FLOYD: HE WON'T FORGET THIS OFF-COURSE BATTLE.

Byline: DAVE SHELBURNE Golf

Ray Floyd launches the no-pressure phase of his professional golf career Friday, the portion fellow cancer survivor Jim Colbert once called the golf he got to play ``after staring down the elephant.''

Both Champions Tour players have beaten prostate cancer - Floyd only this year - as have Arnold Palmer and Bobby Walzel, also members of the 50-and-over tour that started in 1980 as the PGA Senior Tour.

``I feel well, and it's all the result of early detection,'' the 60-year-old Floyd said Wednesday of the disease first detected in October, thanks to his commitment in recent years to regular prostate specific antigen testing.

Early detection is a message Floyd, like Colbert - who went from two-time Champions Tour Player of the Year to staring down the elephant - is now committed to getting out to as many men as possible.

``The key is early detection, and that's what I'd like to be an advocate for,'' Floyd said after playing in the pro-am for the SBC Classic at Valencia Country Club, where he is entered in his first tournament since mid-December. ``You just need to get a PSA taken minimally once a year, and if it's rising a little, you need to do it every six months.''

Floyd, who underwent surgery two days after the Dec. 8-14 Office Depot Father-Son Challenge, was given his clean bill of health this month.

``When I had a PSA a week and a half ago, it was nonexistent, which means I'll never have a problem,'' he said. ``So in one respect, I'm better off than most people running around at my age, who haven't had it. I've got it behind me, and I'm clean.''

Before his operation, Floyd said he became as knowledgeable as he could about the disease. Afterward, he was surprised to learn how many people he knew had had similar success.

``You cannot believe how many people have called me after,'' he said, ``people that were good friends of mine. They had it done. It's like, wow, you don't hear about if it doesn't affect you, but there are literally hundreds of these surgeries obviously done daily.''

Floyd, who won the 1969 and 1982 PGA Championships, 1976 Masters and 1986 U.S. Open and 18 other events in a 19-year PGA Tour career and has added 14 Champions Tour victories, said he accepted the news of his cancer as just one of the things that can happen to anyone.

``I felt that it's a thing that you're dealt in life,'' he said. ``Certainly, I've had a pretty good run. I've never had to deal with anything like this. I just felt that was the hand I was dealt, and I'm gonna play it the best that I can. Of course, I had a very supportive wife with Maria.''

Floyd's wife and three sons were the only ones who knew about his ordeal until Floyd resumed playing golf near his Florida home and players at his club asked where he had been.''

Wednesday at Valencia Country Club, players were asking how he felt, and he was only too happy to tell of his good health and the vital importance of early detection.

After eight weeks of no golf and months of more serious concerns, Floyd is not sure how he'll play this week or next week in the Toshiba Senior Classic at Newport Country Club.

But he's certain to be spreading the word about prostate cancer and what can be done to survive it: Pay attention early with regular testing.

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