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After shooting a 78 in the first round of the Commonwealth Games Junior Golf Tournament last week, Ryan Davis walked off the 18th green at Hanging Rock Golf Club with his head down.

As his mother, Debbie Davis, prepared to drive him back to the clubhouse in a golf cart, the 12-year-old, who was disappointed in his score, mumbled something to her.

"I can play a lot better than that," he said.

Indeed he can. Ryan, who lives with his family in Roanoke County near Glenvar, has had an excellent month of golf. He won the 12- to 13-year-old group in the Andrew Haley Memorial junior golf tournament in Huddleston and captured the age 12 group in the U.S. Kids Golf State Championship, having won the age 11 group in that tournament last summer.

Ryan shot a 71 in the latter tournament to qualify for the U.S. Kids Golf World Championships, which begin today in Williamsburg. He will be joined at that three-round tournament by his brother Parker, 11, who qualified by placing fourth in the State Tournament's age 11 group.

Ryan and Parker are both standout junior golfers. They play or practice daily in the summer and are driven to excel in the sport. Part of their drive comes from their love of golf. But another part is derived out of necessity.

For three years they couldn't play any other sport. Even now they are not allowed to play physical sports such as tackle football or hockey.

That's because Ryan and Parker have storage pool disease, a rare blood disorder that prevents consistent blood clotting.

The disease forced Parker to go into intensive care a few years ago after a bad nosebleed, and requires that he, and Ryan, be very cautious. But they have not let it slow them down or make them live much differently from other kids.

According to one medical dictionary, storage pool disease is defined as "a blood coagulation disorder ... characterized by mild bleeding episodes, prolonged bleeding time and reduced aggregation response to collagen."

In other words, another bad nosebleed could put Parker or Ryan back in the emergency room, or worse. Before they were diagnosed, they played several sports, including football, soccer and ice hockey. One morning when Parker was 4, he woke up complaining of a stomachache and was white as a ghost.

Debbie Davis, a nurse, knew something was wrong and rushed him to Carilion Roanoke Community Hospital. Doctors moved Parker into intensive care and administered several tests, which failed to detect a cause for his condition.

"It was pretty scary," Davis recalled. "They thought it was a disease that was much worse."

Finally a specialist diagnosed storage pool, a recessive genetic disorder passed on by his parents. Debbie Davis, Ryan and the boys' father, Don Davis, were tested for it.

Tests revealed that Parker and Ryan, born 20 months apart, both have storage pool; their parents don't. When Ryan was diagnosed with it, he approached Parker, who was still in the hospital.

"Don't feel bad," he said. "I have the same thing."

They faced the consequences together: They can't take certain medicines, they bruise easily and, worst of all to them, doctors said they couldn't play any more contact sports.

"I was kind of mad," Parker said.

"I wasn't happy," Ryan said. "But I understood."

Doctors recommended they take up swimming. After one lesson, though, they canned that idea. Luckily there was golf.

It has always been Ryan's favorite sport anyway. He practically grew up on the golf course with his father and maternal grandfather, and he took his first steps at 10 months old on a golf course. By age 2, he was playing with toy clubs outside for hours.

He and Parker began taking lessons a few years later and soon started competing in junior events. As members of the Circular World of Golf Junior Academy at Blacksburg Country Club, they practice year-round under the club's head pro Steve Prater.

"They have a great junior program at Blacksburg," Ryan said. "Steve's a great guy. He taught me everything about golf - he and my dad."

Prater, whose son, Jack, 11, is also competing in the U.S. Kids World Championships this week, said Ryan and Parker have developed into very good golfers with a lot of potential because they have a lot of competition at the club and work at it.

"There are so many kids that want to play well but don't put in the commitment," Prater said. But Parker and Ryan "definitely have put the time in. They definitely work hard."

Ryan has especially emerged. He's won several tournaments, captured the Roanoke Valley Junior Golf Association's spring tour (playing up in the 13-14 age group) and qualified for the Virginia State Golf Association Junior Boys' Amateur Championship, scheduled for next week in Virginia Beach.

Prater said the key to Ryan's development has been his maturity. Over the past year, Prater said, he has relaxed more on the course and is better at bouncing back from bad shots.

After he was diagnosed with storage pool, Ryan didn't miss playing other organized sports. "I'm too serious about golf," he said. Three years later, though, doctors cleared him and Parker to do more physical activities.

"The doctor said to let them be normal," Debbie Davis said. "The first few years we were really worried and scared."

After Parker's initial incident, though, "we haven't had anything else occur. ... We just try not to make a big deal about it anymore."

Now Parker and Ryan are as normal as any students at Glenvar Middle School. Earlier this month Ryan, a rising seventh-grader, and Parker, a sixth-grader, learned to surf and did boogie boarding in Myrtle Beach. They also played recreational basketball in the winter and often play pick-up football.

They prefer not to play tackle, though sometimes they do. So are they allowed to?

"No. But I don't get tackled," Ryan said, citing his speed. "We just make sure we don't do anything crazy."

"Sometimes," their mother said, "they're a little rougher than I want them to be."

They'd prefer not to have to worry about that, but they accept their fate. Storage pool has not affected them recently and shouldn't interfere with their goals of playing golf in college.

"It's not that big of a situation," Parker said.

"I'm fine about it," Ryan said. "I know I'm happy. I don't need any other sports."

"It could be a lot worse," Debbie Davis said. "It's something they can live with. When I'll worry is when they're driving."

Ryan and Parker Davis, and Jack Prater, are competing in the U.S. Kids Golf World Championship today through Saturday in Williamsburg. For results, visit www.uskidsgolf.com.