09:04 AM EDT on Wednesday, June 22, 2005

REHOBOTH -- Don't drink and drive.

Journal photo / Kathy Borchers

Dana Quigley, the host for yesterday's seventh annual charity tournament at Crestwood to benefit Butler Hospital, hits a tee shot on the first hole.

How many times had Dana Quigley heard that admonition? And how many times had he ignored it?

Just about every time he played golf. Which was just about every day.

Until the day in August, 1988, when he couldn't ignore it any more.

"I'd just had my second car accident," he said.

His lawyer was Patricia Ryan Recupero, the wife of his friend, Joe Recupero, from Crestwood Country Club, where Quigley was the golf pro.

"She said: 'Dana, you've got to go to Butler Hospital.' It was the height of the season at the club. It was in the midst of the tournament season for me. I said: 'Yeah, I'll think about it.'

"Then Joe told me: 'No, you've got to go tonight.' He took me right over there. My parents met me there. I thought I was going to blow my job."

Instead, Quigley's 30-day stay that summer at Butler was the first step in saving not only his career, but also his life.

It's why he was back at Crestwood yesterday, hosting his seventh annual charity tournament to benefit Butler Hospital, adding to the more than $500,000 raised over the years.

"We tend to 'take' more than we 'give' in life," he said. "I'm in

a situation where I can give back. I get much more out of it than Butler Hospital gets out of it."

When Quigley got out of Butler, he thought his drinking problem was solved.

"I got educated," he said. "I was in classes every day, learning what alcohol does to you, physically and psychologically. I thought I was cured.

"I went months without drinking. Then, and I remember the night distinctly, I was at the Mass. Open, in the restaurant at my hotel, and I thought: 'I can have a glass of wine with dinner.' And I did.

"The next night, I had another glass of wine. I won the tournament and thought: 'I can handle it.' "

He was wrong.

"I drank anything," Quigley said. "I'd start with beer, after a round of golf. Then I'd have wine with dinner. After that, it depended on my activities the rest of the night. If I went to nightclubs, I'd go to gin and tonics.

"It was always a social thing. I'd never drink alone. I'd always drink with guys, after a round, then go to dinner, then go clubbing.

"I never drank in the morning to get over drinking the night before. I never had hangovers. I never had the shakes. I never was late for work. But my personality is such that I never can get enough of anything I do, and drinking is addictive."

Quigley is not at all reticent about talking about his alcohol addiction.

"If it can help someone else," he said, "I'm glad to do it."

Quigley is delighted to be able to help raise money for Butler, which not only has alcohol and substance-abuse treatment programs, but also provides psychiatric help to adults, adolescents and children.

Patricia Ryan Recupero, who earned a medical degree from Brown in 1985 and became a psychiatrist, was appointed director of alcohol and drug treatment inpatient services at Butler in 1991, and has since become president of the hospital.

"My daughter (Nicole) also works there," Quigley said. "She was a psychology major. She works long hours with kids. At the end of the day, she's drained. But she can't wait to get back there the next day.

"For me, it's heartbreaking to go and see those kids. The money from this tournament is directed toward helping them."

As a kid, Dana didn't have a drinking problem.

"I never had a drink in high school," he said. "When I got to college, that's when I started drinking beers with the guys.

"It got bad in the late '70s, when I was a club pro. I just drank a lot, before I went out on Tour."

Quigley's brief stint on the PGA Tour was nowhere near as successful as his nine years on the Champions Tour, in large part because of his drinking.

"I drank to sabotage myself," he said. "I didn't think I belonged out there (on the PGA Tour). I think I drank to make sure I wouldn't have success, so I would prove I didn't belong.

"I had low self-esteem. I can't tell you why. What I can tell you is that alcohol doesn't help you to think clearly. And you show me one guy who drinks a lot and wakes up the next day feeling good about himself."

Drinking contributed to the demise of Quigley's first marriage. Still, he didn't stop until Feb. 1, 1990.

"I was driving to a restaurant in West Palm (Beach)," he recalled. "I had just played golf, then had 8 or 10 beers with the boys. I was going down Route 95 when, for some reason, I suddenly thought: 'Man, this is crazy,' and headed home. I haven't had a drink since."

Quigley now is very health-conscious. He's careful about his diet, which is why he's in such good shape, appearing much younger than his 58 years. At an age when most senior players are hanging on in the Champions Tour, he is atop the money list.

Although he never finished higher than sixth in a PGA Tour event, he is a 10-time winner on the Champions Tour. He heads into this weekend's tournament at Nashawtuc, in Concord, Mass., off a playoff victory over Tom Watson in Kansas, and has not finished lower than seventh in his last six events.

The "Iron Man" of the Champions Tour, Quigley never has missed an event for which he is eligible, and has set a record by playing in the last 253 in a row.

"Not drinking," he said, "has had a lot to do with my success. But my success isn't the reason why I wouldn't take a drink. A better reason is that I can't control it.

"Quitting drinking was so much harder than playing golf on the Tour. I still miss drinking. But I know I don't have an option."

Encouraged by his wife, Angie, Quigley regularly accompanies Tom Randall, who is the chaplain on the Champions Tour, on speaking engagements.

"I talk," Quigley said, "about the drinking. It's everywhere, and it's something many people try to hide. But it's good to come out in the open and talk about it.

"When Tom tells me that, after I've spoken, people come up to him and talk about their own drinking problems, the feeling I get is incredible. I know this sounds corny, but I get a cleansing, beautiful feeling. Angie and I are unbelievably touched to be in a situation where we can help people."