From sleeping on a golf course to turning pro: How Issa Nlareb rediscovered his love of the game after illness

Watching Issa Nlareb’s swing, you’d never know he didn’t take a golf lesson until five years after turning professional. For 13 years observing others and reading Greg Norman’s book were the closest things the Cameroonian had to formal instruction.

Watching Issa Nlareb’s swing, you’d never know he didn’t take a golf lesson until five years after turning professional. For 13 years, observing others and reading two-time major champion Greg Norman’s book were the closest things the Cameroonian had to formal instruction. Nlareb was just 11 years old when his mom died. Living on the streets near a golf course, he began collecting balls to earn money to survive, eventually picking up the game himself and becoming a caddie. However, his life dramatically changed in 2018 when he contracted bacterial meningitis while at a tournament in Egypt. The golfer developed sepsis, fell into a coma and required the amputation of both legs and most of his fingers. He wasn’t sure he’d ever play the sport again. Life has thrown a lot of challenges Nlareb’s way in his 34 years, yet while speaking to CNN Sports, he’s as laid-back and confident as ever, believing he can be one of the top disabled golfers in the world. Nlareb lived with his dad and stepmom in a house near Yaoundé Golf Club in Cameroon’s capital after his mother’s death, leaving school and taking care of four step-siblings before running away from home a year later. Eleven years old, “pissed off” at the situation and living on the streets, most nights he was picked up by the police and brought in to sleep in the station. One evening, though, he ran.