When Dave Scheiber of the St. Pete Times gets a hold of a story, he knocks it home. Like Mike Bossy with a 'one-timer,' like Tiger with a two-footer for birdie, like Papelbon with an 0-2 count. You get the picture, right?
Well, read this one and enjoy:
The sweetest swing
A teenager doesn't dwell on health issues. There's golf to be played.
By DAVE SCHEIBER, Times Staff Writer
Published October 29, 2007
On the greens, 5-foot-2 MacKinzie Kline is a teen with the biggest of hearts, a fierce competitor whose desire to win and tackle the next challenge has made her one of the top junior female golfers in the United States.
Maybe that's because Kline has been surmounting obstacles throughout her 15 years, starting as an infant with life-and-death surgery on the tiniest of hearts.
She was born with heterotaxy syndrome, missing a right ventricle and without sufficient oxygen in her bloodstream. In stark terms, a cardiologist told her stunned parents, their baby was missing a pumping chamber. "He said, 'If we don't do the surgery, she's not going to make it,' " her father, John Kline, recalled recently. "She won't last long."
Kline was only 11 weeks when doctors repaired the "plumbing" in a heart the size of a walnut in a radical procedure, 18 months old when she had a second critical operation and 14 years old when doctors repaired a hole that had begun sapping her strength and threatening her health.
Yet, the native of Encinitas, Calif., has defied expectations, surpassing what anybody imagined she was capable of achieving when her parents bought her plastic golf clubs at age 51/2.
"By the time I was 8, I knew I wanted to be a professional golfer," said Kline during a media event last month at Disney World, where she will compete this week in the Children's Miracle Network Classic pro-am, pairing up with a PGA Tour member, and continue her mission to raise awareness and funds for congenital heart defect research.
"I would tell my parents, and they'd be, 'Okay, sure, whatever you want to do.' But I was sure I wanted to grow up and play on the LPGA tour."
Today, nobody's doubting the kid called Mac.
Playing Annika
She has long, blond hair, a friendly smile and the kind of photogenic look that would be right at home on the cover of a teen magazine. But what stands out most when she talks is her calm manner and upbeat outlook.
"There are certain things I can't do, like surfing or going on rollercoaster rides," Kline said. "If my friends want to go to Disney, I can go but I can't go on any of the rides with them. If they want to go for a run on the beach, I can only go for a walk. But it's not that bad. I see other people out there and go, 'Oh, my gosh, I'm so lucky.' I can do what I want to do. I can walk. I have my arms and legs. And I can play golf."
Can she ever.
In 2006, when Golfweek/Titleist Junior Amateur Rankings came out, Kline owned the No. 1 spot as the top 14-year-old girl. She also was given permission last year by the U.S. Golf Association to compete in tournaments with the aid of an oxygen equipped cart. As a result, she found herself in a memorable event May 31, the Ginn Tribute in Mount Pleasant, S.C., hosted by her idol, Annika Sorenstam. It was Kline's first LPGA tournament - courtesy of an exemption granted by the eight-time player of the year herself.
"I admire what she's done," Sorenstam said at the tournament. "She's had some challenges in her life and just kind of worked past those. I think she's very inspiring for anybody."
Sorenstam described how she played nine holes with Kline in 2005, adding, "She has matured a lot. ... She's a very good player and with her determination, I just felt like, this is a dream for her."
But before the dream came a parent's nightmare.
The diagnosis
John and Elizabeth knew something was wrong the moment their first child was born.
"They just whisked her away right after she was delivered and my wife was going, 'Where's my baby?' " recalled Kline's father. "I said I didn't know, but I left the delivery room and saw a nurse walking down the hall quickly. In a matter of seconds, it's like you're on a long journey."
Their baby had been born blue in the face and lips, with barely enough oxygen to survive. Instantly, their lives - he worked in the medical supplies field, she was a flight attendant - were turned upside down, a blur of ICUs, sleepless nights and long odds.
After her second surgery, Kline progressed like a normal, active toddler, despite a heart-arrhythmia scare one day that left her short on oxygen and blue in the face again. There was no time to wait for an ambulance, so her parents rushed her to the ER.
"At the time, we were looking at 5 years," her father said. She turned 5 in good shape, and her parents enrolled her in kindergarten. "Every day was a precious day - every day today is a precious day," he said. "We haven't changed our thought process."
Her surgeon, John Lamberti, cautioned that she shouldn't run around on the playground, do any aerobic activity and must be careful not to sustain any impact to her chest. The Klines informed the teachers, but refrained from becoming hovering parents. "She'll give you signs when she's tired," the doctor told them.
Still, they wanted to know what they could expect as she grew older. "He said, 'You know, we don't know because we just don't have very many kids who are single-ventricle who have passed the age of 25,' " said John Kline, who pictured Mac in high school, and asked if there was any activity she could safely undertake.
He remembers Lamberti's answer: "Maybe golf, she can take it at her own pace."
From the start, she set a pace that surprised everyone.
Junior achievement
Kline immediately gravitated to her set of toy clubs, hitting plastic balls in the back yard and the field at a nearby school. "She just kept hitting and hitting - it would be, 'Dad, I want one more,' " her father said. She was 6 when he took her to a golf coach, John Mason. He noticed something special in her swing and devotion.
"She was just the cutest little girl you ever saw," he said by phone from California. "And you could she see had natural talent."
Kline rapidly progressed in the junior ranks, becoming California champion at 10 and 11. But she also began having an impact off the course. At 10, Kline became national spokeswoman for the Children's Heart Foundation and recently surpassed her goal of $1-million in contributions. Her sights are set on $2-million by next year. She also hopes she's inspiring youngsters facing personal challenges.
"It feels great to show people you can do what you want to do," she said. "If you can help one kid, and another kid sees them doing what he or she wants to do, it becomes a chain reaction."
Not that Kline doesn't have her difficult moments. About 18 months ago, she began to experience dizziness and trouble focusing. Playing 18 holes became a chore and her game suffered.
"She just seemed to feel blue and didn't have any energy," Elizabeth said. A medical exam revealed that, over time, a small hole had developed in her heart, causing her oxygen saturation to plummet. It was recommended she undergo a cardiac catheterization, which would have prevented her from competing in the U.S. Women's Open, the U.S. Women's Amateur and the U.S. Girls Junior Championships.
Kline would have none of that. She insisted on competing. Her parents struggled with the decision, but in the end let their daughter make the call.
First, the USGA had to agree to let Kline compete with the aid of a cart and portable oxygen tank. Initially, the organization turned down John Kline's petition, saying the request had not been included on entry forms, But after a wave of criticism, it reversed the stance.
Kline failed to make the Amateur cut, but got a chance to play a pro-am with Sorenstam in the Nokia Champions Challenge - one of her all-time highlights. "It was awesome," she said.
On Aug. 30, 2006, she had the surgery to fix the hole in her heart. During the procedure, surgeon John Moore discovered a blood clot that sits in her heart. "He sat down with her and said, 'You know, Mac, no more roller coasters or anything that's jumpy or jerky,' " Elizabeth said. "She was down about it at first, like 'It's not fair,' but I just said, 'You'll survive, you'll survive.' "
Teen with dreams
Today, Kline is not only surviving but thriving and, according to Lamberti, resetting the bar for single-ventricle patients.
"She has a type of congenital heart defect that would have a had a less favorable outcome 20 years ago," said the heart surgeon at Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego. "But she's been managed by a modern algorithm. The approach we take is different from the old days. As a consequence, you can't look at the literature and say because these patients did poorly in the '70s and '80s that they're necessarily going to do poorly in the 21st century."
Lamberti says there are many "pharmacological agents and interventional things we can do to keep her going." In addition, a formal exercise and conditioning program "tailored to fit Mac's heart" is in the planning stages.
Meanwhile, Kline keeps busy as ever. She attends a charter school three times a week, where an independent-studies curriculum allows her plenty of time to hone her game. She sports gear and clothing from TaylorMade and Adidas, which support her fundraising efforts, and travels to tournaments under the tutelage of one-time Jack Nicklaus instructor Jim Flick.
"Mac has a tremendous passion for the game and is a really hard worker," said Flick, her coach the past two months. "What she's overcome with her heart has given her a lot of commitment to her goals."
At home, Kline is a typical teen who enjoys shopping with friends, watching movies and text-messaging. She cheers on her soccer-playing, 9-year-old sister, Madison. And she's thinking about college, possibly UCLA or Arizona: "I want to play the college game and hopefully win some amateur events, and I just want to have fun and be a kid."
Then she plans to take a swing at her LPGA dream, continuing to spread a simple message.
"Do what you want to do, whether you have a heart condition or not," she said, smiling. "If you want to play something, just go for it. And do the best you can at it. You only have one life, so you should live it."
Dave Scheiber can be reached at scheiber@sptimes.com or 727 893-8541.
Fast Facts:
MacKinzie Kline
Born: March 30, 1992 in San Diego
Resides: Encinitas, Calif.
Family: Parents John and Elizabeth Kline, sister Madison, 9, and a dog named Lucky.
Spokesperson: Children's Heart Foundation
Handicap: 1.
Favorite TV show: American Idol.
Favorite musicians: Carrie Underwood, Maroon 5, Akon, Avril Lavigne
Web site: www.mackline.com
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