Trying to beat odds -- and 100 at Torrey Pines

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Tiger Woods is furiously rehabilitating his left knee, trying to make sure it cooperates as he chases his 14th major championship title. Phil Mickelson is dutifully making regular visits to Torrey Pines in San Diego, often carrying his own bag as he seeks to learn every nuance of a course he has played countless times in his life.As preparation goes, Woods and Mickelson have nothing on John Atkinson.Atkinson traveled to a beastly, 7,600-yard course named Dismal River in Middle-of-Nowhere, Nebraska to ready himself for the longest layout in U.S. Open history. Some of Atkinson's friends put together a gallery of about 50 people for another practice round, including some with cameras, so he could get a sense of playing in front of a crowd. They cheered his good shots and stayed stone cold silent after his bad shots.Now would Tiger's buddies ever go to such lengths?Atkinson did not make the field for next week's Open, but he will play Torrey Pines on Friday in an intriguing event. The Golf Digest U.S. Open Challenge arose from a comment Woods made last year at Oakmont in Pennsylvania, when he predicted the average, 10-handicap player wouldn't break 100 on a U.S. Open course in U.S. Open conditions (read: rugged and nasty).We'll soon find out. Atkinson has whittled his handicap down to 8, but he still counts as an average, everyday amateur in many respects -- a 39-year-old medical-device salesman and father of three from Omaha, Neb. He's decidedly not average in other respects, which probably helps explain why he emerged as the overwhelming winner among more than 56,000 entries in the Golf Digest contest. (The magazine narrowed the field to five finalists and then held a public vote.)Atkinson was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer in March 2007. He's never smoked. He had an annoying pain in his right shoulder, visited his doctor and was told to take some Tylenol and stop fretting. The pain persisted, so Atkinson had a CT scan, which revealed the cancer."I totally broke down," he said of hearing the news.Atkinson cited statistics showing 60 percent of patients with his form of lung cancer die within one year and 98 percent die within five years. He also insisted he feels good and the cancer is stable; it hasn't spread in the 14-plus months since his diagnosis.For much of last year, Atkinson struggled to look forward to anything. But he has been pointing toward Friday ever since entering the contest in December."Golf has helped me through this whole thing -- my golf, my friends and my faith," he said in a telephone interview this week. "All of those things have allowed me to keep a very positive attitude and that's helped me every day. ... You live each day and enjoy it."Atkinson finds enjoyment on the course, so that's where he spends as much time as possible. He played with his dad after an early round of chemotherapy -- and shot 82 while uncorking the best drive of his life ("just crushed it," he said). Bob Scott, a local pro in Omaha, heard about Atkinson's story and volunteered his time. Brent Johnson, a native Nebraskan who lives in San Francisco, invited Atkinson to play Dismal River, where he shot 102 in daunting, 30-mph winds.Now comes the true test: Torrey Pines from the back tees, six days before the Open and with NBC's cameras rolling (a one-hour show will air on June 15, before the tournament's final round). Just to make Atkinson even more nervous, he will play alongside Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, singer-actor Justin Timberlake and "Today" show co-anchor Matt Lauer."I'm sure conventional wisdom is there's no chance" of breaking 100, Atkinson said, "but that kind of ties into my story with the cancer. I'm facing those challenges and beating the odds. This is just another difficult challenge."We're guessing even Tiger is pulling for him.(E-mail Ron Kroichick at rkroichick@sfchronicle.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)