MELBOURNE, Australia – Joseph Naffah smiled when he revealed he used to beat Jhonattan Vegas regularly when they were growing up together in Venezuela. Vegas – his ISPS Melbourne World Cup of Golf teammate – would only say they had “healthy competitionâ€�. But while Vegas forged an incredible professional career with three PGA TOUR wins his friend Naffah was living a nightmare. After getting a scholarship at St. Marys University in San Antonio, Naffah succumbed to a back injury in his freshman year. The diagnosis was spondylolisthesis which is when a vertebra slips forward onto the bone below it – something doctors said was genetic. “Golf kind of aggravated it, all the swinging and hip movements, so that kind of accelerated the process of injury,â€� Naffah explained. It was an issue that could have been fixed with a Tiger Woods style fusion surgery and some time out of the game. But Naffah would make a decision that would dramatically affect his life. “I avoided surgery for like two years … all I needed was like a single fusion … but I had no idea what it was all about. I wish I just would have done it immediately, but I didn’t. “Then I started getting creative with some injections and that’s what pretty much messed me up. I got infected over the initial injury and lost two of the disks, part of the bone and everything.â€� In the end he needed three fusions. “They put a cage through the front and they put six screws in my back above it. They pretty much flipped me in the surgery room. It’s intense,â€� he explained. “I was very unlucky, and that kind of killed my golfing career. At that point, golfing was out of the question and I just wanted to get healthy to be able to create a family. God gave me that, I created a family, three beautiful children, and I feel pleased.â€� But a few years ago Naffah started to get the itch again. He was watching Vegas go on to great things and wondered if he could give it another go. “Following this path with him, he reinspired me to play again,â€� Naffah said. “I got back in shape over the last five years, hit the gym really hard and got fit again. He told me, just give it a shot, play again, take it one step at a time, because he knew it was my passion to play at the highest level. So here I am, you know? 12 years later.â€� And Vegas was similarly inspired. He watched closely as Naffah began on the mini tours once more. He kept an eye on the 12 starts he made on the PGA TOUR – Latino America over the last few years. And he provided a carrot. “They told him that you’re lucky if you walk again and forget about playing golf and obviously he took it as a challenge to kind of get back at it,â€� a stirred Vegas said. “When the opportunity came, obviously I wanted to inspire him to play harder, so I told him, if you have some good events that you make a cut or play solid, I’ll definitely take you for the World Cup. “He had to prove himself. For me it’s also a little bit of a challenge too because there was a little bit of controversy, I can’t deny, from a lot of the players from the country. It’s a challenge for us to play hard and play well and show the world and our country that we can do it.â€� And do it they did in the opening round Fourball. The pair combined for a best ball score of 7-under 65 at Metropolitan Golf Club to be just three shots off the lead. And Naffah was the man to provide the first two birdies early in the round.  “I think we combined really well today, even though I left him hanging there in the middle,â€� Naffah said. “But I started a little hot and I think that helped a little bit, kind of turned on the machine and got it going. “We were walking down the fairway, I didn’t feel that nervous for some reason. I probably expected to be more nervous. But I felt a good internal peace.â€� And with that his golfing dream has been realized, although already there is a new dream … providing Venezuela with its first World Cup title. “Vamos Venezuela!,â€� the pair screamed in unison.
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