Ranton overcomes heart condition to excel at golf

As has happened quite often this summer season, Waterloo?s Trevor Ranton is in the hunt at a high-end golf tournament.

The 16-year-old was seven shots off the pace through two rounds of the Ontario junior boys championship at Ambassador Golf Club.

He shot 72-73 for a three-over 145 heading into Thursday?s third round, which was interrupted by lightning and heavy rain.

Ranton is part of an impressive team from Whistle Bear Golf Club.

The club qualified 11 players into the 156-player field and five made the cut (+10 152).

With a surprise win at the prestigious International Junior Masters in Buffalo recently, Ranton is starting to turn heads in a sport that was his second choice.

A promising basketball player in grade school, Ranton had to give up the game because he has the same heart condition that took the life of Windsor Spitfires? captain Mickey Renaud.

Ranton was diagnosed as an infant with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a condition that can lead to sudden cardiac arrest in young otherwise healthy athletes like Renaud in 2008.

?I was lucky to be diagnosed early,? the six-foot-two Ranton said. ?Some never know.?

Once his parents attended a conference on HCM and learned the added risks of high-intensity sports, his days of running around a basketball court were over.

?I was mad at first,? he said. ?But I knew I?d find another sport.?

Ranton started playing tournament golf when he was 12 and four years later he?s having the summer of his life.

He reached the final 16 at the Ontario junior match play and qualified for the Canadian men?s amateur next month in Victoria, B.C. He tied for 31st at the Ontario men?s amateur in Collingwood.

He was the 32nd seed and final qualifier in the championship flight in Buffalo where his game heated up in match play and took him all the way to the title with a 5-3 win over Mexico?s Raul Pereda.

Ranton can qualify for the Canadian junior if he stays in the top 30 at Ambassador and he?s still young enough to enter the Ontario juvenile in a few weeks? time.

While he lives with HCM, he certainly doesn?t allow it to control his life.

?I used to play baseball and it?s not like I was thinking about it when I was playing,? he said. ?It?s gotten easier as I?ve grown up. I?m used to it.?

mcaton@windsorstar.com or 519-255-5726
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Source: http://blogs.windsorstar.com/2013/07/18/ranton-overcomes-heart-condition-to-excel-at-golf/

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