Nobody Deserves To Have A Job With As Many Perks As Mine Does. But I Do. And I'll Viciously Murder Anybody Who Tries to Take It!!!

You know, I urged Andy to stick with the game of golf.

When he took lessons back in 2008, he gave up summarily after 5-6 sessions with John LeSage at Falls Road GC. What a shame.

And while I understand the deep frustrations the game delivers on a regular basis, I think Andy had the requisite minimum of athletic ability to be a serviceable weekend public course "hacker" who could shoot somewhere around 100 from the appropriate tees.

If he had done so, then ANDY could have been right there with me at TPC Potomac, playing in our foursome with 2003 US Open Champion, 2010 FedEx Cup Champion, 7-time Ryder Cupper and 16-time PGA Tour winner Jim Furyk.

But alas, no.

So here I was with Jim, enjoying a round-of-a-lifetime, talking golf, sports and everything else on a TOUR caliber course with one of the most down-to-earth golf superstars you'll ever meet.

Andy showed up for the radio show, and the buffet.

Sigh.

PS: Yes, I shot 77 with Mr. Furyk on Monday. Legit. No mulligans. No gimmes. No free kick-outs, drops, or do-overs. Made many, many, many lengthy putts. At least 5 over 12 feet, and only missed once inside of 5 feet. It was awesome, I won't lie. Key to the round, however, was how utterly relaxed Jim made me feel, and our two radio winners. I don't think I actually considered what I was shooting until it was over. I was so busy talking to Jim, enjoying the course, when he added up the back nine numbers I said: "Whoa! Really???"

A few notes on the day.

Jim was a consummate pro when it came to the little things. For example, Jim proposed a friendly radio match on the first tee. Then he made sure to write out our scorecard, very neatly, with every hole where I would get strokes clearly marked. He was a +6 and I was an 8 handicap, so I was getting a massive 14 shots.

I also was playing from the 6550 tees, he all the way back, at 7130. He made sure to write down scores every hole, and never once had to ask me my score. He was paying attention. Then, when the "match" was over (6&5) he made sure to congratulate me, and note the score clearly on the card. This was very cool. Because he knows, and you can bet, that scorecard with his signature, is going straight to the framer, and right up on the wall.

I am sure, I am not the first overly handicapped amateur to "beat" Jim in such a match. But he made me feel like it was a "real" match. Even though he didn't line up a single putt, and shot even par 70 having not seen the new design since he last played Avenel at the old Kemper Open almost 10 years ago.

The folks from Diageo who set up the outing as his sponsor of Johnnie Walker, were beyond gracious to me and everyone else. We even got a bottle of Johnny Walker Blue, with our names etched on the bottle. While I like scotch, I am not an aficionado, so the high end bottle was perhaps more than I needed.

But you can bet your sweet ass, I am going to sip that scotch over rocks and savor the warm glow of my miracle 77 for many days to come.

PPS: Yes, I need to re-commit to another hard core round of P90x. Looks like my "cruise control" regimen of 3-days a week, has, ahem... gotten a little loose. Damn pictures! Why don't you look as good as my mirror!