Fore!

In days of yore, what I consider the "dark ages" of my LPGA experience, we used to  play the Bent Tree Ladies Classic in Sarasota Florida. My roommate was Rick Gunnel. Rick was a part time caddie from Columbus Ohio. He would make appearances early in the season and a week or two in the Summer.

Rick was working for Lori Garbacz (The Garb) that week. Lori was a bit of a character and one hell of a shot maker. She was totally unpredictable and would demonstrate this tendency before the tournament was over.

Lori wasn't playing well and was about to miss the cut. There was one hole to play, an unreachable par five. A well placed tee ball was followed by a perfect lay-up. All that was left was the approach shot.

Rick got the yardage, within wedge distance, and gave it to Lori. Out of the blue, Lori asked what was it to the back of the green even though the pin was in the middle. Rick recalculated and Lori pulled out the eight iron. The ball shot off the face of the club, sailed over the pin and landed next to the scoring tent just missing a player from the previous group!

Afterward, Lori told of the time, while playing in the Mixed Team, her partner said he deliberately hit one in the gallery on the final hole during a tournament just for the fun of it. Ever since then she wanted to do the same thing. I guess that day in Sarasota presented the perfect opportunity. Hope she yelled fore!

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