MILTON, Fla. -- Hubert Green is under doctor’s orders to resume living a normal life after undergoing throat cancer surgery and chemotherapy. For Green that means playing golf.
The Panama City golfer will appear Friday at the Blue Angels Classic, his first Champions Tour event since January.
‘I’m a patient now,’ Green said. ‘When I’m told what I need to do, I try to do it.’
Green said he has played only eight rounds since July, including the season-opening MasterCard Championship in Hawaii, his only other Champions event this year.
‘I have no strength and energy to play,’ Green said. ‘I have to ride in a cart. I tried to walk nine holes in the last couple days to get some energy back, but I was exhausted.’
Green acknowledges he won’t be able to compete for the Blue Angels title but hopes he’ll be able to challenge the leaders in a couple months.
‘I want to get back, but we’ll see what happens,’ Green said.
Blue Angels is a new name for an old event. The tournament was known as the Emerald Coast Classic through last year, when Bob Gilder won by four strokes. He closed with a 7-under 63 for a tournament-record 17-under 193 total.
The tournament, played on the Scottish-style 6,832-yard, par 70 course at The Moors Golf Club, was renamed after the Navy’s famed precision flying team based at nearby Pensacola Naval Air Station.
The six blue jets flew in formation over the course for pro-am events Wednesday and Thursday and will make another pass during Sunday’s closing round after returning from a weekend air show at Meridian Naval Air Station, Miss.
The name change has attracted added sponsorship in the form of defense contractors Boeing, Northrop Grumman, General Electric and Raytheon. Without them the tournament would have been unable to continue, said Phil Garcia, vice president of the newly renamed Blue Angels Classic Foundation.
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