For a free spirit like Jim McMahon, who endured a turbulent football season followed by shoulder surgery that threatens his career as a
quarterback, there are several ways to rejoin public life. But no better way than this.
You come to Palm Springs, you take your shoes off, you walk to the first tee and you meet your partner–none other than Jan Stephenson, the attractive Australian who is the pin-up girl of the LPGA Tour. It beats getting rag-dolled to the frozen tundra by Charles Martin several seconds after you`ve thrown an interception, now doesn`t it?
”Been looking forward to this,” said McMahon. He played pretty well, but more importantly, he played. Almost four months ago, he underwent an extensive operation to repair a right arm that helped the Bears win Super Bowl XX. Within three months, nagging doubts about whether he can try it again should be answered one way or another. But for now, making his re-entry into competitive golf during the Nabisco Dinah Shore Pro-Am is a form of therapy in itself.
”I still have a little twinge in there once in a while,” said McMahon, pointing toward his wounded wing. ”But that`s not why I hit my first drive like I did. I could do that before I got cut, too.”
It was a pop-up that traveled 120 yards before a sizable gallery at Mission Hills Country Club. Nothing to commit to the memoirs, but before the round was done, McMahon was sufficiently loosened. In pink walking shorts, he was comfortably strolling the sunbathed fairways barefooted, accepting all requests for autographs and pictures, plus occasional swing corrections from Stephenson, a winner of 13 tournaments and more than a million dollars on the ladies` professional circuit.
”Jim`s got tremendous potential,” she said. ”If he took just a couple of lessons, he could take 10 strokes off his score. He pulls the ball a little, comes over the top, and that`s why he hooks it.”
”The real reason for that,” explained McMahon, ”is when I brought the club down last year, I had to bring it around by the front porch. But my belly isn`t there anymore. Takes some getting used to.”
He`s in at a solid 190 pounds, down from the 212 he carried to training camp last July. McMahon has been so devoted to his rehabilitation process that on a recent trip to Hawaii with wife Nancy, he brought exercise equipment along, and we don`t mean golf bag. He`s been adhering to a strict diet, although the combination of heat and common courtesy Wednesday convinced him to oblige. Moosehead beer, his favorite libation, is among the participating sponsors here, and far be it from McMahon to decline.
”You can`t be rude now, Jim,” mentioned hockey Hall of Famer Bobby Orr, pulling up near the refreshment cart.
”Okay,” said the QB, ”I`ll have a beverage.”
McMahon will travel to Los Angeles from here for a Monday appointment with Dr. Frank Jobe, who performed the intricate excavation on McMahon`s shoulder problem. After that, McMahon will return home for the grand opening of his Chicago restaurant next week. Then, on April 24, he will submit to being roasted at a black-tie benefit for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. Bears` coach Mike Ditka will supply a few darts, as will Walter Payton, Willie Gault and other teammates. Bear president Michael McCaskey has been invited, too.
”If he wants equal time,” quipped McMahon, who has tweaked his boss more than once, ”that`ll be a good opportunity for him.”
Otherwise, McMahon`s schedule is lean, because a successful comeback will require nothing less than hours of effort, mostly related to
strengthening the areas surrounding the still tender region where Dr. Jobe probed. Dr. Jobe has maintained that McMahon is making excellent progress, but there are still no guarantees, only small steps along the way–like swinging a golf club, like throwing a baseball.
”I guess if everything looks okay to him on Monday, that`s next
–throwing a baseball,” McMahon said. ”It`s the same basic motion, but the baseball is a little easier to lob around than a football. I`ve tried simulating the motion, throwing in front of a mirror and stuff like that. But I can`t really tell anything, except that my pants aren`t as tight on me as they were a year ago. I know Ditka and a lot of other people will have trouble believing it, but I really am in good shape. Maybe never been in better shape.”
On the sixth hole, scramble format, McMahon sized up a long putt with Ken Taylor, a senior vice president for RJR Nabisco. If the name is familiar, it`s because Taylor was the Canadian ambassador in Tehran for several years. During January of 1980, Taylor was instrumental in freeing six American hostages.
”Now there`s a hero,” said McMahon, before draining a 40-footer to a resounding cheer.
”Did you hear that ovation?” McMahon yelled as he approached the next tee box.
”Yeah,” said New York Giants` star Lawrence Taylor a couple of groups over. ”I heard it right during my backswing.”
McMahon was loving it, because golf is his favorite sport, and because what is ahead is unclear.
”I won`t know whether I can throw the football until I really try it, but I think I`ll know right away when I do,” he said. ”It`ll either be thumbs up or thumbs down, no in between. And if I can`t, I can`t. I`m not planning on that happening, but if it doesn`t work right-handed, maybe I`ll try it left-handed. Heck, I used to mess around in college, and I could throw it 50-60 yards left-handed. How about that? We`ll win one Super Bowl with me throwing right-handed and another left-handed.
”I`ve got my arm to be concerned about. Also have the strike to be concerned about. I don`t think that`ll happen either, but if the players`
union goes out, I`m not going with them. After what they did to me? They said I had to sign with the Bears coming out of college in `82 by a certain date, and I did, and it cost me money. Then other guys signed after me, anyway, like Marcus Allen. No, I`m not gonna back any union. It`s not much of a union anyway.
”What I`d like is a nice peaceful year. I`d like to play every game, win every game, go to the Super Bowl and not have any of that other stuff. I shouldn`t have thrown a ball after our opener in September last year. All that stuff that happened didn`t have to, but it`s over. I`d like to have one year of just football, and none of that other business. That would be nice for a change, huh?”
