Jackson boy golfer, heart transplant patient, wins gold

Middle schooler Jimmy Williams of Jackson won a gold medal Monday in a Gateway Junior Series PGA event at Bent Creek Golf Course, nearly six months to the day after a heart transplant operation.

Williams, 11, shot a 42 over nine holes to finish first in the 11-and-under division under the watchful eye of his parents and paternal grandmother.

“Jimmy kept getting sick last year and we thought something was wrong with his stomach,” said father Jim Williams, a 1978 Jackson High School graduate.

The family went to Orlando, Florida, in August for Jimmy to compete in the Junior World Championships.

“We were told it might be asthma, so we got him an inhaler,” said Jim, 60, who spent 27 years working in Tennessee, an owner of semi-truck dealerships.

Jimmy Williams, 11, uses a driver off the sixth tee during the Gateway Junior Series PGA golf event Monday at Bent Creek Golf Course in Jackson.Jeff Long

“We were also told Jimmy might have allergies, so he was put on medication,” added Williams, who said the Jimmy’s sickness lingered after their return home.

A trip to St. Louis’ Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital revealed the true problem.

Jimmy had an enlarged heart.

The diagnosis? Cardiomyopathy.

Six days after his late summer admission, Jimmy had open-heart surgery and soon after was placed on the transplant list.

“Back in August, (the Glennon doctors) told us Jimmy had 17% heart function left,” said the elder Williams. “It was a very dire situation.”

The boy received his new heart, an early Christmas present of sorts, on Dec. 13.

Young Jimmy, pulling a golf cart behind him Monday, was unmasked for his Bent Creek round.

“The only place I don’t wear (a mask) is when I play golf, because I can’t see otherwise,” said Jimmy, who will enter the sixth grade this fall at Jackson Middle School.

Jimmy, who said he has played the ancient game invented in Scotland since he was 6 years old, has played a lot of golf this year because of the pandemic.

“Jimmy and I have played every day because school was out,” Jim Williams said.

Williams and wife Shana brought the family back to Jackson four years ago because of their golf-loving son.

“(Jimmy) told me he wanted us to live in Jackson because he wanted to play football for the Indians, just like his dad,” Williams said.

Given the boy’s condition, gridiron play is impossible, but he can hit the links for the rest of his life, Jim said.

Asked for his career plans, the adolescent Williams thought for a moment and mentioned two vocations he’s learned a great deal about in his young life.

“I think either a professional golfer or a (medical) doctor,” Jimmy said.

Today, the family is at Cardinal Glennon for a previously scheduled biopsy.

“They’ll snip a tiny piece of Jimmy’s (new) heart to check for signs of rejection,” Jim Williams said.