21-year-old golfer describes his battle with cancer before teeing up at Shriners Children’s Open

21-year-old golfer Ian Gilligan described his struggle with cancer before playing at the 2024 Shriners Children’s Open, which will be held at TPC Summerlin from October 17 to 20. He is one of the players in the $7 million event's field.

The 2024 Western Amateur winner said he discovered the disease while stretching for a tournament (via PGA Tour):

“I kind of noticed something was weird, was just kind of stretching for a tournament, and I just felt like I lost mobility in a stretch. I was like, that’s kind of weird. I didn’t really think too much of it. We went to the hospital, and we thought it was just kind of a cyst. It turned out there was basically an empty hole in there, and they took a biopsy of some of the cells and found they were cancerous.”

Gilligan’s father Grant said:

“The whole time you're thinking, is my child going to survive? What he had was massively rare, so they wouldn't start treatment forever. It seemed like he was wasting away. He was down to his lowest weight. I mean, he looked like someone horribly anorexic. There was a time I sat down with the doctor, and I broke down and I said, ‘You have to start treatment now.'”

Gilligan added that seeing his parents in distress was a "terrible" experience:

"I feel like they tried to hide it very well. I know they were super emotional. Seeing my mom crying was just terrible. My parents have been there for me for everything. I wouldn’t wish any parent to go through that."

Stanford Research Institute tried chemotherapy which worked for Gilligan. A seven-month treatment led to his full recovery. He will tee off for the Shriners Children’s Open first round on the first tee with Alexander Björk and Tom Whitney at 4:24 p.m. ET.

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How did 21-year-old cancer survivor Ian Gilligan play at the 2024 Barracuda Championship?

Ian Gilligan tied for the T40 position at July's Barracuda Championship with Neal Shipley and two others. His total score was +31 and unlike other golfers in his position, since he participated as an amateur, he didn't earn a payout.

Gilligan scored +8 by dropping five birdies on the front nine and one on the back nine in the opening round. He carded four birdies in the second round to finish at +6.

In the third round, Gilligan dropped four birdies on the front nine and three on the back nine to land at +12. In the last round, he scored two birdies on holes two and three and another two on holes 15 and 17 to finish at +5.