Kerr says she’s slowly feeling better each day after suffering a golf cart accident last week in which she dislocated three ribs..
That opinion didn’t change much the following day. But she persisted, waking up at 4 a.m. every day this week to ice her body. She’s undergone two cryotherapy sessions a day, while also receiving more treatment and regularly taking pain medication.
“Wednesday morning, I really didn’t want to get out of bed because I was like, This is going to hurt so bad to hit drivers and play nine holes,” she said. “It did, but I was able to do it.
“I’m pretty tough, but, yeah, it’s the chest and the ribs. It moves around depending on where—the first four or five days I had such a sharp pain in my left chest and in the back I couldn’t even hardly get out of bed.”
On a scale of 1-10, Kerr said the pain level is a six, down from the 10 it was on Monday, and that’s a level that she can deal with, especially as she keeps moving.
Still, Kerr was understandably apprehensive with her ball-striking when she began her round on the cool, 50-degree morning, and it showed. Kerr bogeyed the par-5 first.
Eventually, she became more comfortable, though. Kerr made birdie on the par-4 third and added another at the par-5 10th as her ball-striking improved as the day wore on, admittedly aided by some doctor-approved pain meds mid-round.
Kerr bogeyed the par-3 11th but made seven straight pars coming in.
A two-time major winner, this week marks Kerr’s 25th U.S. Women’s Open start overall, most of any player in the field. It’s her favorite tournament and one she won in 2007 before adding a second career major at the 2010 LPGA Championship.
And while it’s been three years since Kerr has won a tournament anywhere, just being here this week is its own victory.
“I remember landing on my chest and it was awful,” she said. “But I’m here, and I played, and I was tough today, and I feel like I’m going to keep getting better every day. God darn it, I’m going to do this.”
Article originally appeared on: Golfdigest.com