Eight years removed from lone PGA title, Micheel feeling renewed

• By Randall Mell
• Aug 11, 2011 7:48 PM ET

JOHNS CREEK, Ga. – Shaun Micheel gets grilled regularly about when he’s going to win another championship. 

It’s becoming a relentless inquisition.

He said his 7-year-old son, Dade, corners him all the time.

“He’s always asking me when I’m going to win another trophy,” Micheel, 42, said after opening the PGA Championship with a 4-under-par 66, good for solo third place, three shots off the lead. “He asks me every time I leave for a tournament.”

Micheel’s 2003 PGA Championship title remains his lone PGA Tour victory. He’s had some challenges in the eight years since. His mother, Donna, passed away late last year; a loss he says devastated him. He tore the labrum in his left shoulder, requiring surgery in '08. He battled with the PGA Tour over a diagnosis that required he take testosterone for medicinal purposes. His latest challenges came this past spring, when dizziness and ringing in his ears led to doctors inserting tubes in his ears to remedy vertigo. He was also diagnosed in May with an enlarged carotid artery, which was causing numbness in his face.

“I was getting the attitude, ‘I don’t want to do this anymore,’” Micheel said of contemplating retirement.

Micheel said the medical remedies have helped his attitude and his game. He's hoping a victory this week will remedy the inquisitions his son administers.