PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Sam Saunders doesn’t hesitate when asked what smell he misses the most.
“Coffee,” Saunders says with a smile. “Coffee in the morning.”
To the untrained eye, Saunders seems equipped with a clean bill of health, a theory supported by his opening-round 64 at the Web.com Tour Championship. The score put him within one shot of leader Rhein Gibson and left the 28-year-old smiling as he walked off the final green on Dye’s Valley Course at TPC Sawgrass.
But then Saunders recounts the recent incident that nearly derailed his golf career, put him in intensive care, and took away his sense of smell.