By Michael N. Graff

The Fayetteville Observer

Copyright 2007 / Reprinted with permission

Many people forget the traumatic parts. They freeze and file memories of a car accident forever.

For whatever reason, Brandi Underwood remembers everything.

She still sees the oncoming Z71 Chevy pickup clipping the shoulder on the right side of the road, the driver whipping the steering wheel back left in panic, turning his hood into the driver's side tire of her Grand Am.

She remembers looking down at her mangled legs, crushed underneath the metal. She remembers her friend saying help was coming, and the 45 miserable minutes it took that help to extract her.

She remembers medics straightening her legs, her bones scattered like a Lego project gone bad.

And the pain, oh the pain. She remembers every unexplainable shot.

It wasn't until afterward that she started forgetting.

She forgot how to extend her legs.

She forgot how to walk.

She forgot how to bend over.

She forgot how to swing a golf club.

And so started over the life of this young woman, who has been defined by the things she's remembered and the things she's forgotten, the physical abilities she's learned and the physical abilities she'll never know.

Two-and-a-half years later, Brandi will be among 38 players at today's U.S. Women's Open sectional qualifying tournament at Keith Hills Country Club No. 1 in Buies Creek.

For the first time since before the accident, she has to play 36 holes in one day.

"I've worked too much to quit," the 26-year-old Hope Mills native and Campbell University graduate said. "I will crawl in if I have to."

To understand how crushing it was for Brandi to have everything ripped from her, we need to go back.

No, not to the days immediately prior to the accident, when she earned her Futures Tour card and could fire a 67 in competitive play.

Go back even further, before college and high school, before she even grabbed her first club, back to when she was an infant.

At 13 months old, Brandi bolted in front of a moving car in her neighborhood. The bumper hit her forehead. The back of her head hit the concrete, causing nerve damage.

She hasn't been able to hear out of her right ear since. She has about 75 percent hearing capability in her left ear.

She grew up that way, a hearing-impaired person in classrooms full of kids who didn't understand.

But Brandi never thought she was different. She'd never known full hearing. So, she figures, it's not like she lost anything.

Her parents, Stephanie and Robert Underwood, made sure she stayed active.

Sports helped her gain acceptance.

Brandi played basketball at Fayetteville Academy in high school. But she was at her best on the golf course.

In college, she helped Campbell to three NCAA regional tournament appearances.

She earned her Futures Tour card shortly after graduation, in early November 2004. Two weeks later, on Nov. 21, she forgot everything.

The turkey was already cooked for supper. The pumpkin pie was in the oven.

The Underwoods were going to have their Thanksgiving meal early that year, the Sunday before the holiday.

Brandi, working at the Legacy Golf Links in Aberdeen, left early because it was a slow day.

She turned left onto U.S. 15/501 and headed south. Less than a mile down the road, she saw the truck. She saw the impact. She saw her legs.

Her thoughts skipped around during the time it took the medics to pull her from the wreck.

Will I be able to play golf again?

Wait, will I be able to walk again?

What will be my limitations?

Get me out of this car!

How are my parents?

One of Brandi's friends was driving in front of her. He called her parents.

Stephanie turned off the oven and grabbed Robert. They were about halfway to the accident scene when a state highway patrol officer called to tell them they needed to reroute to Chapel Hill.

"That was when I was really concerned it was a life-and-death situation," Stephanie Underwood said. "You have no idea how helpless I felt."

When the Underwoods arrived, doctors explained Brandi's injuries to them. The explanation took nearly a half-hour.

Her left foot was broken in 14 places. Her left femur, the longest, strongest bone in the body, snapped in half. Her right knee was shattered. Her left knee was broken in two places.

But, there were no internal injuries.

Doctors put a rod in Brandi's leg to help her femur heal. They didn't remove it until last December, more than two years after the accident.

So what's harder: growing up a kid who's never known full hearing or having to relearn everything that always came natural?

For Brandi, it's a gimme.

"I already knew what it was like to shoot a 67," she says. "But I've never known what it was like to hear out of my right ear. So coming back from an accident like that is worse than an accident when I was younger."

Rehabilitation started slowly, but immediately.

While in the hospital for 17 days, she tried to extend her legs to rebuild her quadriceps muscles.

She came home and used a walker for three months. Then crutches.

Off crutches, it took her an hour to walk 20 feet.

Pool work and home exercises helped her regain her stride.

Then she tried the golf course. Her first round, she lasted six holes and went home exhausted.

She played from the ladies tees, but not well. She scored in the mid-80s. She drove the ball only about 215 yards, well below her average of 250, because she couldn't shift her weight to her left leg properly.

"I wanted to quit, but I just told myself, every day I'm not fighting, somebody else is," she said. "I may have a weakness, but I want to be just as competitive as they are."

In February 2006, she played her first full 18.

She went to local qualifying for the U.S. Women's Open that spring and missed the mark.

Still healing, she's played in various states' professional golf association tournaments this year, including the Connecticut Women's Open.

She is working on becoming a Class A certified instructor.

Then, a few weeks ago in Florida, she cut the most important notch in her comeback. At the U.S. Open local qualifier, she shot a 78 to qualify. Not just any 78. A 42 on her first nine and a 36 on her back nine.

"I didn't quit," she said.

"Even to get there (to the sectionals) under normal conditions is amazing," said George Veasey, Brandi's doctor. "But after her injuries, it's unbelievable."

Today may be her toughest test. The last time she walked 36 holes, she was playing for Campbell. That was three years ago.

"If people only knew what this child has been through in three years," Stephanie Underwood said. "She will achieve her goal of becoming a professional (LPGA) golfer. I know it. She's paid her dues."

Brandi believes she can shoot even-par or better today, which might be good enough to qualify for the Women's Open, which will be held later this month at Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club. Five people are automatic qualifiers. The four next-best scores will be alternates.

Qualify or not, she'll keep working and playing.

After all, she says, relearning this game has been her way of suppressing moments she'd rather not remember.

"I love the feeling of a tournament, going out there and playing well," Brandi said. "You kind of forget about what happened. ... Playing golf gave me a reason to get better."

Staff writer Michael N. Graff can be reached at graffm@fayobserver.com or 486-3591.