Golf In A Parallel Universe (33 page)

I arrive at the course fresh and rested. I am tied for the lead after three rounds with the number one player in the world, Cory McCullough. There are a few other players a couple of strokes back. I know anything can happen, especially on this Links course. But I feel good today. After last night, talking to Zack I do not have that burden on my mind about all the confusing emotions I have been having. I meet up with Zack and we go to the range and I hit some balls. That little voice is there as usual, happy with every shot I hit. But it is not bothering me now. I seem to accept it and now more than ever.

“You're hitting the ball really good today. Also you look relaxed," Zack told me. “This may sound strange to you. But after talking to you last night about what I have been going through lately. I feel like a big emotional burden has been taken off me. Thanks for lending me your ear last night” told him sincerely. “No problem," he replied positively. “So what’s the plan today” he asked. “Well," I paused. “After the round yesterday it was pretty clear that I was letting bad breaks get to me. Thanks for pointing that out to me yesterday afternoon. Today I am not going to let anything to get to me. I will just work on making good swings like Gus taught me and see what happens." He agreed that will be a good plan.

We tee'd off at 1:00pm. I was paired up with Cory McCullough. We both knew we would be playing with each other since we are tied after three rounds. “You again!," he said smiling as he shook my hand on the first tee. I just smiled. I wanted to think of something clever to say, but I could not think of anything. We have played each other a lot lately. I know that I have been a thorn in his side. As we were getting ready to tee off, I was starting to grasp the gravity of this situation. I am in a position to win the third major of the year. I am playing against the number one player in the world, again! And the whole world is watching us. The Gallery was insane. There were so many people and you could feel the place was buzzing with excitement. However, I did not feel nervous at all. I was confident and up for the challenge.

Hole number one is a really difficult hole. It is a dogleg right with out of bounds on the right. If you gamble and try to cut the dogleg you better make sure you hit it well or you are out of bounds. And the fairway is tight. Go too far left and you are in the thick fescue grass. I have my three wood out. I want to it hit down the middle and get the ball close to the turning point of the dogleg. Cory is introduced first, and he has his driver out. I am thinking he is pumped up and plans to cut the corner. But to my surprise he aims for the left side of the fairway right at the point where the dogleg turns right. He crushes a high fade that turns right just as it gets to the dogleg, and the ball lands in the middle of the fairway. He must have hit that high fade 330 yards. I was impressed. “How does he do that” I tell myself. That had to be one of the best shots that I have ever seen. You could see it in his eyes that he was ready to attack this course. I just hit the ball right down the middle with my three wood. Nothing fancy. I did not have a short iron to the green like he did, but I was safe. I hit my second shot perfect. At least I thought. The ball hit the back of the green and did not hold. It rolled off the back edge of the green and went down the hill. I was in the rough in the thick fescue grass. Cory hit short iron perfect about 5 feet from the pin. I was not able to get up and down for a par and had to settle for a bogey. Cory knocked his birdie right in.

“Not the way I had it drawn up in my mind on the first hole," I remarked to Zack as we were walking to the next tee. “There’s a lot of holes left today” he replied. “Remember stick to your plan. Don’t let bad breaks get to you. I know Cory will be aggressive today. That may pay off fine for him. But on this course over aggressive play can get you in trouble. Two strokes difference with 17 holes to go is nothing," said Zack. I nodded my head with agreement.

The next few holes went as planned. I got pars on holes I needed and got a couple of birdies. However, Cory had some problems. Two times he hit his drives out of the fairway and bogeyed both holes. We could tell that it was getting to him. Going into number nine we were tied again. This is a 197 yard par three. Wind was in our face and not much room for error here. A bunker on the right and a gully on the left. I hit a four iron right in the middle of the green, just like I wanted. Cory was not so fortunate. His ball hit the left side of the green, took a bad bounce and down the steep embankment in the gully and out of the fairway in the thick grass. He struggled from there and was not even able to get on the green. He was obviously upset. He was able to get up and down for a bogey and stomped off the green. You could tell that he was losing his cool.

The back nine Cory imploded. He got mad because of some unlucky breaks. And the madder he got the worse luck he had. Before we knew it. He had three bogeys and a double, and had knocked himself out of the race. For me, I just kept plugging along. I was playing conservatively because I knew I had this thing nailed. That is until we realized that Nathan Harris, who came in the day three strokes off the lead was making a run. He was in the group ahead of us. He got hot and birdied the last four holes. And was in the clubhouse with a 65.

As I stepped on the 18th Tee Box. I realized that I am tied with him at with one hole to go. It is up to me now. If I par this hole, we tie and there will be a playoff. If I bogey, I lose. If I birdie, then I win. Just that simple. The 18th hole is a 551 yard par 5. A great finishing hole. It is a dogleg right with out of bounds on the right the whole length of the hole. It's reachable in two which makes this a good birdie hole. But it is a tough hole. The fairway is narrow with Out of Bounds on the right and plenty of trouble on the left if you get out of the fairway.

I feel the pressure and try to decide what to do. Do I go with a driver and go for it and put this thing away, or three wood? Luckily for me, I did not have to make that choice. Zack had already pulled out my three wood and gave me a nod. I knew what to do from here. Hit it safe in the middle. Then I will be in good position to hit my second shot within a hundred yards of the green and let me wedge take me to victory.

I hit my drive just like I wanted, down the middle at the turn of the dogleg. “Good shot” replied Cory as we were walking down the tee box. He had loosed up the last couple of holes once he realized that he was out of it. And he was pulling for me. “Just play your game man, just play your game” he said to me in an encouraging tone. He knows that the short game is the strength of my game. My ball was in perfect position, 271 yards from the pin. I pulled out my 4 iron. And this would be the perfect club. Hit it about 200 yards or so and I will be about 70 yards from the green. Just right for my easy wedge shot. But I am a little nervous. Long irons have always been my nemesis. And this is not the place to mess up. Especially on the last hole where you have a chance to win a major championship. Out of Bounds on the right and anything to the left is thick rough. I get over the ball and I am tense. I do not feel confident. I take a step back. I think about what Gus told me about blocking everything out for a few seconds and just think of tempo. But I still could not get comfortable as I addressed the ball again. Then I heard that old familiar voice again “Keep it Parallel Jim” Keep it Parallel." Then I was relaxed again. I stepped back and nodded at Zack with a smile. He looked confused. I readdressed the ball and made a smooth swing shot right down the left center of the fairway.

I handed my club to Zack as we were walking down the fairway. He was just shaking his head and smiling. For my third shot I was seventy yards from the green. This is right in my wheelhouse. There are three bunkers on the left front side of the green and the pin is placed just past those bunkers. So it is a tough pin placement. But this is my shot. There is no reason not to go for the pin here. I know I can get a par to tie, but I want a birdie to win. I address the ball with my gap wedge. A nice high three-quarter swing will be perfect. There comes a time where every golfer pictures a shot in their mind. And then execute that shot just like you planned. And it is a shot that you will always remember. This was that shot for me. I could not have hit it any better. I hit a nice high wedge shot, and it floated down softly and landed two inches from the pin. There was a huge roar from the gallery, they were thinking it was going to go in. I felt so relieved and so happy. I do not have to worry about a pressure putt to win this thing.

As I was walking up to the hole, the gallery was cheering. I was taking it all in. So much different than the masters where I had to make a putt to win, which I hardly remember. So much different from that pressure packed putt at the US Open to win. Here I get to walk up and tap in a two incher for the victory. And I will be the first person to win three majors in a year since 1953. I was really feeling emotional about all that I have been through this year. Cory was putting for a 10 foot birdie. He had me mark my ball so he can finish up and let me have the tap in for the victory. He missed his birdie and tapped in for the par. I placed my ball down, and I was so nervous that hands were shaking. I am glad that it was a tap in. I tapped it in for the victory and the crowd gave a huge cheer.

My emotions just poured out. I could not stop the tears. I was so happy but so emotionally drained. And the tears flowed. Zack gave me a big hug and smiled. He grabbed me by my head by ears. “You did it Jim!, You did it!," he cried out. Cory gave me a big hug as well. “Stop crying you big baby," he said laughing. Then he looked at me. “One more to go man, one more to go” he shouted out to me in a positive voice. He was referring to the next major which is the PGA Championship. The last of the four majors. If I win that one. I will be the first one in modern golf to win the Grand Slam which is to win all four majors in one year.

As we were walking off the green the gallery cheered. I tipped my hat in appreciation and we made our way to the tent to sign and validate our score cards. Then it was official I am the 2014 British Open Champion. Eventually I was able to gain my composure, and I was relaxed and happy. A little later we had the big Ceremony at the 18th green and they awarded the Trophy Cup to me. As they were getting ready to hand me the Cup, I noticed Zack was right next to me. I looked at him laughing. I know why he was there. He was not going to let the same thing happen to me that happened at the US Open. I had it in the back of my mind as I kissed the Cup and held it up to the crowd, but I was not really worried about it. It all went perfect at the Ceremony. I walked around the green holding the cup up to the crowd and was I really enjoying it. And after all that I mingled with everyone and was congratulated by players and all the people who hosted this great tournament.

It really felt good to have a major victory and get to enjoy it. Every professional golfer thinks about this moment. To win a major championship and be the Player of moment for a while. I was thinking it is so odd that this is my third major this year, but the first one that I get to relish and enjoy. Because the Masters was nothing but a big blur, I think I was in shock. And the US Open was a disaster at the ceremony after I won. So it really felt good to enjoy this victory with no problems at all.

There were a couple of parties at the hotels where a lot of the players were staying. But not a specific party for me like I had at the masters. We stopped by and had some drinks. It was fun, but not wild parties. We could not stay too long. At 2:00am a whole group American Players are scheduled to leave on a charter flight back to the United States. This arrangement was made weeks ago, and I was asked if I wanted to pitch in. Several Players, their families, their caddies and caddies family were all booked on this charter flight.

We eventually made to the airport. After we got on the plane that's when the party started. All these golfers and caddies were really living it up on this transcontinental flight. It was great. I have never been on a charter flight like this. Seem like all the seats were first class. And there were more booze than you can imagine. After a while it was really getting crazy. We were passing the British Open Trophy cup around and everyone was drinking Champagne out of it. Then Beer, then anything else that could be poured in it. We were a rowdy bunch. There were some kids on the flight and the wives of took them to the back of the plane while all of us golfers and caddies partied hard. It was crazy and a fun. There was internet on board and there were some embarrassing photos posted on the social media sites. Also, letting everyone know this crazy group is flying back home and will be in Charlotte NC in the morning. It was a blast.

Eventually, after a long night of partying everyone settled down. Getting to sleep was no problem. I woke up about an hour before we landed. The bright morning sun was shining in the cabin and was not helping my headache. We will be landing in Charlotte NC. That was the destination that was chosen for this charter flight because it is a good central location on the east coast and everyone will be able to make easy connection flights to their home. Just a short flight to my home in Orlando. I am ready to get home. Because of the Scottish and the British Open I have been away for about a month. That is nothing new to me since traveling is my life. But being away internationally seems different. It seems like I have been gone a long time. Besides, I am ready to see Emily. Eventually everyone is a wakes up a few minutes before we land. Some guys were not feeling too well and there was a lot of joking going on about how bad some of the guys looked. I did not feel too bad. I was smart enough to drink a lot of water last night. But I did not feel too good either. As we made it over land, it was good to see the good old USA. Everyone was pretty happy as we finally touched down in Charleston.

We landed, and the plane pulled off the runway and made its way to the main terminal. Then it stopped and sat there for about 5 minutes. No big deal. I have seen that a million times. The plane has to wait until the gate clears. Then the plane started moving again. But it took a sharp turn and was heading the opposite direction of the terminal. No one really paid much attention until it was obvious that we were not going to the terminal. We started to wonder what is going on. As we were taxiing the pilot came over the intercom and said we are not going to the terminal because of a security issue. Eventually we stopped way in the back of the airport by some type of maintenance buildings. Everyone was wondering what was going on. We figured there may be some type of terror incident going on here at the airport. The pilot asked us all to stay seated.