Tapia is alive and well — and in contention at Men’s City

Some nine years ago, Steven Tapia lay crumpled on a motocross track, his femoral artery severed, his knee mangled and his very life in the balance after a horrifying crash.

Four months in the hospital and a year of learning how to walk on a left knee that no longer had anterior or posterior cruciate ligaments left Tapia looking for new challenges.

Golfer Steven Tapia is shown during the first round of the Albuquerque Men’s City Golf Championship on Friday, August 19, 2022 at Ladera Golf Course. (Glen Rosales/For the Journal)

So he took up golf.

“I can’t do anything athletically but golf,” he said Friday, displaying the deep and wide gouges and scars that still remain on his leg.

“It’s athletic. You use your body. I was able to swing a golf club and adapt. I definitely don’t have a traditional swing. I do, but I can’t get onto my left leg like some other guys so I find my way to my own swing.”

It’s a swing that after less than three years of playing took him to the top of the president’s flight of the Men’s City Championship in 2018.

“In the last few years, I’ve gotten a little better at golf so I’m playing the championship flight,” he said. “I don’t know if I have enough for these guys, but I’m in the middle.”

Actually, Tapia is much better than in the middle. His 1-under 71 Friday at Ladera Golf Course in the tournament’s opening round has him tied for seventh, three strokes off the pace in the 26-man championship flight heading into the second of three rounds Saturday at Arroyo del Oso.

A Rio Grande graduate who earned a scholarship to play basketball at Adams State, Tapia, 34, took to golf in a big way.

“I’ve always been an athlete, and right away, my instructor who lives in Silver City, he knew that I had a good swing to begin with. And just YouTube videos and range time,” he said in explaining his success. “I had a knack for it from the beginning. My first round of golf was a 91. To me that was horrible, but my buddy, he said to me, ‘You’d be surprised, that’s not bad.’”

Steven Tapia shows off his injured leg. (Glen Rosales/For the Journal)

Not bad at all for a man who lost count of the number of surgeries needed to save his leg.

“I should have lost my leg, but luckily they were able to save it,” Tapia said. “And after, I can’t even count the surgeries any more. I picked up a set of golf clubs and I’m the type of person, I’m stubborn. …I’m the type person where I gotta be good at what I do, so I just spent the time and I’m here now.”

And he’s here chasing frontrunners New Mexico State Aggie Aidan Thomas, former Lobo player Alexander Zannes and recent Albuquerque Academy graduate Neil Parasher.

When Tapia won the lower flight in 2018, he shot 5-over for the three days, which left him unsatisfied.

“I set my standards high for myself. But my friends tell me people would kill to do that. They’d give their left leg,” he said, laughing at his own joke.

The struggle, however, was no joke.

“I’ve been under anesthesia 17 times. I know that for sure,” Tapia said of his journey through the operating room.

“I’m lucky to even be alive. My femoral artery was cut in half. I was bleeding to death on the scene. They took me to UNMH and the doctors and nurses there are awesome. It took me over a year to even start walking.”

When he discovered golf, it turned out to be just what needed.

“I did spend a lot of time and put in a lot of range work,” Tapia said. “I do have a stubborn personality where anything I do I try to be the best at it.”

That meant hitting the range or the course on multiple occasions each week.

“At least four,” he said of his weekly range trips. “I went and bought the city pass so you don’t have pay for green fees, so I’m out here walking three times a week. I caught the bug and it was like an addiction.”

“It’s been therapeutic. It’s been good and bad,” Tapia said. “I’m very active, so my leg does well, but because I’m very active, to where my leg bothers me more. I find a balance. I’m lucky to have my leg, so I’m not going to sit by being lazy. This is the only way I’d have it.”

Aidan Thomas tees off during the first round of the Men’s City Championship. (Mike Sandoval/For the Journal)

Men’s City Golf

Friday: Click here for the first round leaders.Saturday: Arroyo del Oso, 7 a.m.

Sunday: Los Altos, 7 a.m.