So, here we are a few days past Memorial Day and a tradition continues in Dublin Ohio that began in 1976. Directly across the street from our condo Jack Nicklaus' tourney begins this Thursday. It's one of the 'biggies' on the PGA tournament trail but not what 'Fat Jack' anticipated. I got this bit of information from two of my neighbor friends now deceased. They told me Jack was hoping his event would eventually be on par with that of the U.S. Open. It didn't and will never happen. Since both gentlemen were close friends of Nicklaus who am I to doubt their honesty?
In its early days of the tournament celebrities galore came to the tournament and roamed the grounds. It's not that way anymore. For Her Majesty and me the thrill is also gone. I figure 'that's the way it goes' because we're now in our mid to late 70's. When we moved here we were age 62. What I had back then as compared to today is energy. That commodity is now on the train to Never Never Land. For the past two days I've walked across the street to the main entrance to the tourney. Getting tickets is not a problem. My new neighbor is a Murifield member. He passes out freebies they way I give candy bars to little kids on Halloween.
Yesterday, as I walked toward the 18th green I asked myself, "Why am I here" since I didn't recognize one single person. I keep looking for Arnie Palmer or Gary Player. I look for someone I recognize but it seems today these young golfers all have the names of John Smith or Bill Jones. In other words, I don't have a clue as to who these young kids are or from where they come. Some of the golfing pro's were on the putting green doing their schtick. I paused to look for a moment then moved on and the reason for this is I didn't recognize any golfers either. It was then I decided to move to the grandstand seats overlooking the driving range. Watching good golfers hit range balls intrigues me as I ask myself, "Why can't I hit a ball the way these guys do?"
After a half hour I left for home. As I stood next to the bottom of the grandstand stairs professional golfer, Rory McElroy, was standing next to me. Would you care to guess the extent of our conversation? If you respond with a 'no' then you'd win because there wasn't one. I didn't say 'hi'. I didn't nod. I did nothing. And why do you suppose this was my response? I think I know. It's because he's a regular guy with a job just like millions of others and I'm not gaga over celebrities.
As I was leaving for my walk home I wondered why I came over in the first place. In the old days if I wasn't admiring golfers I could at least look at good looking women. I didn't see many of those, either. Maybe if I come back when the actual competition begins there'll be a slew of hotties walking around. My guess is I won't see any of these babes since the match is on television and I won't want to walk the 200 yards to the front gate. Besides, Her Majesty will be in the condo and at my age she looks good to me and watching on TV means I'll be within crawling distance of our biffy.
Let the games begin. If you watch the event on television our condo is invariably scanned by cameras. You can call your friends and tell them, "Hey, I know a guy who lives there"------------or not.
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