John Senden offers his right hand in greeting, and the 53-year-old professional golfer’s grip is firm.
In that moment, there is no hint he’s been playing on the PGA Tour Champions for 25 months since he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
A native of Brisbane, Australia, Senden illustrates one of his many problems with the neurodegenerative disorder. He picks up his phone and continues to talk. His right-side tremors, perhaps unnoticeable to those unfamiliar with the condition, rapidly become more pronounced. He says his nervous system is finding it difficult to perform two tasks at the same time, even one that is taken for granted like speaking.
With most Parkinson’s patients, one side of the body is affected first, then the symptoms cross over. Senden knows that day may be coming. But he’s never dropped out of a round due to his condition, never thought of quitting.
Senden forges ahead, spurred by a tangible dream.
“With the way I’m feeling at the moment, yes, it’s a challenge every day, but wouldn’t it be great to get out here and win a golf tournament with Parkinson’s?” Senden said Tuesday at Firestone Country Club. “No one’s ever done it, right? No one’s heard much about it, either. It would be a real challenge for me to do that, but it’s not out of the question.”
To some, hearing Senden utter those words with such conviction might evoke a visceral reaction. But that suggestion didn’t faze fellow Aussie and Dallas neighbor Rod Pampling, Senden’s friend of 35 years.
“At the end of the day we all have to have goals,” Pampling said Wednesday. “That’s what drives you still. For John, that’s a great goal. It would be incredible.
“Can he do it? Of course he can, the game’s there. He’s just got to somehow get the medication right so he can perform at his best. It’s difficult out here. And to have Parkinson’s and still be playing out here is pretty amazing.”
Competing this week in the $3.5 million Kaulig Companies Championship, Senden did not play a practice round after Tuesday to keep his body in peak form for the senior tour’s fourth major. His wife, Jackie, remained in Texas, planning to join him July 25-28 at the Senior Open Championship in Carnoustie, Scotland. Their son, Jacob, 20, accompanied his dad to Akron.
As daunting as his future appears, Senden considers the senior tour a blessing, especially because it provides a familial atmosphere and the exercise he needs to battle Parkinson’s.
“The initial shock of it was pretty crazy,” he said. “Now it’s, ‘Do I choose to go this route or choose to go this route?’ I’ve still got a long life, hopefully, and it’s about staying positive and staying strong and staying strong-minded. The support team — family, the tour, the players, caddie — everyone helps me along tremendously.”
That support was evident leading up to the tournament. Defending champion Steve Stricker was thrilled to see Senden in the 78-man field.
“I feel horrible for him. He’s such a wonderful man,” Stricker said Wednesday. “I’ve had some conversations with him over the last year, one I know for sure, just tell him I’m thinking about him.
“It’s inspiring that he’s out here still giving it a go, really. It could be easy for any of us with that to kind of say, ‘What am I doing? Pack it in.’ Obviously, he loves the game and loves to be out here, and we love to see him. He’s a great guy.”
John Senden putts toward the second hole during the first round of the Kaulig Companies Championship at Firestone Country Club on Thursday in Akron. (Photo: Jeff Lange/Akron Beacon Journal)
Stricker said his grandmother suffered from Parkinson’s. But even he may not comprehend what it takes physically and mentally for Senden to continue to play on the Champions Tour.
Senden struggles to sleep because of the tremors, sometimes crossing his left arm over to try to hold down the right. The medication he takes four times a day — his caddie uses a timer to keep the doses on schedule — causes nausea. Senden must eat a balanced diet and manage his food intake to keep up his energy level.
Although Jackie said he’s training harder than he ever has, Senden’s body is stiffening, slowing his walk. He is allowed to carry a Theragun massager in his golf bag to help with the stiffness. His jaw tightens, making it difficult to speak. The adrenaline he feels in anticipation of his first tee shot can push his nervous system too far, making him feel rattled in the tee box. Even with deep breathing techniques, he may not be able to calm down until the third or fourth green.
“It’s something I wouldn’t want for anyone,” he said in his first extended interview about his condition. “Sometimes I find it hard to talk about it because it becomes emotional.
“At home, I lie down on the couch and I don’t feel like I want to get up. I’ve got to challenge the body and the mind to get going because that’s the best thing for me.”
According to Parkinsons.org, 90,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with the disorder yearly, a 50 percent increase from the previously estimated rate of 60,000. Actor Michael J. Fox’s 1998 revelation shed new light on Parkinson’s. Former Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar announced his diagnosis in an exclusive interview with Cleveland Magazine this week. But Jackie said Senden is still trying to cover up his symptoms in public.
“He’s trying not to attract attention to himself because of his shaking,” she said Wednesday in a phone interview from Dallas. “He’ll move his arms and cross his hands and put his hands in his pockets; he’s got all these things (to) help disguise all the symptoms.”
He’s not fooling his wife of more than 30 years, though.
“The hardest (part) is he’s in so much pain,” Jackie said. “He’s got to have all the anti-inflammatories and his joints are really sore and he’s really rigid and stiff. He said when his arm is shaking it feels like he’s done a thousand bicep curls because of the pain.
“My biggest thing is when you lay there at night beside him and the whole bed is shaking because he’s just flapping like a fish on the riverbank. You go, ‘What the hell are we doing here?’ People only see the outer things going on. … The way it affects the brain, he’s not the same person anymore. He never was an emotional person; now things will set him off that would have never registered on his radar. But he’s trying, he’s doing his best. We’re very, very grateful for that. It could be worse. We’ll see how we go with it.”
Jackie said Senden is a perfectionist and it frustrates him that he can’t get his swing to where it needs to be.
“That’s where I keep saying, ‘There’s plenty of people out there [who don’t have] the perfect swing but can still play golf. You’re not 30 anymore, just play with what you’ve got,’” she said.
Pampling tries to help in that regard.
“He’ll listen. Sometimes he may slow down too much. So it’s, like, ‘Hey, you’ve got to hurry up. Stop thinking about it too much,’” Pampling said.
In 12 previous Champions Tour events this year, Senden has recorded one top 10 and two top 25s and picked up $177,554, his best earnings total of the past three seasons.
“He’s not earning his cost to be out there, but I’ve said to our accountant, ‘I feel like it’s a bit of expensive therapy for us.’ It makes him get out of bed, it gives me a reason,” Jackie said.
“He’s thrown some really good rounds in,” Pampling said. “But if there’s certain pressures that turn up that he hasn’t felt for a while, then that sets it off. There’s all these things he’s got to deal with. You hate to see what he’s going through, but he’s really fighting hard.”
It’s not the Sendens’ first fight. In 2017, Jacob, then 13, was diagnosed with brain cancer. Senden took 14 months off while Jacob underwent chemotherapy and radiation. Jacob, who now requires an MRI yearly, may consider a career in the golf industry. On Tuesday, he played a round on the North Course with Pampling’s son, Sam, 19.
“They’ve been through a lot with Jacob. They’re in for the fight there, so they’re in for the fight here,” Pampling said.
“That’s a reminder from a long time ago,” Jackie said. “Look at Jacob — he never gave up and he had the most positive attitude. You have the best inspiration. We can’t give up now. We can’t change it, so we’ve got to make the best of it. There will be some good days and some bad days but, whatever, we can keep you at golf. Let’s keep going until they say, ‘No, John, you can’t come anymore.’”
Jackie said her husband and son share a similar trait.
“He and Jacob are so positive. They’re never negative about their day or their golf or anything like that,” she said. “It’s pretty much built in him, which is helpful, and he just loves to be at golf. It’s what keeps him going because he wants to be out there with his friends. He knows if he stops, he’ll shut down pretty quickly and I think he’d fall into some depression pretty quickly.”
Senden said he’s still learning about Parkinson’s and Jackie said her husband copes by “a little bit burying his head in the sand.”
“He hasn’t done a lot of research, he doesn’t really want to know because it’s a pretty dark path to take once you start reading up or seeing people,” she said. “We’ve had some good friends with it, so we’ve seen a few of the challenges. Less information is better for John. He just keeps going until the next thing happens. He goes, ‘I just don’t know what’s wrong with me,’ and I’ll say, ‘It’s a pile of Parkinson’s, love.’”
Part of Senden’s motivation comes from trying to become the first professional to win with Parkinson’s, which he said he thinks about “a lot.”
“When we discuss it with the family and the caddie and the coach, I think, ‘Well, why not?’ If you challenge yourself out here to play your best golf, that best golf might just be good enough,” he said.
“You’ve got to keep that locked in your brain. ‘Wouldn’t that just be an amazing thing to talk about in the world?’”