After scary diagnosis, this junior golfer found inspiration in helping others

Two summers ago, Liam Lodding, then 14, was on his way to an American Junior Golf Association tournament in Robinson, Ill., about fours hours south of Chicago, when something didn’t feel right.

His stomach was bothering him, but he had been looking forward to the event and wanted to play, so he powered through, despite increasing pain throughout the round.

Overnight, the discomfort worsened and Liam woke up the next day to chest pain so severe he felt like he couldn’t breathe. Liam’s mother, Stephanie, rushed him to the hospital, where bloodwork revealed Liam’s level of troponin — a protein found in the heart muscle — was exceedingly high, which can be indicative of a heart attack. Liam was transported via helicopter to UI Health in Chicago, where he stayed for a week. He was diagnosed with myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart muscle.

“We didn’t know if I was going to have to have a heart transplant,” Liam said the other day. “Doctors didn’t know exactly what was going on.”

Liam went on to make a full recovery, but his experience in the hospital changed his life.

“I had a really bad thing happen to me, but I was seeing kids who have, like, stage 4 cancer and diseases that are way, way worse than mine,” Liam said. “I was just really inspired to do something.”

Facing a months-long break from golf after his hospital discharge, Liam decided to focus his efforts on giving back. He learned of the AJGA’s Leadership Links program, which assists AJGA players with their fundraising efforts by providing them a personalized website and marketing materials, processing donations and issuing tax letters.

Liam turned his attention to the Jack Nicklaus Children’s Healthcare Foundation and started soliciting donations.

“It took me a couple weeks to raise $5,000, and then I really just wanted to keep going more and more,” he said. “I just started emailing and calling people, and I was just asking for anyone who can donate, because my thing is, any little thing counts. No matter if you get $5, you get $1, anything counts.”

Liam raised $40,000 in a year.

“I was blown away,” he said.

In March, Liam joined up with other charity-minded juniors to present a check to Jack Nicklaus in person, an experience he described as “unreal.” This year, Liam set his fundraising sights even higher, with a goal of $77,777. He’s about halfway there, but is hopeful an upcoming charity tournament he’s hosting at his home golf club, Elgin Country Club in Illinois, will bring him closer.

Liam on a recent visit with Jack Nicklaus.

Courtesy AJGA/USGA

Despite the upheaval his diagnosis caused in his life, Liam says his illness also brought him new appreciation for things he used to take for granted — like walking a round of golf. Given his condition, Liam was allowed to use a cart for his high school state championship, where he finished second. Now, he’s free to play and work out without restrictions, but plans to monitor his heart with annual check-ups.

Earlier this summer, Liam received word that he had been named the male recipient of the 2025 USGA-AJGA Presidents’ Leadership Award, which was established in 2005 to identify one male and one female junior golfer who demonstrate leadership, character and community service through their involvement with the Leadership Links program — a joint initiative founded by the USGA and AJGA to further develop junior golfers through volunteerism and philanthropy.

“I’m not a very emotional person,” Liam said of receiving the award, “but I shed a little tear there.”

Liam is entering his senior year at Harvest Christian Academy in Elgin, Ill., and with college looming, he says he’s certain of two things: golf will continue to play a role in his life — and philanthropy will, too.

“I definitely want to stick with the golf path,” he said. “My dreams are to play professional golf, but at the end of the day, before this even happened, I used to be so golf, golf, golf, everything was golf. My identity, how I thought of myself, is how I play on the golf course.

“After that, I was like, there’s so many bigger things to life than just a golf shot and going out to shoot a golf score. It just helped me be so much more grateful for the experiences that I’m having right now.”

That’s not to say Liam isn’t also looking forward.

“I just want to keep going and just keep building off what I have now for the rest of my life,” he said.