Playing the Pro-Am: What a Trip!
Today was one of those reminders I get every now and then of how awesome my job can be. Cabot and I were invited to play in the official pro-am for the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Invitational… easily one of the top 5 events on the Nationwide Tour. That means a round of golf at OSU Scarlet--oh boy!
Scarlet seems friendly and open at first glance… but it is an absolute bear (fitting Nicklaus designed it). There is trouble everywhere, and Lord knows I found most of it. I took a 10 on the 4th hole after putting 3 balls in the water! Cabot was Mr. Consistency, posting an 80 (I have no idea what I shot because we didn’t officially keep each players’ score...i’m thinking 98-100 for me). And yes, I was the guy taking 4 bunker shots on the 18th to make a closing 8.
Our playing pro was Greg Chalmers, an incredibly talented player and even better guy. Greg’s a native of Sydney, Australia, now living full time in Dallas. He’s a remarkable player, having been on the PGA Tour for many years and headed back there next year. He’s currently 4th on the Nationwide Tour money list with a win and boat load of Top 10’s this season.
We had a great conversation throughout the day, as Cab and I honed our Aussie accents--I’ve been saying “Cheers” all day. He talked about players on tour he prefers to play with (fellow Aussie Aaron Baddeley a favorite) and some of guys on tour of whom he’s not a fan (not for publication, but eye opening).
We also discovered that we both have children with autism. I’ll write more about this on our autism blog www.wcmhblogs.com/bradys_page. It was great to see how someone who’s away from home so much deals with the rigors of caring for a child on the autism spectrum. I struggle and for the most part I’m home all year.
Many thanks to the tournament organizers who let us come out and wreck their course for free!
JROD
