A Great Game Recently Played

    I want to recount the last time I played with Bruce and C.J. now.  It was fun, and I need to do this to help ease the suffering I’m going through.  It’s not so much about Grandma dying, but it’s that I have a cold, the truck just broke down, our master bath sink is leaking, and so is the pipe below the house for our tub.  I also misplaced my earmuffs.  They are in the van here somewhere, but with all the piles it’s too difficult to search for them now.  I spent hours in my classroom on both Friday and yesterday to get ready for a sub for the next two days.  I’m slightly miserable, so writing about this will help my mood.
    C.J. came up with the greatest game.  It was during the President’s Cup, so he used that for his inspiration.  For three holes, one of us was the International player and the other two were the Americans.  The International player got one mulligan per hole, and the Americans got to use their best score.  Every three holes, we would switch, so here’s how it played out.
    We started on the back nine, and...

I was chosen to be the first International player.  I said Retief Goosen, but then I quickly switched to Ernie Els.  I had been hitting this green regularly the last several times I played, but with no warm-up I ended up short this time.  My chip put my ball about twenty-five feet from the hole, but I was on.  It was towards the back on the left side this time.

    I misunderstood the rules on this first hole, but C.J. quickly straightened me out.  I thought I only got one mulligan for every three holes, but it was one per hole.  Since I missed the putt, and the other two were going to get bogeys, C.J. thought I should use the mulligan, so I did.  I think I put my ball a little farther away from where it originally was, but I made it!  It broke about three feet to the right, and I know my first putt helped give me that read.  (Hey.)  Danielle wrote that.  She is in the back seat of the van with me.  She is bored.
    The Internationals were one up after one hole.  On the next hole, Bruce earned a birdie with a close approach, so he (as Tiger Woods) got the Americans back to even.  I got a par with my mulligan after my first putt did not get my ball close enough.
    On #12, I earned a par to their double bogey.  I used my mulligan on my tee shot this time.  My first shot pushed too far (almost to #9’s teeing ground), so I gave it another go and ended up just off the green on the front right side.  The flag was close to that side, so I got up and in with two putts.  Internationals one up again.
    On the next hole, C.J. was the International player, so I switched to Dustin Johnson.  This was just a part of what made this game so fun for us.  It was like Halloween; we got to pretend to be somebody else for a while.  We were like little boys.  C.J. chose to be Retief Goosen, but he had some putting woes as Retief.  Later he switched to a better putter, but I don’t remember who it was.  Even with his mulligan, C.J. struggled to a bogey.  Dustin and Tiger earned two pars to put the match all square again.  As we walked up #15’s fairway, Tiger said to Dustin, “I heard you had a troubled childhood.”
    Dustin said, “I heard you had a troubled marriage.”  That ended the conversation, and they focused on playing once more.
    Retief got another bogey with his continuing putting troubles.  Tiger and I got another par each, so the Yanks were one up for the first time.  We both got a par on #15, and Retief got a third bogey, so were now two up.  Tiger played it safe, and I had a slight breeze coming from behind me, so I attempted to drive the green.  It looked good all the way, but it landed short and in the rough stuff just before the bunker and to the right of the pond.  I thought I would find it, but I never did.  I took a drop, and with “Tiger” watching, made a swishy floppy swing with my sand wedge left open.  Before I took my swing, I kept opening it up a little more, a little more, until it looked and felt right.  The ball shot out of the tall grass it was in, landed on the green, rolled a ways and settled less than a foot from the hole.  As I walked over, my ball suddenly came rolling back to me.  Retief had thrown it back.
    With the last three holes, Bruce became the International player.  He earned a quick par to our two bogeys, so the U.S.A. was back to one up again.  We all bogeyed hole #17.  I tried to drive it again (I was still Dustin), and my tee shot ended up behind the porta-potty on #15.  I took a free drop and was happy to get in with only three shots from there.