Sofia Janer's sleeve peels back to reveal a jagged, three-inch scar running along her right elbow.

A scar-surrounded by several smaller arthroscopic scars-marks her fourth surgery in less than four years.

Janer didn't always have a blemished arm, a reminder of her 20-month absence from competition.

Just a few years ago, the soon-to-be Cal senior was the top-ranked golfer in both Colombian junior and women's rankings, winner of five junior national and two South American championships.

But her dream of going pro began to flicker in December 2005, just five months before she was to set graduate.

"It was not clear what happened," Janer says "I just started feeling pain and pain, and they just took some random X-rays and found the problem."

The problem turned out to be ossification in her right elbow, which pinched the cartilage and, combined with the motion of a golf swing, began to wear away at the tissue. In May of the following year, she had the first of her three arthroscopic surgeries to shave off bone and remove damaged cartilage.

Told by doctors that her elbow would now be fine, Janer arrived on campus to start her collegiate career-only to miss out on her fall campaign when the pain returned. When the spring season rolled around, she was able to play on a limited basis, but often sat out tournaments to save her elbow from the wear of a full season.

"I started playing in spring, and I was playing through a lot of pain," Janer says. "I was taking like 10, 12 Advils or Tylenols, around. I was taking cortisone shots weeks before I played."

Even with her injury, Janer offered glimpses of her seemingly limitless potential. Despite having played just nine rounds before the Pac-10 Championships, she placed seventh in the tournament and received an All-Pac-10 honorable mention.

In October 2007, Janer teed off the second round of the Kent Youel Invitational in Hawaii against coach Nancy McDaniel's advice for her to rest. Fighting to see through her tears, Janer shot a career-best 3-under 69 and led Cal to third-place finish.

She has not played since.

After two more arthroscopic surgeries failed to repair the elbow, doctors finally decided to perform open surgery in June 2008. This operation revealed that the injury was more serious than they had thought, leaving them at a loss for a solution.

As Janer searched desperately for more answers, every path she took turned into a dead end.

"I've seen lots of specialists, doctors, not doctors, herbal medicine, natural medicine, acupuncture, taping doctors, everything, and no one can tell me why," she says. "I don't know if it's going to get better ... I think I know every doctor in Colombia and here."

Her condition gradually worsened. Pain shot up her arm if she tried to lift her backpack or shake someone's hand. If she weren't a lefty, Janer would have hardly been able to write.

"It's not like I had any accident. I was not irresponsible. I was angry," she says. "What made me more angry and frustrated was that no one told me an answer. There was no doctor or no one to tell me what the problem was."

Unable to play, she needed to adjust to a new role on the team. She slowly learned to shake off her frustration, replacing it with acceptance and optimism-qualities which have earned her a role as one of the three team captains.

"You couldn't ask for anything better as far her mood goes, and that's one of the hardest things," McDaniel says. "She's been motivating and instilled a lot of competitiveness in this team. I don't even see her as an injured player. She's just someone who's around and constantly challenging the team with a golf club in her hands."

Janer herself has grown to recognize how she could still be a vital part of the team without ever taking the golf course in competition. She still attends every practice, setting up drills or helping other players with their alignment, while balancing her time between physical therapy and school.

"We couldn't play if we didn't have coaches; we couldn't play if we didn't have donors that help us pay for scholarships; we couldn't play if Berkeley didn't support us. Those little parts can form a team," she says. "It's helped me understand how can I help more and how can I feel actually part of it."

Twelve years ago, golf had found her almost as unexpectedly as it left. When Janer's father joined the local country club, he took his two children.

"Once, he went to take a golf lesson and his instructor said, 'Oh, I'm having a kids' clinic for golf,' so he just put my brother and me into that clinic," she remembers. "It was just random. I guess, maybe, golf picked me."

Even at eight years old, Janer had a natural aptitude for the game. When her father entered her in a boys' tournament together with her brother to keep her off the couch, she ended up winning. During one stretch, she won 21 of the 22 tournaments she played-falling short of victory just the once due to back problems stemming from over-exertion in other sports.

Those days seem distant now, with her golf career likely over for good. She's turned her focus toward her studies, preparing for graduate school where she may pursue a degree in education. Janer has also thought about possibly working on conflict resolution in the United Nations-fueled by her desire to help her home country-or becoming a golf coach.

"Deep inside I still have the hope I can play," Janer says. "It's just really hard for me to let it go, but at least I know many doors have opened for other opportunities."

As she decides which of these doors to walk through, she also prepares to sit out the next season on a medical hardship waiver. But like always, Janer will continue attending every practice, pushing younger players down the same road she once traveled.

All while waiting for another passion to find her, just as golf did.

Tags: CAL WOMEN'S GOLF, SOFIA JANER