Bit of a truncated week for me although no less wearing for that. At 7.00am on Tuesday morning, whilst most of you lucky boys and girls on the buy side were rolling out of bed and heading down to breakfast, I was standing on the 1st tee of the Old Course at St. Andrews all set to compete over 18 holes in the Autumn Meeting Medal. I know a very few people who do find golf boring so if you are one of those skip on. Truth is I had a bit of a traumatic time. I hadn’t competed in a Medal at St Andrews for almost a decade and never before in the Autumn Meeting. After the formal handshakes, exchanging of cards and a loudspeaker announcement introducing our threesome onto the tee, my two partners drilled their drives 280 yards nervelessly down the centre of the fairway. I, however, hoiked my effort high and ugly ending up on the road which crosses the fairways really not very far down the hole. My 4 iron, played off the tarmac, missed going into the Swilken Burn by a whisker. 9 iron onto the green and two putts secured an improbable bogey. As we headed to the second and made to write down each others scores I discovered I had lost my partners card. Really, not very impressive. Triple bogey ensued. A scrambled bogey on the third. Then on the fourth I put my drive, and a provisional shot into the gorse on the right, failed to find either ball and that was that. A nil return, the end of my Medal challenge and an ignominious half an hour indeed.
Just in case you are disappointed that my scintillating golf story has come to an end I should add that I am off to St Andrews again next week for another crack at the Old Course so with a bit of luck there will be happier tales next Friday. No rest for the wicked. Back in the office on Wednesday. Hey, don’t give me a hard time about this. I have to make the most of it at the moment as I have just been diagnosed with suspected Dupuytrens Contracture and whilst I am proud to have something in common with Maggie Thatcher sorting this thing out is going to see me off games for a while.
I suppose, its a reminder, as if I needed one, of the ageing process. Talking of which, sad to say, for the second weekend in a row, I am off to a 50th birthday party this evening....... Nope. I can’t repeat what I added over lunch. Just wouldn’t be right.
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