The PGA Championship boasts one of the strongest fields. There will also be 20 PGA of America Golf Professionals competing this week including Jesse Droemer, who has overcome a lot in his life to be competing in his second career PGA Championship.

Charlotte

Jesse Droemer is one of 20 PGA of America Golf Professionals competing in the PGA Championship, an event known for its strong field. Droemer is participating in his second career PGA Championship after overcoming a series of significant injuries throughout his life.

Droemer reports having broken around 13 bones, including a serious ankle injury at the age of 13 while playing football. This injury led him to focus on golf, as he spent six months practicing swings while in a cast. He has also suffered injuries to his wrist, shoulder, and tailbone, as well as surviving a dangerous encounter with a water moccasin snake.

Following a skateboarding accident that resulted in a broken tailbone, Droemer was away from the game for almost a year. He required ongoing rehabilitation, working with massage therapists and chiropractors to get back into playing condition. Adapting to his changed physical abilities, Droemer has had to learn a new golf swing and now dedicates approximately three hours daily to stretching and physical preparation.

Droemer emphasizes that dealing with pain has become part of his daily routine and credits his persistence and positive mindset as crucial to his journey. He describes the opportunity to compete at the PGA Championship as an honor, expressing gratitude for the chance to measure his skills against the world's best golfers. Droemer remains focused on striving for victory, drawing motivation from his experiences and viewing his setbacks as contributors to his growth as an athlete.



Jesse Droemer’s injury-riddled journey back to professional golf

I've broken about 13 bones. I broke my ankle really bad when I was 13 in football. So I had a cast that came up to my hip, and I stood on my left foot and hit shots for six months. So really, that's what kind of got me into golf. But I've broken my left wrist. I've broken my right shoulder. I nearly died by a snake. I stepped on a water moccasin, had to go to the hospital, and nearly died then. So I've had a lot of injuries. So it just makes me feel grateful for the opportunity. And any opportunity I have is just a blessing. I was out away from the game for almost a year. I had to work with a massage therapist and chiropractors to get my body in shape after the skateboarding accident. I broke my tailbone. So I really wasn't able to play for a while. And I had to learn how to swing a different swing. My body just can't get in those positions. So I'm having to kind of relearn how to play golf. But it was a battle. And it's all mind over matter. Every day, just to be able to kind of function, I have to stretch for about an hour in the morning. And I have to kind of do some movement stuff in the gym for about 30, 45 minutes. And I have to stretch for about an hour in the evening. So it's about three hours a day to be able to swing and play the golf like I want to play. But it's worth it. It's just more about dealing with pain, to where now it's just like pain is kind of a temporary feeling. And if it hurts, you just kind of can't focus on it. So I'm just trying to remain grateful and positive and just learn from everything and kind of use it as fuel. Because I wouldn't be where I am without injuries, without broken bones, and without this. So it's kind of, in the long run, kind of been a blessing. It's an extreme honor to be able to test your game against the best players in the world on one of the best golf courses in the world and just kind of see where your game stacks up against the best in the world. The goal is to win a golf tournament. I mean, I've been playing golf now competitively for 21 years. I compete against a lot of these guys in junior golf. And I've never played a tournament to try to lose. So the goal is to try to win. It's been up and down. Times where I wanted to quit, things kind of turned around. But that's golf. It's a roller coaster. And if you just keep going, it's hard to beat somebody who doesn't quit.

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