South Dakotan lived through tests tougher than qualifying for the Open

By Tod Leonard

UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

10:08 p.m. June 9, 2008

Brian Kortan chooses to call it his "issue," because it makes it sound like he forgot to pack his umbrella on a rainy day.

It was far more serious than that. The issue could have cost him his professional golf career, or his life.

Kortan is especially grateful to be playing in his first major, the U.S. Open, this week at Torrey Pines after suffering a heart attack at the age of 35 in August 2006.

While visiting friends in his hometown of Yankton, S.D., Kortan turned out the light after reading in bed and felt the classic symptoms of a heart attack. He got to a doctor, was airlifted to a hospital in Sioux City and his life was saved when surgeons inserted stents.

But Kortan lost up to 50 percent of function in his heart, and the following spring he was fitted with an internal defibrillator that is supposed to provide an electrical charge should his heart be in distress. He can run his fingers over the two wires under his skin.

"I call it my radio, my iPod," Kortan said with a laugh.

Luckily, he's never needed the defibrillator.

"The big shock would be like having a guy with paddles," Kortan said. "It would flat knock you on the ground."

The recovery time was difficult. Kortan, who has a wife and two boys, ages 3 and 7, wondered if he should quit his vagabond golf life. He had reached the PGA Tour only once, in 2004, and finished 200th on the money list. He also had to overcome the fear on the course that a little racing of his heart was just his excitement, not a life-threatening episode.

Ultimately, he said, "It came down to one thing: I'm a golfer by nature and golfer by heart. That's what I do."

Is he limited now?

"Only by being me," he said with a wry smile.

Currently fifth in the money list of the Adams Golf Pro Tour, the 5-foot-3, 150-pound Kortan had to go through local and sectional qualifying to reach the U.S. Open. He shot 70-68 last week to be the medalist in the Columbine, Colo., sectional.

"It's a sense of accomplishment for those of us who go through qualifying," Kortan said. "There are a lot of great players who never get to play in the Open. I'm sure there are a lot of great stories like mine this week."

Tod Leonard: (619) 293-1858; tod.leonard@uniontrib.com