Is Wildwood Athlete on Way to PGA Tour?

When people face a crisis, they try to take the right steps to a new beginning. David Marshall took 26 miles worth of them.

It was just over a year ago, recovering from a relationship gone bad, that Marshall took a long, hard look at his life, and didn’t like what he saw. “I realized I was a 22-year old punk that hadn’t done anything with my life,” the Wildwood native blogged.

Marshall, an aspiring golfer, had always wanted to run a marathon, but had never trained or prepared for it. On what he describes as “a complete whim,” to forget his problems for a weekend, he drove to Moline, IL, in September 2010 and ran in the Quad Cities Marathon.

“It was simply a desire to see how mentally strong I could be, especially because I knew I was in for a world of pain, having not trained,” Marshall told Patch. “My feet were in a tremendous amount of pain for a week after the race.”

For some people, completing a marathon without training or preparation would be a high point of their lives. For Marshall, it was just the beginning. Two months later, he ran a second marathon, then another nine weeks later, and still another two months after that. But he still wasn’t finished.

Marshall decided to try the Ironman competition in Louisville, KY. The 140-mile combination of running, swimming and biking demands not only stamina, but experience. “There was only one problem,” he noted. “I didn’t have a bike.” Then he was diagnosed with mononucleosis less than two months before the competition. Despite his limited training, he managed to finish the course. “The most amazing experience,” he exclaimed. “As soon as I finished, I couldn’t wait to sign up for another.”

But once again, Marshall may have to delay his training. Just nine days after competing in the Ironman competition, he flew to San Diego to compete for a golf scholarship from the National University Golf Academy. A golfer since the age of 13, Marshall hoped the competition would help him in his goal to join the PGA tour.

On Sept. 5, Marshall won his match play competition, earning a $50,000 scholarship. Prior to Thanksgiving, he moved to California to begin work at the Academy. “I will be playing professional golf mini-tour events starting this winter in California, progressing my way up the ranks to bigger tours,” he said.

Despite his increased golf training, Marshall has no intentions of cutting back his Ironman work. “The beautiful weather is allowing me to vigorously train and improve in all four sports,” he said. “My goal is to one day be competing at both the top professional ranks on the PGA Tour and in Ironman World Championships.”