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Veteran national TV golf analyst, Maui resident fighting cancer

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    In this Jan. 6, 2013, photo, broadcast analyst Mark Rolfing talks about the wind from the 10th green before the first round of a golf tournament in Kapalua, Maui.

Longtime TV golf analyst and Maui resident Mark Rolfing is undergoing treatment for a rare form of salivary gland cancer, the Golf Channel announced today.

It said Rolfing, a “treasured” analyst, underwent surgery to remove a malignant growth from his left cheek area last month and “is recovering well” but will not be a part of the Golf Channel and NBC’s broadcast team for the remaining FedExCup Playoffs and Presidents Cup.

The statement said he will soon begin a second phase of treatment at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

“Debi and I would like to thank everyone for their incredible support and well-wishes, which have been incredibly valuable,” Rolfing said in a statement released by the Golf Channel. “My doctors and I are confident that by the end of the next phase of treatment, this cancer will be cured. I fully intend to rejoin my NBC/Golf Channel team at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions in Kapalua in January and can’t wait! In the meantime, I will enjoy watching all of the great golf coverage we have coming up from a fan’s perspective…of which I’m a big one!”

Rolfing, 65, has spent nearly 30 years as a TV golf analyst working for the Golf Channel, NBC, ABC and ESPN. He hosted the “Golf Hawaii” TV show.

After leaving the pro golf tour he worked his way up from the cart barn at Kapalua to become Director of Marketing for the Kapalua Land Company and created the Kapalua Open. He has been an advisor to the Hawaii Tourism Authority and state government on golf and is in the Hawaii Golf Hall of Fame.

He and Debi operate the The Mark and Debi Rolfing Charitable Foundation and provided “over 10,000 hours of volunteer foster care to 27 newborns, the majority being medically and sometimes critically fragile at birth,” according to the foundation website.

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