Tom Martz is still very active in California golfing circles, playing in 15 tournaments last year — a point of pride for the 71-year-old multiple-heart-attack survivor — and for the Alta Bates Summit Medical Center physicians, Robert Sandberg, M.D., and Gary Woodworth, M.D., who’ve cared for him.

The doctors get along so well with their patient that they joined Martz’s big 70th birthday bash last year. The threesome also plays golf together sometimes, where by all accounts, Martz shows no mercy. “I do my best to win a few dollars to help pay my medical bills — and I generally succeed,” quips the 40-year Piedmont resident and Northern California Broadcasters Association President. (“He’s good under pressure because we’ve taken care of his coronary arteries, and they can withstand it!” counters Dr. Woodworth.)

Martz swept top honors at the California State Senior Golf Association Championship in the summer of 1999, seemingly a lifetime after he’d weathered the surprise of his first attack and angioplasty in January of 1997, a second heart attack and stent placement in September 1997, and yet a third attack and angioplasty a week later when the stent became occluded. “To win that big event after what happened to me was truly a miracle,” says Martz. “Dr. Woodworth and the staff at Summit did a terrific job and were very skilled. I credit them with saving my life.”

Dr. Woodworth, who performed Martz’s angioplasty and stent procedures, is equally enthusiastic about the Medical Center, and acknowledges Alta Bates Summit Foundation’s invaluable support: “We wouldn’t have all our advanced equipment without Foundation funding. In the Bay Area, our facilities and staff are second to none.”