moved to Arkadelphia and he attended school there. As a seventh grader, he was diagnosed with scoliosis and had to deal with the intense back pain for years. When he was diagnosed, doctors determined his spine had a curvature of over 26%. To try and prevent the disease from getting worse, Ken had to wear a back brace for 23 hours a day.
He dealt with the pain for two more years. After doctors saw that the curvature of his spine increased, they suggested he have surgery. Without the surgery, he faced potential breathing problems. The doctors attached a 16-inch metal rod to his spine, setting the curvature of his back to 38 degrees. The rod remains there to this day.
After recovering from the surgery, which only had him sidelined two weeks, Duke was back at school. Like any golfer coming back from a significant injury, he was eager to be playing 18 holes again, and it didn’t take long for Duke to pick the clubs back up.
Surprisingly, Duke won a medals honor at a district tournament while wearing a back brace for the entire tournament. In 1987, he was the Arkansas High School medalist at Pleasant Valley Country Club in Little Rock.
He decided to stay in the state of Arkansas to continue his golf career attending Henderson State University where he led the Reddies to four straight Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference titles. He was a four-time AIC Golfer of the Year and earned NAIA All-American honors in 1992.
Two years later, Duke went pro. It took him two more years to play in a PGA-sanctioned event. He took part in the Greater Vancouver Open and was the first Reddie to play in such an event.
He hopped around tours including the South African Tour, Asian Tour, and Canadian Tour. In 2006, Duke was named Player of the Year, and was the top money winner of the Web.com Tour, which was formerly known as the Nationwide Tour. Over the next three years, he spent time competing in the PGA Tour. In 2008, he played his best golf finishing with five top 10 placements and 13 top 25 finishes. Following the 2009 season, Duke had to return to the Nationwide Tour because he lost his PGA Tour card.
However, Duke was motivated to get back to the PGA Tour. While he was competing in the Nationwide Tour, he found himself in 37th place. Since the top 25 players get cards to the PGA Tour, Duke knew he needed to finish strong. He did just that, jumping all the way up to seventh place to secure a 2012 spot on the tour.
In 2012, he finished 42nd in the FedEx Cup standings. He had six top 10 finishes that year, but one thing was alluding him — a PGA Tour win. In 2013, he made seven cuts and finished eighth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Finally, at the Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Conn., after 187 PGA events, Duke would get his coveted PGA Tour win. At 44 years old, he was the oldest first-time winner since Ed Dougherty, who got his first tour win at the age of 47. It was a hard-fought victory for Duke. He ricocheted a shot on the 10th hole off a tree onto the green and followed that up with a birdie. Then on the 13th hole, he sank a 45-foot putt. Battling former Masters champion Bubba Watson, Duke was able to pull away from him after Watson got into trouble on the 16th hole.
Duke went into the clubhouse with a one-stroke lead over Chris Stroud, but Stroud wouldn’t go away quietly as he forced a playoff. Both players matched each other shot-for-shot until the 18th hole. It was the third time both golfers had been there that day. Duke put a wedge shot on the green to set up the winning birdie putt. He sank it and became the 2013 Travelers Champion. Fans voted him PGA Player of the Month after his victory.
He received messages from former sport greats like Jack Nicklaus and Charles Barkley, all congratulating on his win. When Duke saw those messages, he realized he had a lot more people behind him than he originally thought.
As much as the win meant to hime, Duke still puts others before himself and it shows by work that he does off the course. He travels back to his hometown of Hope, to visit local children’s hospitals and meets with children to offer encouragement and support by telling his story. Spending time around charities and the game of golf, Duke is considered one of the most-liked players in the sport.
After his PGA Tour win, Duke has played in the British Open and the PGA Championship. He has since been inducted into the Reddie Hall of Honor and was inducted in the Arkansas Golf Hall of Fame in Oct. 2014.
Ken Duke has overcome a lot to be where he is at today. That should be a message to everyone. No matter how high the odds are stacked against you; you can overcome them.