Day Two-Part 2 or Angry Adam

 10-24-10

   I am mad.  The tournament was on October 3^rd, but I have not taken the time to finish writing about it until now.  I know I am working full time as a teacher, but I should have fit it in better.  Ah well, better to write about it now than not at all.  It will all get in here eventually.

   I wanted to mention one more thing about the first day.  It’s not a big deal, but on the first tee after Tom had announced our names on the intercom, we (Mickey, Terry and I) had a conversation about our last names and how people hardly pronounced them correctly, especially Terry’s and mine.  I think Tom said Swoop when he announced my name.  We then talked about the origins of our last names.  I’ve been told Swope comes from Schwabia (sp?), a country in Germany.  I am of Irish and German descent.  So, once again, not a big deal, but interesting to me.  We were all relaxed on the first tee and knew each other well enough to have a casual conversation about that.

   Okay, day two.  Day two was odd...
  The tension and awkwardness created by Adam (not his real name), with his anger and his actions, were tempered by the friendliness of my other playing partner, Terry (a different Terry than the one I played with on day one).  We both managed to play fine despite the strange unsettling events on holes #1 and #10.

   On hole #1, we all shook hands, introduced ourselves and did the usual stuff before teeing off.  I had met Terry briefly over in the pro shop near the snack counter before we teed off, but Adam and I met for the first time, and I think Terry met Adam for the first time, too.  Adam had a high and long tee shot.  He is a lefty, and his short backswing would translate into a big sweeping motion that hit up on his golf ball causing it to go way up in the air.  Out on the fairway he thinned his second shot, but he was still fine, at least on the fairway again.  Then he chunked another one, and I could sense his nervousness, or tension.  Whatever it was, it was not a good vibe.

   I walked around the hill on the cart path side to get to my ball, which was on the left side of the green.  Billie Morgan, last year’s champ, and now this year’s champ too, told me after the tournament that he likes to play to that side every time since that area is flatter over there.  As I walked over to the green, Terry (who was on top of the hill) and I both noticed a wedge stuck in the green on the far right side.  The head was sunken and the shaft stuck out a little less than a 45˚ angle.  We both thought it was left there by a player from another group.  I walked over to pull it out and fix the green, and as I did so, I said things to Terry like, “Who did this?” and, “That is not cool.”

   Moments after I had said that, I saw Adam stomping up the hill toward the green, and it was an immediate revelation for me; it was probably his club.  He must have thrown it in anger, and it landed in the green!  It was confirmed when I looked down and saw that I was carrying a left-handed wedge.

   An awkward silence followed.  I felt a chill from what I had just said, but I would have said it again.  It was not cool.  It showed a lack of respect for the course and the game.  But it didn’t stop there.  When he went to putt out, I witnessed one of the strangest, saddest, and comical things I have ever seen since I started to play golf. 

   Adam went to putt out from about three feet.  He missed.  He tried to tap in, but he missed again.  Then he attempted a “reach over and one-hand putt it in,” but that missed, too!  He was about to putt it again while it was still moving (a penalty for sure), but he reconsidered, waited until it stopped, and then he one-hand missed it again! 

   I was in shock.  I think Terry was, too.  We were responsible for keeping track of this guy’s score, but I truly lost count after all of those little misses and so did Terry.  We simply were not prepared to count all of those strokes.  Who would be?  It reminded me of the lines one makes when drawing a star, but he probably made two stars for all I know.  All of those strokes happened in a matter of seconds, and each one was like a nail in his tournament’s coffin.  I thought/hoped he would just leave after that, but he didn’t.     

   He recovered nicely on #2, hitting the green and using up only two putts.  I cautiously spoke with him on the teeing ground.  I asked him if he was okay, and he said he was fine.  He walked over to the teeing ground on hole #3 where it appeared to me he was bragging about what had just happened to a friend of his, like it was funny or cool. 

   He apologized to us before we teed off on #3.  He told us he had played with some players who cussed a bunch and lost their tempers the day before, and it affected him all the way to hole #1 on day two with us.  I was not impressed.  If his partners’ behavior from the day before bothered him so much, how could he think his behavior just moments before would not affect us as well?

   Later in the round, maybe after hole #9, he talked about how he would have been doing just fine if it weren’t for his 13 on hole #1 (we all counted as best as we could and agreed that he earned a 13 on #1 before we teed off on #3).  The truth is, he did not do well at all because he earned a 13 on #1.  In order to win, or play well, a player has to play well on every hole, not just holes #2 through #9.  And then he “lost it” again on hole #10, but with his chipping this time, and he took off saying, “I’m done.”

            Terry and I were happy when he left.