We wake up the next morning and it's another beautiful day, unfortunately, there's little in the way of wind, not even the slightest prevailing wind from the SSE
We have breakfast, assemble the herd, and head off to the practice tee.
After hitting balls for 15 minutes and a few putts, the foursomes are selected and we head to the first tee.
On the first tee I notice that a strange metamorphosis has taken place overnight.
Last night, Ran was all bravado, crowing about his destruction of the unsuspecting Huckaby, and his pending crushing of yours truely.
This morning, high pitched whining has replaced baritone/bass bravado from Ran.
He's insisting on an inordinate number of shots, so many shots that the match would be over shortly after the turn.
One outrageous request suggests that a shot a hole would be fair. I tell him it would be more than fair, it would be great ...... for his bank account.
The whining continues unabated.
Ran has now done a 180. Instead of telling me about the great shots he hit yesterday against Huckaby, which I had already heard about at dinner, he's now telling me about his poor shots, unfortunately for him, he can't recall many, but, he keeps repeating the few he hit during the course of his round, trying to expand them to universal status.
Ran eventually sees that I'll not yield to his initial, outrageous,shot proposal and now alters his strategy, fixing on 14 shots.
This proposal is immediately rejected. Ran now drops, not one, but two shots, down to 12, thinking that I perceive the two shot drop as a real bargain, while forgetting about the insanity of giving him 12 shots. To add some context to the matter, I think Ran is a six handicap at the time. He could be a little lower or higher. Even at 12 it's a bad bet for me.
He now changes tunes, and starts telling me how lucky he was to beat Huckaby the previous day.
Was it the orange juice and pancakes that made him change his tune ?
This revelation on his part is greeted with disbelief by everyone on the first tee who attended dinner the previous night.
Seeing the look of disbelief on the surrounding faces, he immediately sees the wisdom in changing tactics, this time opting for the obsolescence of his equipment, versus my equipment.
I then remind him that his hickories were made within the last year and that my Ping Eye Two's were made twenty years ago in 1985.
He then claims that hickories don't perform as well as steel shafts, and if they did, everyone would be using them.
I agree, but tell him that Tom Huckaby is "Exhibit A", that Tom Huckaby used steel shafts to no avail, because the hickories carried too much in the way of additional shots.
I remind him that we're playing the same golf ball.
I then make my first and final counter offer.
I'll make three matches with you, one at 10 shots, another at 11 shots and the final match at 12 shots.
Ran leaps and accepts all three matches without further negotiation.
That's not a good sign for me.
This tells me that he's far more proficient with his hickories than we know.
It also tells me that he believes that he and his hickories are adjusting well to the windless conditions at Sand Hills
We start off on the first tee and I'm very surprised to see how well he's swinging and how good of a drive he hits.
I'm not so much impressed by the accuracy of his tee shot as I am by the distance of his tee shot.
It's rather startling and not what I had expected.
As if in one motion, as he completes his follow through on his drive, he turns and impishly smiles at me, implying, "Take that, you've been had".
Ya know, there's just something really, really, really special about competitive golf amongst friends.
I love the gesture, it ignites the afterburners of my competitive spirit.
As I prepare to drive, I tell myself, now, don't try to kill it and blow it well by him, just swing smooth, but with good acceleration.
I kill it and blow it far by him. I turn and return his smile, and off we go, down to the first fairway.
Ran and I have had a good number of matches at some wonderful courses over the years and both of us are looking forward to this match. We've always enjoyed each others company, the comraderie, the spirited needling, disecting and discussing the architecture, the golf course experience, and other topics not fit for print. This match has been long anticipated. I was getting weekly calls to make sure that I'd show up. I would counter his jabs by telling him that if he's having difficulty getting to Sand Hills from North Carolina that I would send limos and private jets to make sure he shows up.
I hit my second shot to the base of the green, wedge up, make birdie and halve the hole with Ran who, as part of all three matches is getting a shot on all par 5's. I feel that that's a victory for me, for if I can halve the shot holes, I stand a good chance of beating him on the non-shot holes, and winning all three matches.
But, I must say that I'm impressed by the distances he's hitting these hickories.
As we walk to the 5th tee we hear strange noises, yelling and screaming.
We look around and spot a white pickup truck riding the ridge with the cab and back filled with GCA.com'ers.
They are retracing, examining and analyzing the "Constellation Routing", the one that hangs in the clubhouse.
Ran and I look at each other in disbelief.
Given the opportunity of playing this great course, they've chosen to ride around in the back of a pickup, over difficult terrain, to examine a phantom golf course, and, they're yelling and hollering the whole time. This is the ultimate in GCA.com geekdom.
But, we understand
They ask, how is the match ? Since there are three matches, it requires a more complicated answer, one which neither of us is prepared to give, so we say, all even, which was probably pretty accurate.
The 6th hole proves very enlightening.
The hole is tucked left.
I hit a good iron to the middle of the green, and I'll be damned if ran didn't hit a terrific shot inside mine.
I'm again, surprised and impressed.
Ran's swing, contact and the flight of the ball are all impressive.
He asks me, smiling, if I want to try his hickories. I decline, but, I am impressed
We make the turn and at the halfway point we're asked how our match stands.
Not wanting to get into detailing three matches and the differences in standing, we say, all even, and we're probably pretty close to that.
As the match flows from the 1st tee, we're also discussing the golf course, certain features and how best to play them.
We notice how differently the 5th hole plays from the back versus the regular tee.
It's not so much the difference in yardage as it is the flight of the ball and the slope of the terrain in the DZ
All three matches are very close, but, my birdie on 16 ends the 11 shot match, I won the 10 shot match earlier, so now, only the 12 shot match hangs in the balance, and, I'm one DOWN, with two to play.
On # 17, a wonderful par 3 where missing the green is a fatal mistake, I hit a good iron about 20 feet behind the hole which is favoring the front of the green. Ran hits a good shot, but, it's about 35-40 feet from the hole, on the SAME line as my ball.
As we arrive at the green, I'm thinking, he could easily three putt this, making the match all even with just one hole to go, the difficult 18th. I like my chances if I can just win # 17
Ran takes an inordinate amount of time lining up his putt, which I like.
He addresses his ball, and makes his stroke.
Three feet off the putter blade I know that I've won this hole.
Ran has hit his putt very hard and well to the left of the proper line.
I am delighted.
He screams, oh no, slow down.
As his ball goes speeding past my marker, I immediately get behind it to watch his ball, which will probably end up 15 feet left and past the hole.
Now, the worst possible thing that could happen, happens.
About 10 feet from the hole, His ball hits a pebble, not just any pebble, but, a small rock, which not only deflects his ball to the right, but, slows it down quite a bit.
Horribly, his ball hits the back of the cup, still at speed, jumps up, and goes into the hole
All I can think is, are you f'in kidding me ?
Ran is ecstatic, jumping and flitting across the green, now claiming that he hit the perfect putt at the perfect time.
If anyone thinks that anyone can do a better impression of "Tinker Bell" on steroids than Ran, they're mistaken.
The man is euphoric, telling everyone within earshot what a perfect putt he hit.
I still can't believe it, I saw that stone, but never gave it any thought in terms of influencing play because if was so far out of our line.
Now, I get over my putt, steel myself and say, just knock this in and you'll go to extra holes with "Tinker Bell".
I hit my putt and it looks perfect from the moment it leaves my putter.
It's on the line I read, at a good pace and breaking slightly left to right into the hole.
I take a quick look at Ran and a look of horror has come over his face.
I glance back, to see my ball, it's slowing down and breaking into the hole when suddenly, it stops breaking, catches a good deal of the hole and spins out. I can't believe it, I thought I had hit the perfect putt, especially given the circumstances.
Ran is still airborne, having leaped as high as he's physically capable of, and shouting with glee.
This is definitely one of my most bitter defeats since I've been playing golf.
The other two matches I won are of no consequence, I wanted to win all three, and I was so close to winning this one as well.
Fate, in the form of a small rock, would bring about a terrible reversal of fortune, and make Ran's golfing year, if not decade.
As someone once said, "What a revolting development this turned out to be"
I congratulate Ran on his win, pick up the stone, and ask him if he wants to have it "bronzed"
I am really, really, really pissed.
I had him, he was choking, he hit that putt a thousand miles an hour and pulled it, he would have three putted and we'd have gone to the 18th tee all even, that's like putting a good meal in front of me after I haven't eaten in a week.
While Ran was incredibly lucky on # 17, his play for the day was outstanding.
As we head to # 18 tee, Ran needs a par to break 80 and shoot 79. A birdie gives him 78.
With a par on 18 I'll be in the 60's
Ran pulls his tee shot into the large left bunker and bogies the hole.
I drive to the right center of the fairway, hit my approach on the green and make par, certainly a good score on the hole and for the day, but, I'm totally unsatisfied with the results, especially that putt of his on # 17. That putt had to be one of the worst putts under pressure that I've ever seen.
All through out the day and for the rest of the trip, Ran is telling everyone who will listen how he used that rock as a backboard to bank his putt into the hole. Of course he fails to tell them that the putt could have made it to North Dakota at the speed it was traveling.
To this day, I'm still annoyed at that putt, rock and result.
And, you can bet, that I now remove any pebble, stone, rock anywhere remotely near my opponents line.
Time for lunch, but, I'll continue with the final part of our journey shortly