Good Times Off The Course
Left to right: Duncan, McPherson, and me
Golf is such a funny game. It’s a game that all of us love to play, but it’s also a game that at times, we all love to hate. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in the golf that we forget about having a good time. Being on the Duramed FUTURES Tour, we have the opportunity to travel to different cities, meet new people and see new places. I’m going to give you a little glimpse into our lives off the golf course.
During the course of the five years I have been a touring professional, I have met some great people and made some amazing friendships. These relationships have given me the opportunity to go out and do some of these fun things. This year has been a whirlwind.
We started out the season in Florida. While we were there, Tour member Jenny Gleason and I went to a pre-season baseball game. After we left Florida, we headed to Texas. This is where the fun off the course really kicked into gear. During that week, Jenny, Meredith Ward, Danah Ford and I all went to the Texas Rangers vs. Tampa Bay Devil Rays baseball game. Lucky for Jenny, a native of Clearwater, Fla., the Rays won. After the tournament in Frisco, Texas, I got into my car and drove nine hours to Nashville, Tenn. I was meeting two of my best friends — Kristy McPherson and Meredith Duncan. Now why would I drive nine hours to pick them up when they could just fly to our next site? Well, we had tickets to the CMT Music Awards. That was so much fun!!!! We basically had the best concert money could buy, with all of our favorite country music artists singing their best songs — all on the same night. We got back into the car at 5 am the next day and drove to Louisiana, where I won my first tournament on the Duramed FUTURES Tour. Guess taking some time off was just what I needed!
Gleason, me, and Mussani
We seem to go to a lot of places where we can go to baseball games. While in Hammond, Ind., what do you think we did? You guessed it, another baseball game! Jenny, Tour member Salimah Mussani, Tony Monroe and I all went to the Chicago White Sox vs. New York Yankees. That was a randomly fun night. We had our tickets at the beginning of the week and had been talking about it. Rookie Becky Pernicone was so excited and had never been to a game, so she found out about it and went with a couple of her friends. While at the game, we just happened to see them in the same section, down a few rows. But wait, there is more randomness! We turned around and looked up a couple rows and over a section and there were players Mollie Fankhauser, Kelly Cavanaugh and Brenda McLarnon. It was freezing outside that night, but it was a good game and we had lots of fun.
Ford, Gleason, and me
The most memorable baseball story from this year happened recently. It’s amazing the people that we can meet while playing golf. While the Tour was in Cincinnati, Jenny played in the pro-am with some of the Cincinnati Red’s staff. That afternoon, Jenny, Danah Ford and I had a personal tour of the Red’s stadium. It’s crazy how different everything looks with no people in it. We were thinking maybe it would be a quick little tour with a look at the field, the dugouts, and then we would leave. Well, we were in for a treat! We had a tour of the gift shop, the hall of fame and then we got to go on the field and have our pictures taken. We went into the dugout and had some pictures taken there and we got to see the press box, the control room where everything you see on TV happens, and on and on. It was such a wonderful experience to see what all goes into the ballpark that you don’t see when there are tons of people wandering around bumping into you spilling your beer.
Golf scores only last as long as the next round you play and some would say that these opportunities only last until you have the next one. But for me, these have been some of the most memorable moments this year. Yes, I LOVE the game of golf and I hope to be playing it for a long time, but I also LOVE the people I meet, the connections that I make and the opportunities I have to experience life off the course, as well.
