Where to begin? In mid-April I spent three glorious days at ANGC, the guest of my old summer camp junior counselor Bill Gates, and his good pal, the Oracle of Omaha. (We call him “Otto’ for fun.) The highlight was a game of “nines” on the getaway day, $500 a point. (Too rich for my blood, but I figured I could hold my own score-wise.) When Braniac Bill got caught in the front left bunker on 18 (the same bunker that stymied Arnold Palmer in 1961) I had enough of a bankroll to purchase a Patek Phillipe with a platinum face.
I also shared a sliver of my windfall with GCA’er Mark Pritchett by buying him a few PBR’s at a nearby sports bar. Only in downtrodden Augusta do the so-called sports bars have 12” and 15” televisions, as opposed to plasmas or flat-screens, but I digress.
Fourth of July weekend was a blast---Condi Rice (actually ‘Connie” to her BFF’s) had me to CPC for a two-day Member-Guest. (My ex-wife and Connie were best friends and sorority sisters at University of Denver, and we stayed friendly despite our less-than-amicable breakup in 2003.)
I birdied both 15 and 16 on Day One (9-iron and feathered 5-wood, respectively) and then almost repeated the feat on Day Two. (Stiffed a wedge on 15, then missed a 12-footer by a whisker after a hard-drawing 1-iron into a quartering breeze on 16.) We took low net---good for a case of Moet and a tin of Beluga caviar the size of a Nerf football!
Lastly, on a helicopter tour of the Scottish Highlands in mid-September, I was joined on the first tee at Dornoch by none other than Sean Connery! He was great company, and we shared a wee dram around the links…we drained the bottle in celebration when we both birdied Foxy! His ancestral home is outside of Aberdeen, and he asked me to join him at Cruden Bay a few days later, but I was scheduled for a 36-hole day at Muirfield, so I regretfully declined.
Here’s to 2013!