United Bermuda Party leader and professional golfer, Kim Swan, has reacted with sorrow after one of his best friends lost his son last week.

Five-time winner on the PGA Tour, Ken Green, is recovering from the shock of losing son, Hunter, who was found dead in his dorm room at Southern Methodist University in Taos, New Mexico. His death remains under investigation and it is unclear how the 21-year-old sophomore died or who last saw him alive.

Swan who roomed with Green when they both attended Palm Beach Junior College in Florida, said this week: "It is tragic – especially with what Kenny has been through lately. I talked to him and he is strong. He has lots of people around him who care about him. But he is feeling it."

Swan and Green have enjoyed a long relationship starting back when they were room-mates in college from 1976-78 and both have stayed at each others homes throughout the years.

Last summer Green was seriously injured in an accident when his motor home left the road. Green was in the back of his recreational vehicle travelling on Interstate 20 near Meridian, Mississippi, when the right front tyre blew, causing the RV to veer off the road and go down a deep embankment before hitting a tree.

The accident killed Green's brother, William (who Green said was driving), Green's girlfriend, Jeanne Hodgin and Nip, Green's German Shepherd. Even though his lower right leg was amputated as a result of injuries suffered in the accident, Green has vowed to return to competitive golf.

Swan said: "I have been to see him since (the accident in) June and I called him last week as well after his son passed away. After the accident in June he got himself into a good frame of mind and this (son's death) has been a shocker. It is tough but he will cope with it – he has a good support system around him based on his recovery from last summer's accident and his commitment to play golf.

"After last year's accident and his leg amputation he became an inspiration to many people when he vowed to return to golf. He has inspired many people like war veterans who have lost limbs."

Green, who during the height of his playing career was constantly in trouble with the authorities of the PGA Tour, has now seen that relationship reversed.

Swan said: "This year Ken and Tom Watson were voted to share the Ben Hogan Award by the Golf Writers Association of America."

The Hogan Award is for golfers who remain active in the sport despite a physical handicap or serious illness.

Swan added: "I suppose Kenny was John Daly before John Daly came around. That is the kind of guy he is. But you could not want a better and more loyal friend than Kenny. He was in my wedding party. Strangely we spent more time together when we got close to 50 – we started seeing more of each other. When he was on tour in the '80s and '90s he would come out and visit when I was the pro in St. George's. He got to know a lot of people in Bermuda – often he and I would go down to the East End Mini Yacht Club and play pool or throw darts.

"I also remember he and I going out and playing St. George's – he shot a 54. I think I still have the scorecard."

And Swan remembered the RV that went off the road with such deadly consequences last summer in Mississippi.

"Before I was elected in 2007 I was playing the mini tours and I used to stay in it along with Nip the dog."

And one of Swan's greatest memories of Green was when he and the PGA pro played the Bermuda Open in 1983. "He was staying with me at the time and I beat him in a play-off. We had a lot of laughs about that."

Green is vowing to return to competitive golf on the Champions Tour despite losing his leg.

Originally the beginning of Green's comeback was to happen on March 2 this year. That is the date that he was supposed to play in his first competitive round of golf on his quest to become the first player to compete on the Champions Tour with a prosthetic leg. The Sunbelt Senior Professional Golf Tour, where Green won back-to-back events in 2005, will host the first event of its 15th season at The Breakers Resort (Jones Course) in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Swan said of his friend and his comeback: "Never count Kenny out."

Green had five wins on the PGA Tour – with all of his wins coming in the mid to late 1980s. His first win came in 1985 at the Buick Open, and his last was at the Kmart Greater Greensboro Open in 1989. He also played on the 1989 United States Ryder Cup Team.

During his time in professional golf, Green has had a reputation for rebelliousness and a propensity to pull stunts. He has had over two dozen fines levied by the PGA Tour for his bad boy antics. Some of them include sneaking some buddies into The Masters in the trunk of his car, drinking beer on the course while playing with Arnold Palmer at the 1997 Masters, and hitting golf balls through narrow openings in sliding-glass doors.

Other fines were for more mundane offences like swearing on the course, criticising officials and signing autographs while playing. His personal problems – divorces, gambling, clinical depression – have led to near financial ruin, and have affected his playing time and the quality of his play.

In 2003, Green made the headlines after jumping into a canal in Palm Beach County, Florida to save his dog, Nip, from the jaws of an alligator.