Golf In A Parallel Universe (9 page)

Hole 14, I drill him. I birdie, he struggled for a par. I am one up with four to go.

Hole 15 we half the hole with a par.

Hole 16 he shows he is still the number one player in the world. Par 4. I hit a good drive down the middle. He pulls his left about 15 yards ahead of me but he went in the rough. I am one up and feel confident. I am one up and if I win this hole, I am two up with two to go. Pretty good odds. My second, I am 185 out, I hit a 5 hour safely in the middle of the green. He is in the left rough, has a lot of tree problems. He cannot punch it out and get close to the green. He does not direct shot to the green. He has two options as far as I can see. Lay up about 100 yards short. Or if he wants to get close to the green his only option is in the far right side of the green and if it kicks off the right side, it is out of bounds is only a few feet away. I can hear him discussing with his caddie. He says if I can hit a high hook, I can bring it around to the green. I am thinking that he is crazy, there is no way. He is going to have to get it high fast, then a big hook. And he has a fluffy lie which is is impossible to create a high hook. If he was on other side of the fairway, yea, a makeable high Slice, but a hook? I see his caddie shaking his head. I do not think he is sold on this idea. I feel there is no way to keep this ball from going out of bounds if he tries this shot.

The TV crew is also analysing this. The zoom in on his lie and the commentators feel like he has no hope to get to the green. “This guy thinks just because he is number one in the world he can do anything," I tell myself. Cory lines up, here we go. He makes his swing and you could not have drawn it any better on paper. Towering high shot that starts out far right. And to my amazement the ball has a distinct long curve to the left. The ball must have hooked 30 yards. And the ball lands softly 2 feet from the pin. I am amazed! “How can you hit a high hook on a fluffy lie?," I ask myself. The TV crew goes crazy on this one. They showed it a dozen times on replay. This will be on the highlights on TV tonight. I am not sure how I should feel. Should I be pissed? Should I feel dejected and depressed? Somehow I feel privileged to have witnessed such a shot. I walk by him and give him a high five and a pat on the back. The TV crew comments that Jim is a great sport. Sure I was being a good sport, but I just enjoy seeing a great golf shot like that. And that was the best golf shot that I have ever seen. Back at Jerry Churchill 's house, he just sits down puts his hands together next to his lips and knows I'm in trouble. So I miss my long putt, he makes his. So now we are even with two holes to go. On seventeen tee box, I got my fire back. Two holes to go and we are even. I am ready to bury him. But seventeen was uneventful, we both pared.

Hole 18, par 5, we are even. I am not nervous and I am not scared of this guy. Anything can happen on one hole. I am focused and ready to roll. This is a long par 5 which is his advantage. He hits first. He is pumped and drives one down the middle at least 325 yards. I bomb one myself about 290 yards. I got a little adrenalin going as well. As we are walking down the fairway, I am discussing with Zack. “What is the Plan here?," I ask. “Well he can reach it in two, you cannot," he replied. “I know that he is not conservative, he will go for it. You guys are even and he is thinking birdie” he said as we got to my seconds shot. Zack explains that I can go for it and if I hit a perfect shot, I may be 20 yards from the green. But if I stray my shot, left or right, that will be a problem. The green is surrounded by bunkers and water on the far left. “Let's set him up” he says. “He expects you to be aggressive and go for it. Let's hit a 5 iron right down the middle. That will put you right at 100 yards out. Just an easy wedge into the green. And that is you best shot you have in the bag. No one is better from a hundred yard in than you," he told me confidently. Zack explained that it will force him to be conservative or go for it. If is conservative and lays up like me. Then I will have a better chance on a pitch shot than he does. But conservative is not in his nature. He will have more pressure to go for it if I lay up. And if he goes for it, he will have to do it in a conservative way. And trying to go for it in a conservative manner. That may be a problem because if his second shot is not perfect, he is buying a bunker.

This all makes sense to me. Either we are both laying up, or he goes for it and wins, or goes for it and makes a mistake. If I make a good safe shot, then put the pressure on him. I do exactly that. I nail a 5 iron down the middle right at the hundred yard mark. Cory looks a little surprised. Now it is on him. Should he go for the Jugular, or play it safe? I see him discussing with his caddie. He can go for it which is a tricky shot because of the bunkers.Or layup about 30 yards. Which the best he can do because bunkers are in the front of the green. But if he goes for it and makes a mistake then he could have a problem. He pulls out a fairway wood, probably a 5 wood. Zack whispers to me, that he can get there with a good 3 iron, but he is going to try to hit an easy 5 wood. So he is conservatively going for it and that could be a problem. He lines up left, looks like he is hitting a high fade. He wants to float it to the green. He hits it perfect. But he has adrenalin working. and it too strong. It hits the back the green and almost stays up. But the back of the green slopes away and his ball gently rolls into the bunker. He is pissed. He slams the his club down. His caddie picks it up and they walk to the green.

“You are genius, That's why I pay you the big bucks," I said to Zack smiling. He chuckles knowing that we both know that is not true the last few years. So it is all laid out. If I can do my part then I will be fine. I got a 100 yard wedge shot. Pretty much full gap wedge shot. And that is one of my favorite shots. I address the ball and I deliver the package. I blank the pin with a high wedge shot 6 feet from the hole. So we get up to the green. I got a very makeable six-foot putt and Cory is in the back bunker with a long ways to go. You could not have drawn it up any better for me. I see that he has a good lie and not really any major problems. He is number one in the world and I see the potential that this may not turn out so good for me. I think about his last bunker shot which was unbelievable. But still he is a good 55 feet from the cup and in the sand trap. He gets set up, and I sense that he is not so confident. He knows he has to get up and down or it is over because I got a six footer for a birdie. He has to get up and down for birdie. Zack whispers to me that this is an easy bunker shot for him. Maybe an easy shot will put more pressure on him. And Zack nailed it again. He took a swing and made it out of the bunker with only a fair shot. He hit it a little fat, and he was a good thirty feet from the hole. But I am thinking, he can still make this. But if he misses and gets a par and I do not make my birdie putt then this is all even and we go to sudden death. Or, he can make his putt because he is the best putter in the world. If I miss and he wins it all over. So I am panicking inside. All this strategy that Zack and I planned on this hole can be all for naught. So Cory lines up. This is not really a hard put. A slight downhill putt with a predictable break to the right. Really just a speed putt. If he strokes it like the wants, it has a good chance. He makes his putt and I feel like my heart is going to stop. It has good speed and is turning to the right. But the ball somehow just breaks a hair too much at the last second and just catches the right lip of the cup and does not fall. It was one of those heart breaking putts where you just cannot believe it did not fall. He winched with disappointment and the gallery reacted with a very big “Ahhhh.”

So now it is all laid out for me. I need to make this putt. If I make it then I win this Match and the tournament. This is not a really big tournament in the scheme of things. But if I can make this putt. Then I will have beaten the number one player in the world. And that I feel will validate my Masters win and that I am not just a fluke. Zack and I line up the putt. It is six feet a slight break to the right. I am putting the same path that Cory from the opposite direction, so I know there is a slight break. But I am close and not enough to the hole, so not hardly any break. I get over the putt and I freeze. It Seems like forever. Jerry Churchill is watching intently on TV and knows what I am going through. Every golfer has been through this before. I try to decide if I should step away. But for some stupid reason, I think that would be embarrassing. I try to calm myself down but I cannot. I feel like I have been over the ball for ever. I am panicking inside but decide to not step away. I make a stroke, I feel my putter head going back not to smooth and not too straight. I hit the ball, and it rolls towards the cup. It rolls right in the middle of the cup. I win! I feel so surprised. Zack gives me a big hug. Cory comes up takes his cap off as I do mine and we shake hands. “Good match Jim, good Match” he told me. And I can tell he is sincere. I know it hurts him. But he played his best, and I beat him! I feel so vindicated that I have showed all the Nay Sayers that I am not a fluke and I am for real. As we start walk off the green, I think about that putt that I froze up on. I got lucky that that went in. I make a promise to myself that that will never happen again. I will gain control and step away to regroup if that situation ever comes up again.

Meanwhile, Jerry was really excited at home when my Jim’s putt dropped. He jumped so high when the putt dropped he almost pulled a muscle in his leg. He sat back on the couch. “Yeah this boy may just make a run the next few months. “Not sure how I am going to handle this young man. But in due time, in due time” he tells himself.

We go through all the ceremonies. But this tournament is different. Only four players left. Me and Cory and the two that battled it out for third place. So this tournament does not have the feel of a big time win. But hey, I got paycheck. Something I have been lacking the last few years, but now things are looking better financially.

I get back to the hotel and sit by the window, look at the view and drink beer. I start thinking about the last few days. I think about how I had the competitive fire and won every match to win this tournament. I think maybe that I may be for real and will start making a run at some tournaments this year on the tour. Then I realize. “Oh My Gosh," I said to myself. Next week is the player's Championship at Sawgrass. At first I am nervous thinking about that tournament. For all practical purposes it is like a Major. There are only four Major tournaments in golf. But some consider this unofficially to be the fifth major. I kick back and take another sip of beer. I start to think that my chances are as good as anyone. “What the heck. I feel good let's go for it," I tell myself. Then I realize I have not turned on my cell phone. I turn it own and it does it thing with all the little chirps that the smartphones do nowadays. I grab it and have a few text messages from friends congratulating my win. Then I see one from Jerry Churchill . I open it up, I am still pissed at him. And I do not know why. Ever since that disaster at Zurich Classic of New Orleans last week I feel like he just knows something about me and I cannot put my finger on it. His text says “Congratulations Jim! I am so happy for you." I start to think that I should not be too upset at him. Besides, he is golf legend and seems to have an interest in me for some reason. I guess I will try to be nice to him. Maybe he will be a good mentor for me. As I scroll down, I see another text and it is from Emily in New York. “Wow!," I said out loud. I am so excited. She said “Congratulations on your big Win. Emily." I was ecstatic! First of all she knows I exist and second of all she actually made an effort to follow my progress. And she kept my business card and made an effort to contact me. “Wow!.” I tell myself.

I feel stupid because I am more excited at the moment from hearing from her than winning the tournament today. So now I need to reply back. "But what do I say?," I ask myself. Do I be cool with a short thanks like I do not really think that it is a big deal to hear from her? Or do I text some long message and sound too happy and desperate to hear from her? So I decided to just text “Thanks! Great to hear from you, take care. Jim." “That was not too bad” I tell myself. Nice thing about technology. You do not have to put yourself in the fire. A few years ago, I would have had to make a telephone call and I would have frozen up like that last putt today. A minute later my phone chirps. Another text. It’s from Emily! I anxiously read her text. “Sorry to bother you but I just thought I would let you know that I will be in Tampa Florida to see my parents on May 12th. I will be there for a couple of weeks. I remember you told me that you live in Orlando. I know you are very busy with golf tournaments this time of the year, but if you are around and have some free time maybe we can meet during that time." I cannot believe this. I try to think. What is my schedule at that time I say to myself. “Oh Yeah, The Players Championship TPC at Sawgrass is next week. Tournament starts Thursday May 8th and ends May 11th. And just happens to be in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida which is close to my home. And I got a break after that tournament. “I have a two week break! This is perfect!," I tell myself. I will be free those days. “Ok, so how do I handle this?," I ask myself. Should I text her back excitedly that I really want to see her? Or should I play it cool and tell her I may be able to squeeze her in my schedule. I decide to just be straight, and tell her that I am free, so I text her. “Hi Emily. I do have a tournament that will be ending on May 11th, which is The Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. And I just happen to have a two week break after that. So sure I will have some free time and would love to see if we can get together. I will contact you after I get back from the tournament," told her. "OK, Great!, and good luck with your tournament," she replied. My gosh! We are set. I get to see her again. I feel like I have known her forever even though I have only met and been with her for only one day. I cannot believe she actually contacted me and I am going to meet her. “Wow life is good now," I tell myself.

I am beat. It has been a long week. Tomorrow I fly back home to Orlando. Then get ready for The Players Championship which is next week. And it is nice that it is close to home so I can drive. It will be good to not have to fly again. Finally it is time for bed. I go to sleep and have those recurring dreams again. I dream I live in a small town, wife and kids and a peaceful life. But then again, I never really seem to see the faces very well. Dreams are funny, no matter how weird it is it just seem normal. Maybe someday, I will have a Normal life.