His world fell apart. His dreams of becoming a successful club golf professional were shattered. He was provided with a home-based dialysis machine which he had to use for half an hour four times a day. He continued to work as an assistant in Neil McEwan's pro's shop at Maxstoke but had to dash home each lunch time to give himself treatment.

From being a seemingly healthy 27-year-old with everything to look forward to he was reduced to the need for constant medical treatment.

By May last year his condition worsened and he had to go to hospital three times a week for three or four hour sessions on a more powerful machine and was told he must have a kidney transplant when a suitable one became available.

Gascoigne waited and hoped. His spirits sank as the weeks ticked by. Then the call came. He was taken into Walsgrave Hospital at Coventry for the life-saving operation.

"I felt an immediate benefit," he said, "and I wanted to go home."

He was inspired to do so not by some galactic happening but by an event close to his heart. "I'd got my amateur status back on medical grounds and had played a couple of times for Maxstoke in the Scratch League and helped them to win the title. They were holding a dinner at the club to celebrate the victory and I wanted to be there!"

Sure enough, he made it, just, and as he walked into the clubroom he received the biggest cheer he'd ever had.

Six weeks later he hit a few balls, just gentle shots with an iron. "I don't think the doctors would have approved but I felt so good, and after two months I started to play properly again," he said.

By last January he felt strong enough to play in the club's three-man team for the Warwickshire Cup, an inter-club winter knock-out event - and he was involved in the final when they beat Stratford upon Avon 3-0 for the cup.

Now Anthony really started to motor. He revelled in amateur tournaments and entered the Warwickshire Amateur Championship on a wave of enthusiasm. A first round 76 brought him back to earth, but in the afternoon he equalled the Robin Hood course record with a five-under 67 to come third.

GASCOIGNE WAS DEFINITELY BACK!

Having qualified for the county Match-Play Championship, he charged through the field to reach the final against a club colleague, teenager Rob Browning. It developed into a ding dong battle before Anthony, his stamina wilting after a week of intense golf, faded away to lose 3&2.

But what a performance! From staring into the abyss here he was playing great golf again.

"To be where I am now is unbelievable," he said. "Neil McEwan has kept me on in the shop and I can now plan for the future."

This year he joined Maxstoke's young lions in the Scratch League team in 10 of the matches - and won nine of them..

Said captain Gordon Marston: "He was our best performer and we're all so delighted that he's enjoying life again.!

This article is very kindly provided by Peter Ricketts and is (C) Peter Ricketts 2005 and the Birmingham Mail, who have also allowed it to be reproduced, having first appeared as one of Peter's regular Golf Columns in the newspaper