Stage is set for Devlin to perform

BOO WEEKLEY has a habit of calling fellow-golfers by a nickname. In the case of Chris Devlin, a player he first met while learning his trade on the mini-tours, it's simply by the moniker "Foreigner". It's all good-natured banter, as demonstrated by the bear hug Weekley gave to the 33-year-old Ulsterman in the locker-room here at Torrey Pines when their paths crossed.

Since those days as fledgling professionals on the mini-tours - the DP Tour and the Hooters Tour - the routes taken by Weekley and Devlin have been quite different. While Weekley is a two-time winner on the PGA Tour and is now ranked 27th in the world, Ballymena native Devlin has been forced to overcome a medical condition that required open heart surgery and has earned a place in the field here via the lottery of qualifying at local and sectional tournaments.

But here he is with a US Open player's badge, and the 33-year-old - a graduate of the University of Alabama - is determined to make the most of finally getting a place at the table with golf's superstars.

"It's been a long road. I've been so long waiting for a stage like this," said Devlin, who underwent surgery just two and a half years ago to remove his thymus gland. "But I always knew I was good enough to be here. I feel it's overdue. It's a great boost, but not a surprise to me, to qualify."

It's a far cry from the time when Devlin couldn't hit any more than 20 balls without feeling exhausted. One visit after another to doctors and neurologists brought a different diagnosis. Some thought he had a food allergy, others that he was allergic to grass.

"All the symptoms got really bad. I had double vision, couldn't swallow my food without water, couldn't really talk. When I'd go practice, my right arm would come off the club all the time. It would go dead on me."

Eventually, after undergoing further tests and scans, the medical people discovered he had an enlarged thymus gland, an organ located in the upper portion of the chest cavity just behind the sternum. As Devlin explained, "it works as your immune system when you are a child. As you get older it disintegrates. Strangely enough, mine got larger and larger. I didn't feel any effects until I got out of college and I knew I wasn't hitting the ball the way I knew I could. And I wasn't playing as well as I knew I could. I was feeling very fatigued playing."

After being diagnosed, he underwent surgery. "They went in and cut me open. I had open heart surgery and they removed the gland. The surgeon came in to see me the next morning and said, 'I don't know how you were functioning at all. This is the biggest mass of thymus gland I have ever taken out of anybody. I expect you to have at least 1,000 times the energy on a golf course that you have had before'. That was music to my ears because I always knew that I was nowhere near my potential."

Now, Devlin, who has an American wife, Michelle, and two children, a boy Ciadan (3) - "I wanted an Irish name. I'm 10 years over here but I am still Irish" - and a daughter Grace (2) - has set a target of making the cut. "If I was to pick a major to do well in, it would be the US Open. I drive it very long and straight. If was going to do well in a major, it would be this one. If I made the cut, it would give me some exemption into Q-School at the end of the year.

"My instructor (Mark Blackburn, who also works with Robert Karlsson) said to set my sights a little higher than that and it will take care of itself. But if I can be there at the end of the week and make a reasonable cheque, I will be happy with that. It is a great experience to be out here. I am just going to try not to get in my way as much as I can."

TOPS AT TORREY

TIGER WOODS is not the only player in the field to have fond memories of the South Course at Torrey Pines, where he has won the last four Buick Invitationals and, as a teenager, won the sixth of his Junior World Champions over the course.

David Toms, Pat Perez, Phil Mickelson and Anthony Kim are also winners of world junior titles over the course, while Masters champion Trevor Immelman won the US public links title here in 1998.