PLAYING THROUGH; MYERS KNOWS ALL ABOUT WITHSTANDING PAIN.

Byline: Eric Noland Daily News Staff Writer

After her disappointing round of golf, an acquaintance threw an arm around her neck for a reassuring hug. Terry-Jo Myers' face contorted in a grimace and she choked back a whimper of pain.

But the smile was back in an instant. She cheerfully begged out of the evening's dinner with family and friends and walked stiffly walked toward the parking lot, nodding and smiling to well-wishers along the way.

Myers wasn't going to let her disposition be clouded by an onset of searing back spasms, which were aggravated by 18 holes of golf Friday at Glendale's Oakmont Country Club.

This is the LPGA's resident authority on pain - and on prevailing over it. Maybe after you've been driven to the brink of suicide, you're not likely to be deterred by lesser aches and pains.

Last year, after winning the Los Angeles Women's Championship at Oakmont, Myers celebrated a dramatic comeback from interstitial cystitis, an incurable bladder disease that forced her to urinate up to 60 times a day (15 to 20 times during the night) and produced the sensation of, in her words, ``paper cuts lining your bladder.''

The affliction prompted her to consider killing herself in 1993, but she relented after realizing she couldn't leave her daughter, Taylor-Jo, motherless at age 4.

The disease has since been beaten back through use of an experimental drug, and Myers says today she is free of symptoms. But if she came to Oakmont with high hopes of successfully defending the title that heralded her rejuvenation, she wasn't able to enjoy the moment long.

``Well, so what,'' Myers said Friday after staggering through a 3-over-par round of 75 on the first day of the tournament. ``I have nothing to complain about. Absolutely nothing.''

Because of where she's been and how far she's come? ``Yeah. It's nothing new. It's just bad luck. I still managed to get around. I was able to play - ugly as it was. Shoot, I have two more days. All I have to do is make some putts.''

Myers' latest travails followed this progression:

On Thursday, she came down with severe allergy symptoms and took medication, but it didn't seem to do much good. ``I sneezed 30 times in a row,'' she said. ``I'm trying to hold my sneeze while my pro-am partners are playing. It aggravated my herniated disc.''

She's had that malady for about 10 years. Usually, when her back flares up, she can knock it down with Advil, but Myers was concerned about mixing that pain-killing drug with the allergy medication (not to mention the Elmiron she takes for the bladder disease).

So she bit her lip Friday, teed off at midday, and tried to make the most of it. The day didn't go well.

``I could see her struggling on the greens,'' said playing partner Alicia Dibos. ``If she was in pain, she was handling it very well, because I didn't notice and she didn't tell me. Sometimes you don't want to distract your fellow competitors: `I'm feeling bad. I'm feeling bad.' ''

The hints were there, primarily in her play. Myers, who felt the most discomfort while hunched over on the greens, three-putted three holes and missed half a dozen putts inside the 4-foot range.

``But I won't complain,'' she said brightly. ``It's just spasms. I should be fine (today).''

Another day. Take it from one who remains grateful that there was one.

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PHOTO Terry-Jo Myers didn't have a great round at Oakmont, but she smiled afterward anyway.

Phil McCarten/Daily News