‘The Doctors Didn’t Think I’d Live’

The car hit me at full speed. I woke up five days later not knowing how bad things were. Now I’m chasing the LPGA Tour

By Leonie Harm with Keely Levins

The last thing I remember is my mom saying good night to me on that Thursday. I woke up five days later. The doctors didn’t think I’d live, let alone become a professional golfer.

My parents wanted a sport they could play with my brother and me. They tried golf and loved it. I was tall, so I hit it far immediately. I started playing competitively when I was 10. We joined St Leon-Rot, a club an hour and 20 minutes north of my hometown in Germany because the practice facilities were so good, and they supported junior golfers. My parents raised us to set goals and to find joy in life through purpose. The mentality in our house was simple: If you have the opportunity to get something done, why wouldn’t you get it done?

LEONIE HARM

I landed in front of a woman who was on her way to the bus stop. She was a trained German military paramedic and knew exactly what to do when someone landed at her feet, bleeding out of her ears. She talked to me so that my brain didn’t shut off. Another witness called an ambulance. They got there quickly but didn’t think I’d survive.

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LET, EPSON TOUR

AGE 25 LIVES STUTTGART, GERMANY

At the hospital, I was put into a medical coma. After a day, my vitals were stabilising. Keeping me in the coma risked long-term damage, so they woke me up. Nobody knew what the extent of my brain damage would be, or if I’d be able to walk again. Somehow, I was OK. The first question I asked was if I could play in the German Girls’ Championship, which was a few weeks away. I had no idea how bad things were.

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When I was 15, I started to play more internationally. I wanted to become the best junior in Europe. I started waking up at 5am to run. I did it to be fit for golf but also because I didn’t like how I looked. I felt horribly overweight. I look at pictures now, and I don’t see myself like that.

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The traffic lights in our town didn’t turn on until 6am. That Friday, I crossed the street on a blinking light when a car was coming at 45 miles per hour. Maybe I didn’t see the car. The driver saw me but didn’t react. She was drunk. She hit me full speed. I flew over the car, hitting the concrete. None of it made it into my long-term memory.

My fractured left ankle required surgery. My hip was broken. I had broken ribs, collapsed lungs and a basilar skull fracture. My inner left ear imploded because I had a broken petrous bone — one of the hardest bones in the body. I had hematomas in my brain and a severe concussion. In the aftermath, my mom spoke with the driver on the phone. I don’t know what happened to her. She battled addiction. I don’t blame her for what happened. I hope the accident sparked positive change in her life.

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I was frustrated. Right when I was on the verge of doing great things in golf, I had to stop and let my body heal. I spent two-and-a-half weeks in the hospital. Five weeks later I got the boot off my left ankle and started playing again.

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My first tournament back was the British Girls. My inner ear wasn’t fully healed. It got badly infected in the wind. I withdrew and had ear surgery. Since then, it feels like I have an earplug in my ear. My balance is also permanently affected. I can’t ride a bike. I learnt how to play with it, focusing on rhythm, weight shift and ground connection. When the wind is coming off the left, I tend to fall forward a bit in my follow-through.

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In 2014, my mum was diagnosed with a rare, aggressive form of cancer. Doctors said there wasn’t much they could do — research into her type of cancer is limited. That felt wrong, and I wanted to work in the field to fix it. I chose to attend the University of Houston because they said I could study anything. I started in 2016 and studied biochemistry to get into cancer research.

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After my first semester, I lost my mum, the most important person in the world to me. I was heartbroken and barely sleeping. Leaning on the values my parents taught me pulled me out of it. I know she’d want me to work hard toward my goals. I climbed up the World Amateur Golf Ranking, reaching No. 4, the highest of any German golfer ever.

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I turned pro after graduating in 2019, played three events, and then the pandemic started. The Ladies European Tour paused the season. I got an internship at CureVac, where they work on vaccine development. As much as I loved it, I’m not ready to commit to that life. I want to get on to the LPGA Tour. In 2022, I failed to qualify through the LPGA Q Series. Now, I’m a rookie on the Epson Tour, where the top-10 players on the money list earn LPGA Tour cards. Money out here is tight.

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After the accident, I learned that life could be over at any time, and we have to be OK with that. I want to live my life making the best decision I can in each moment. That way, whenever it ends, I’ll be content and proud of where I am. I’m not afraid of dying.

Undercover Caddie

The best loopers on the PGA Tour right now

One of the dumbest knocks we hear on a recurring basis is: “You know what makes a great caddie? A great player.” Well, that’s nonsense. There are a ton of caddies who have taken their players to another level as well as ones who have weighed their players down. I realise a list of bad caddies might be juicer, but let’s stick with the good ones.

I’m going to fill you in on a “great- est caddies” ranking that a friend and I were putting together recently. These are guys currently looping on the PGA Tour, so we don’t discuss the likes of Peter Coleman (Bernhard Langer), Fanny Sunesson (Nick Faldo), Herman Mitchell (Lee Trevino) and Andy Martinez (Johnny Miller). Furthermore, the No. 1 spot belongs to Jim (Bones) Mackay, and this column already covered why he’s the best, so we’re going to focus on the best of the rest.

Paul Tesori

Let’s start with a recent example of a caddie making a positive difference. Cam Young brought in Tesori and instantly almost won the WGC Match Play, and the two followed up with a T-7 at the Masters. To me, Tesori is the total package. He’s a former tour player, so when he speaks to his guy, the voice is coming from someone who has been in those shoes. He does his homework. Remember, he worked for Vijay Singh, and the big Fijian does not suffer fools. Tesori always tries to see the positive in a situation, and players need that type of reinforcement. He is a social chameleon. Just look at his former bosses: Singh, Sean O’Hair, Jerry Kelly, Webb Simpson, Young. Those are five different dudes with personalities that range from personable to aloof to cold to goofy (in no particular order).

Tesori is an upstanding guy, which goes a long way in the caddie barracks. When he was taking the Cam Young job, he called Chad Reynolds, then Young’s caddie, to let him know. Tesori didn’t need to do that, but he did because he’s the type of guy who wants to do things the right way. When young caddies ask me for a role model, I point to Tesori.

JJ Jakovac

JJ has been a caddie for only 12 or so years, which is a puppy in caddie years, but even before he hooked up with Collin Morikawa, JJ was legit. It’s no coincidence that Ryan Moore’s best run of his career was with JJ. Having JJ on the bag is having a voice of reason in your ear at all times. If you go to a tournament practice round and hang around later in the afternoon, you’ll see JJ roaming the course, trying to pick up any piece of intel he can. A number of caddies do this type of legwork before an event, but I don’t know if any do it as consistently and thoroughly as JJ. That’s part of the homework, sure, but when JJ gives his piece of advice, a player knows it’s not an opinion but based off his research. That means a lot because players don’t care for opinions.

Brett Waldman

A bunch of great loops for whatever reason haven’t reached the same level of fame as the guys casual fans recognise. For me, Waldman epitomises that group. I’ve lost count of how many players Waldman has worked for in the past 20 years, and I’m sure he has, too. That might have a stigma to it, but I look at it as a positive because the reason he sticks around the tour going from bag to bag is because players know he’s good at what he does. He’s another former player (are you noticing a pattern?) and an astute tactician. Having him inside the ropes is like having a computer simulation giving a player real-time readouts of every scenario involved with every shot. He helped guide KH Lee to a win at the 2021 Byron Nelson, and he had Daniel Berger going in the right direction last year before injuries knocked Berger out. Last I saw he’s with Stephan Jaeger. Don’t be surprised if Jaeger picks off a top-five finish at some point this summer if Brett is with him.

Steve Williams

My fellow caddies likely just swallowed their gum seeing Williams’ name. He is, to put it lightly, a divisive figure among our ranks. Part of that could be envy — he is one of the most famous caddies because of his time with Tiger Woods, and he’s unquestionably the wealthiest. He also holds himself in high regard. He thinks he’s part of the show, so to speak, and that tends to rub caddies the wrong way. That type of conviction was needed when working for Woods. It took courage to challenge Woods, which Williams did, and Woods expected a certain type of professionalism that Williams always upheld.

Here is an unpopular opinion: Fans didn’t like Williams because he could often be a brute to galleries, but things were always crazy around Tiger, and marshals were rarely prepared for the crowds. If Williams didn’t protect Tiger, no one would have. Williams’ approach to things doesn’t work for everybody. His short-lived marriage to Jason Day was a mismatch. Jason was in a vulnerable place that needed affirmation, even a bit of cuddling, but Stevie went drill sergeant on him thinking tough love would do the trick. That said, I personally don’t think Adam Scott wins the 2013 Masters without Williams and his stubborn will on the bag.

Michael Greller

Greller is the spiritual successor to Bones. I know the conversations between Greller and Jordan Spieth make for good TV, but the next time you watch, really listen to Greller because he can say a lot by saying little — or nothing at all. That’s a point all of us hope we can reach. Some folks believe Greller needs to challenge Spieth more, but that misses two obvious points: (1) He already does that often, and (2) Part of what makes Spieth so good is he plays with a wild imagination. On the latter point, Greller knows as well as anyone that whatever short-term gains could be attained by reining Spieth in will be negated by the long-term effects of taming that curiosity and creativity.

From a personality standpoint, Greller is an Alpha who doesn’t need to let anyone know he’s an Alpha, who is liked and respected by all because he treats everyone as an equal. If he and Spieth ever split up, there will be a bidding war for Mike’s services, including the broadcasters. —WITH JOEL BEALL

Undercover Caddie feels bad for leaving Joe LaCava off the list, but he deserves it for being a Giants fan.