Golfers aren\u2019t exactly known for their calisthenic prowess, but stretching changed Long Beach State golfer Ian Gilligan\u2019s life.<\/p>\n
Gilligan, now 19, was a freshman in high school competing at a tournament in Texas when he felt something strange.<\/p>\n
\u201cI tried to stretch but under my left armpit wouldn\u2019t stretch as far as normal, and I was like, \u2018That\u2019s kind of weird,\u2019\u201d Gilligan said.<\/p>\n
The discomfort turned into pain later that year, and Gilligan went to the hospital for tests that revealed he had lymphoma.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was shocked, as anyone would be,\u201d Gilligan said. \u201cI was a little bit scared, but I just wanted to know: What happens now?”<\/p>\n
What happened next was the road to recovery and a bright future back on the golf course. Gilligan was eventually deemed cancer-free, and now the Cal State Long Beach sophomore is a top-ranked golfer in the nation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no doubt that cancer enhanced his love of the game and in enjoying what he does everyday,\u201d said Gilligan\u2019s dad, Grant Gilligan. \u201cWe\u2019ve also gotten a lot of feedback that his story has been an inspiration for others.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ian Gilligan, a Reno native, started going to the driving range with his parents when he was 2-years-old and quickly fell in love with the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI liked being out and hitting balls,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t know what it was exactly, but I just enjoyed the feeling of hitting a really good shot.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIan would run back and forth from the range to the green and back,\u201d his father said. \u201cEvery time we\u2019d leave he\u2019d be screaming and yelling because he wanted to stay.\u201d<\/p>\n
That dedication to practice made the younger Gilligan more confident, and he was entering tournaments before he was 10.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy short game was always my strong suit,\u201d he said. \u201cIn our backyard growing up we had a putting green and I spent a lot of time just chipping and putting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grant Gilligan thinks that his son’s overall demeanor also helped him handle the mental aspects of golf.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe never has a negative thing to say about anyone,\u201d he said. \u201cHe just never goes there. That makes him a natural team player. He\u2019s always been well respected and liked.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ian Gilligan flourished at Galena High, where he won three Nevada 5A regional invitational championships while competing in outside junior golf events. He didn\u2019t even miss a high school season while going through six different cycles of chemotherapy over seven months.<\/p>\n
\u201cGolf was put in the rear view mirror,\u201d he said. \u201cI stopped playing because I wasn\u2019t able to because of the pain. But being able to swing the club again made me excited, and going back out and playing with my friends helped me feel normal again. Everyday I\u2019m grateful for what I\u2019m able to play golf, and obviously to be alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Much like the way a good golfer won\u2019t let one bad shot or round turn into another, he added that the key to overcoming an illness at such a young age was taking it one step at a time.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can get in a bad head space when you\u2019re thinking about survival rate or whatever,\u201d he said. \u201cI did a good job of thinking, \u2018What am I going to do in the next hour?\u2019 and just keep yourself doing something. That was golf for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The cancer survivor’s love and dedication to the game earned him a spot at Long Beach State, where he was named Big West Freshman of the Year last season. This year, top tournament finishes earned him the No. 1-ranking golfer in the nation last month, per GolfStat.com. He is currently ranked No. 33.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s thrilling as a parent to see your child orchestrate a plan and execute that plan and have success us great,\u201d his father said. \u201cIt\u2019s like the Wright Brothers getting a plane off the ground, like what a relief.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ian Gilligan has overcome cancer to become a top-ranked golfer at Long Beach State. He was named Big West Freshman of the Year last season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":238,"featured_media":17266,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[223,3],"tags":[9],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[2699],"class_list":["post-8743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-sports","tag-long-beach-state","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/238"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8743\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8743"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=8743"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=8743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}