Random Story

My brother is an exceptional golfer. He was about one shot and 1000 joints away from making onto the PGA Tour fulltime. But don't feel bad that he's not on TV...he doesn't...he's lead a very full life and has had great success doing what he loves to do and has had a ton of fun along the way. The following stories is NOT an example of that.

My brother open qualified for the PGA tour a few times. What that entails is winning an early week tournament. That tournament is typically a one round shootout with 50-100 of the best local golfers as well as traveling professionals who don't have an automatic berth on the circuit. Each of the PGA stops has one of these qualifiers and usually the top 4 in the tournament get in...the competition is fierce. In each of these my brother shot 67 or better (!) in order to get in..he's no slouch.

So he open qualified for the Buick Open one time with a 66 against the best golfers in the NY metro area. He was psyched and hopefull and went into the event with a lot of momentum. This event was to have Tiger, Vijay, and all the other favorites and was to be televised. The event also comes just before the US Open so the field is on top of their game.

I had hoped to caddy for my brother for this event as I was slated to caddy for him if he got into the US Open but I had a conflict. Instead, my brother selected my Uncle...also a golf pro...to caddy for him. This was an important event and my brother wanted antoher set of professional eyes on the course with him.

Now the one thing you should know about my family...especially my uncles...is that we are all obsessive/compullsive. And most of that compullsion invovles gambling, drinking, and ....well more drinking and gambling. So while my Uncles all have found tremendous success and have been gifted with great talents....they all also come with the potential to find themselves in jail, unconsious, or in bed with the Sherriff's daughter(s) at anytime.

So round one doesn't start off so hot for my bro. He was two over for the first three holes as nerves got to him a bit. He did settle down and through 9 holes stood at a respectable 3 over. As he started the back nine a storm rolled in and the tournament went on a rain delay.

As my brother and uncle started into the clubhouse they were stopped at the door. My brother was allowed in, but my uncle was barred. The clubhouse was for players only. With Tiger and such inside, they didn't want any riff-raff in the building. My uncle explained that he was a playing professional. No dice. As far as the tournament was concerned, he was a caddy and could go hang out at the caddyshack ( there really are such things) or stand in the rain.

My uncle, of course, went for door number 3 and waited at the local bar. It was now noon.

The rain never went away and the tournament was postponed until Friday. My brother went back to the hotel. My Uncle decided to hang around with his new caddy friends for, you know, one more drink.

Friday morning came with 90 degree July heat. Since my brother didn't finish on Thursday he had to play early. He had to play 7 holes to finish Thrusday's round and then 18 hole for Friday's round. 25 holes of golf total in 90 degree heat...200% humidity.

And here came my uncle....and apparently that one more drink was about 400 ounces....of vodka.

Off they went, my brother shaking in his boots.....my uncle just shaking.

Well things didn't go so well. My brother could not make a putt and his second pair of eyes were a little blurry. After finishing thursday's round he was 6 over. Knowing that the cut was going to be 3 over he was going to have to play the second round aggressivly and shoot 3 under. It was going to be all or nothing.

"Nothing" won.

My brother's game cracked at about hole 24. My uncle cracked far before that...at some points literally unable to stand or hold the clubs.

So the point of this story is to paint what has got to be one of the most unusual pictures in all of Buick Open history.....

Here was my brother, in what was supposed to be one of his career shining moments...standing on the 18th fairway of a PGA Tour event.....cameras rolling....huge galleries....playing in the show.

Standing directly behind him was the high school kid the PGA hired to carry by brothers score. With great pride, the kid hoisted up the score for the Gallery to see...MIKE L. +15 .

.....and behind him, laying in the grass as if he'd just been shot, with the golf bag laying on it's side with a couple of clubs half-in half-out of the bag...tees strewn about was his caddy.

And they wouldn't let that guy in the clubhouse ?! The nerve !