St. Andrews, Scotland

July 22 - 30, 2012

Off to the home of golf for a two day tournament, the International Payne Stewart Cup.  I received a personal invitation from Jim Hiskey in April.  It is a biennial event to honor the late Payne Stewart, friend of Jim, Wally Armstrong and Bill Rogers.  The event was presented by Bernhard Langer and Bill Rogers.  Bernhard could not be there as he was playing in the Champion Tour British Open that week.

I learned it was to be two man teams for the two day tournament so I asked a friend, Brett Grant.  Brett became more than a good friend, fellow Rotarian and golf buddy when he was diagnosed with stage 4 colon/rectal cancer in 2010.  Suddenly Mary and I were into prayer and support mode, as were many of his close friends.

When I asked Brett, he had just gone through a round of chemo and was unsure he would have the stamina to fly overseas and play golf for two days.  I told Jim, and he said "let's pray for him, and if he decides not to come we'll pair you with another partner."  Of course, I didn't want another partner, so I prayed for Brett's strength, and that I would get my way.  God focused on Brett, not me, and before we left he was talking more rounds of golf.  The group had decided to play Crail on Saturday, following the two days of tournament play, and Brett signed us up for Carnoustie, one of the hardest courses in the world, for Tuesday.  Keeping count, that makes four days of golf, so far.

A good friend in the Links Players fellowship (linksplayers.com), John Hurlburt, has friends that live in St. Andrew, Ames and Jacqueline Broen.  In order to play the Old Course at St. Andrews, the actual birthplace of golf, one must enter a ballot into a lottery two days in advance. That is a new policy that started January 1, 2012.  John's friends did so on Monday for Wednesday but we were unlucky.  We found another spectacular course, Kingsbarns, to play that day and played in sunshine, unheard of in Scotland. That's up to five days straight.  As you may know, golf in Scotland is played walking; there are no electric carts as we have in the USA.  Jacqueline and Ames hosted us for a fantastic lunch prior to our round at Carnoustie in their beautiful home, just minutes from the Old Course.

Carnoustie was fabulous and challenging.  We had great caddies but shot well over our handicaps. Cool, windy and overcast but no rain.   Kingsbarns was beautiful, with all 18 holes having ocean views.  It is a combination of Pebble Beach and Pelican Hill, but a much better course.  Again two great caddies and scores improved a bit.  Sunny skies up to 68 degrees, the warmest day of the week.

The opening dinner was Wednesday night, and Jim asked Brett to tell the story of his ordeal, which he did willingly.  I noticed several players come up to him during the week having been through cancer experiences -  themselves or family members.  There was an unbelievable mix of international players from 20 countries.  We played with guys from Peru, France, Switzerland, England and Nebraska. With 40 two-man teams,  including wives we totaled 97.  We met those from Argentina, Russia, Germany, Northern Ireland and Tunisia.  And Arkansas, too!

The tournament was played at Scotscraig, the 13th oldest course in the world and Jubilee, part of the St. Andrews golf links.  We finished tied for 5th place of the 40 teams.   But wait, there's more!  We decided to play the New Course (built in 1897) on Sunday.  That would be 6 days straight.  Brett's legs were sore in the morning, so play was undecided, until he sat with Bill and Beth Rogers at breakfast.  Describing his soreness, Beth said, " hey, you'll only be here once, go play!"  We played.  Beth is a wise woman and I know Bill is thanking his lucky stars she said yes years ago.  After a week of good weather, the rain came in our last four holes to remind us are in Scotland, indeed.  That made 6 straight days golfing, 108 holes.  We both had some memorable shots, and a few we'd like to forget.  We had caddies for each but the last day at the New Course.  Some were excellent, others not so helpful, but they are definitely part of the experience.  The best were two ladies at the Jubilee Course.  Brett's caddy, Linzie,  had won the Scottish Women's Open, beating the sister of mine, Pam.  Pam's sister became a teaching pro, and Pam had a good amateur career herself.  She said twice before we teed off that Jubilee was going to be a very difficult course in the wind that day.   My best shot of the trip tus far was over a hill to a partially visible green.  140 yards to the front (sprinkler head yardages are always to the front edge) into a 2-3 club wind, Pam pulled my 4 wood.  I couldn't believe I needed that much club, but with Brett standing behind me hit it over the hill to 10 feet.  What a thrill.  Missed the putt,though.

Now that I'm bragging, the best shot I hit was the last hole at Crail on 18  Saturday.  I didn't have a caddy that day but took an electric pull cart, which helped navigate the hilly terrain.  We walked up a set of steps to the tee box, and as I arrived with driver in hand, realized it is a par 3.  Everyone had irons or hybrid clubs to play a hole 180 yards to the front into a stiff right quartering breeze.  I was too tired to walk back down, and decided I probably needed the driver anyway, being the 90th hole we had played.  We were playing a shamble, where everyone goes to the best tee shot and plays the rest of the hole on their own ball, and I hit it to 6 feet and  made the birdie putt.  The wind held up my fade to make it a perfect shot.  Malcolm Gregson, former European Tour pro was on our team, and he was as happy for me as everyone.  Malcolm won the Order of Merit and played on the Ryder Cup team in 1967.  He too is a cancer survivor, having suffered throat cancer.  For every good shot I hit  I made 20 or more bad ones during the week, but choose not to remember all those shots into the gorse. Brett made many more great shots than I, and in fact carried our team to its 5th place finish.

I think Brett and I agreed that Carnoustie was the best course we played, and Kingsbarns the most spectacular.  They were all so good it is difficult to choose one.  As many departed Sunday afternoon, Jim and Malcolm asked to pray for Brett with me, which went something like this:  "Lord give Brett many more years and let Brett give you all his years."

The trip home was more brutal than Jubilee in the wind.  Counting waking up early enough to make the hour drive in the rain to Edinburgh (pronounced Edinboro) and the layovers and drive home from the airport, we spent 24 hours getting home.  Tired and spent!  But it was the most fun golf trip ever and the fellowship with players and spouses from all over the globe cannot be matched.  The next Payne Stewart Cup is being planned for the USA, and in 2016 for Rio as golf will be in the Olympics.  I hope to make both and hope Brett can make them too.  I couldn't ask for a better friend or partner!