In golf the famous saying is that the game is 90 percent mental and the other 10 percent...mental. But one senior at Stockdale High School has had to battle the physical side of the game.
Watching Brandon In swing a golf club and everything looks great. Good posture, good tempo and good extension through the ball. But just a short time ago Brandon couldn't even swing a club.
Three years ago after playing a round in Aspen, Colorado he got altitude sickness. His sister took his pulse and his heart was pounding over 150 beats per minute. A short time later he started to feel dizzy.
"I went to all the neurologists everywhere and no one knew what it was," In recalled. "They thought it was vertigo or something." Doctors were so perplexed that when Brandon was being examined 3-4 doctors would be watching.
His condition slowly worsened to where he couldn't close the trunk of a car or even raise his left arm above his shoulder. All he could do on the golf course was putt. The injury sidelined him for all of his sophomore and junior seasons.
"Him not being there it really affects all of our performances because as a teammate he brings so much to the table with his game," said sophomore teammate Dheer Patel. "He tried to come out and putt as much as he could but it was killing him."
Doctors finally diagnosed the problem as frozen shoulder, something only time can heal and after two years the nerve damage suddenly went away. Brandon immediately returned to playing and shot a 70 in his first round of 18 holes.
His low scoring even caught the eye of Cal Poly's golf coach who happened to be following one of Brandon's competitors in a tournament in Ojai. "He was talking to my parents the whole time and he's like 'How come he hasn't gotten picked up anywhere?" Brandon said.
He was getting looks from CSU Northridge but says after Cal Poly made an offer he made his decision "that day" to be a Mustang. With his future suddenly secured he's hoping he can lead the Stockdale Mustangs to a team valley championship next week.
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