Probably the biggest disappointment was to have my 84-year-old mother fly out to watch me play (she was able to get an electric wheel chair, so she could follow around every hole), and have her see me struggling on the course during the tournament.
But on the whole, this has been an amazing experience. My playing partners in the tournament, Bill Harvey and John DiMarco, both PGA club pros, could not have been nicer to play with. They are very good players but also struggled with the course and conditions. The treatment the players get is amazing - everything is first class. We had standard bearers with our names accompanying our group, even in the practice rounds.
It is also remarkable how good these players are. Kenny Perry still hits the ball as far as most PGA tour players (he was 60 yards past my good ones). By the way, I asked Kenny how many holes in one he has had, and his response was "I stopped counting after 40"! Then Scott Hoch said he didn't know if he had over 30 holes in one, and wasn't aware that Kenny had more than him. Yes, these guys are good!
Plus they like to have fun on the course. It was hilarious listening to Kenny and Scott kid each other:
Kenny: "Scott is tighter than skin on a hot dog!"
Scott: "If you have as much money as Kenny, everyone looks tight!"
Kenny: "Scott, you've got eight houses!"
Scott: "Well I just sold one, so now I only got seven!"
This went on and on and these guys had me laughing.
What a week this has been!
* The only other Hong Kong golfer to compete in a major championship is Jock Mackie, who played in the 1959 Open Championship at Muirfield.
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