The fickle nature of golf can leave even the world’s best players in a spin at least once in their career, but few in the professional game will have ever experienced the problems that restricted Thomas Levet’s season last year.
For the popular Frenchman was struck down by vertigo, a medical condition which leaves the sufferer with the sensation that they are spinning even when they are standing completely still.
It can be a hugely worrying and debilitating condition and for a professional golfer, career-threatening.
Last summer Levet had hit rock bottom. On occasion he was unable to walk and it was only through the support of a loving family and a focus on the positive times, such as his three European Tour victories, that he was able to keep fighting.
“It started very suddenly, in the car whilst I was in New York,” commented Levet when recalling his first instance of vertigo. “I put the car into reverse, looked to see if there was anyone behind me and it just kicked off. I felt as though I was in a washing machine for a whole five minutes.
“I got out of the car and didn’t know my name. I couldn’t even walk straight. All I could do was call my caddie and say: ‘It’s all going wrong. I’m never going to make it to the locker-room so please come and get me. Call the doctor, it’s really serious’.”
Thankfully, Levet could avail of the best medical attention and also benefited from the love and expert advice of his father, a Parisian doctor.
For a while the episodes of vertigo continued and the symptoms peaked last July. He would only manage to play a further three tournaments that year and consequently lost his cards on The European Tour and the US PGA Tour.
“When you’re at your lowest, which was certainly the case last July, I could hardly walk. It was ten minutes standing and three hours lying down. It was horrible.
“It’s at these times that you look back at the good memories and you think to yourself that it will pass – that it can only get better,” explained Levet.
While lying down he would recall his wins at the Cannes Open in 1998, the British Masters in 2001 and, his own personal highlight, The Barclays Scottish Open victory of 2004 when he produced a stunning final round of eight under par 63 to beat New Zealand’s Michael Campbell by a shot.
Victory on the bonnie banks of Loch Lomond was extra special as it helped earn the Frenchman a debut appearance in The 2004 Ryder Cup at Oakland Hills, which Europe won by a then record margin of 18.5 points to 9.5.
Levet said: “There are super years like 2004. The victory at the Scottish Open was perhaps one of my best moments as a player. I handled the pressure and everything came together for me that day. And as for The Ryder Cup, well there are no words that can describe it!”
But now, having made a recovery, this personable Parisian is setting his sights on 2007 and winning his card back, wherever that may be.
He is currently playing on a Minor Medical Exemption in the United States and said: “My goal is to have my card by the end of the year, whether that’s here in the US or in Europe. I still have events in Europe I would very much like to win and I’m very much driven to do it.”
One of those is undoubtedly The Open Championship. At Muirfield in 2002, Ernie Els pipped him in extra holes after the regulation four-hole play-off had failed to separate the pair.
It would be a fairytale return if Levet manages to make the field for The 136th Open Championship at Carnoustie this July, exactly 12 months on from his darkest moment and at a venue where another Frenchman, Jean Van de Velde, made headlines in 1999.
