Martha Nause, the St. Olaf alum and Macalester golf coach, is the oldest player in the U.S. Women's Open field, at 53. When she learned she'd be teeing off with a 13-year-old, Nause called Macalester women's basketball coach Ellen Thompson, mother of a pre-teen.
"I said, 'Ellen, I need your help,'" Nause said. "She said, 'What?! What can I do?' I said, 'What do you talk to a 13-year-old about?'"
Thompson recommended talking sports. That should work for Nause, whose back story is far more interesting than her birthdate.
Nause not only won a major title -- the du Maurier, in 1994 -- she did so after overcoming a disease that paralyzed the right side of her face and left her stumbling around her hometown of Sheboygan, Wis., trying to regain her balance.
"Someone told me that if I had had a little paper bag," Nause said, "people would have thought I was a drunk."
The disease is called Ramsay Hunt syndrome, which infects facial nerves. In Nause's case, it caused facial paralysis, hearing loss, the loss of muscle strength around the eye and a complete loss of equilibrium.
Of all the problems a pro golfer can encounter, being able to stand up long enough to address the ball should not be one of them.
"It put me off the tour for half a year," Nause said after playing a practice round Tuesday at Interlachen. "It destroyed my balance nerve, and I couldn't walk. I had to relearn everything in terms of balance and movement and swinging, and how to swing without falling over. I still have partial hearing loss, and ringing in my ear."
