1977 Duel In The Sun

It was called The Duel In The Sun.
Seems impossible that it was 32 years ago that we had the unique opportunity to see the British Open Golf Tournament at Turnberry, Scotland. It is being played on that same course this year. Bill woke me this morning with the news the Tom Watson is leading the opening round..early on. When we lived in Scotland we decided to take a trip to see the Open and Bill had a friend and co-worker visiting the office that we knew would love going. So we piled into Bill's Halliburton car and Bill, Amy, Gerald and I set off to see the tournament on the other side of the island.
As we traveled un-familiar roads, we kept seeing yellow signs ,with a mark on them, appear as we neared curves and it seemed that the more marks there were, the sharper the curve. Also, it seemed that if there were four marks, there would be four signs. So as we approached a 4 marked sign, we were all nervous. Suddenly we neared a marker and knew it would be a doozie of a curve as it had 5 marks. As we passed the fourth marker and approached the fifth, we had to laugh. There was the fifth sign and it said, "You have been warned".
A complete British understatement.
But, I digress.
As Amy and I were not too excited to march along the course with a sea of on-lookers, we took up residence on the stands at the 18th hole. We sat there and watched golfers come and go and the stands fill up. Bill and Gerald had decided to follow the trail of Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus on the way to the championship. That was a hot duo and followed by what seemed like millions. Anyway, Amy and I were quite pleased with ourselves that we were perched comfortably watching the final hole unfold.
As we were sitting there, we decided we needed food and drink and I probably needed to find the facilities, too. So I left her holding down our seats and I departed the stands. People were sitting on steps by this time and it took a real effort to get down and people looked at me as if I were nuts. Little did I know!!
As I began my trek back to my seat, I encountered a burly gentleman with official looking badges and he told me I couldn't go back up. I informed him that I had a seat and my daughter was waiting for me and I had been there for hours. He shook his head and told me that the capacity for the stand was filled for the day. I told him, I had been there and had a seat so I would not increase the number if I returned to my place. He shook his head sadly and pointed the way back down the ramp and stood his ground. Being a good visitor and not wanting to make a bigger scene (or get dragged off by the coppers), I retreated to under the stands where I located Amy by her shoes and yelled up at her to throw down my purse.
Oh, Lord. I did not know...neither golf etiquette nor the profundity of the moment.
As I was yelling at her, I did realize it got very quiet. But not until I felt the full fury of a gazillion eyes staring down at me did I realize that the great Arnold Palmer was at that moment lining up his final putt in the entire tournament. Now, nothing is more sacrosanct that a golfers putt and no one even breathes then. In fact, I am quite sure a person would refuse to admit the angel of death at that moment. Oh, well. I was safe enough. After all, I was on the ground with all of Scotland to run to. Amy was stuck in the stands, trying not to acknowledge me. I am pretty sure she was not aware of the enormous faux pas I had committed, but she did recognize that something was not right.
She grabbed both purses and fled the stands while I was complaining loudly to anyone who would hear me that I had been unfairly dealt with. Well, not very loud..mostly under my breath.
We decided to walk down to the approach to the 18th green, as we knew that Bill and Gerald would be along when their players came through. That was a foolish thing to do. Have you any idea how many people were hoping to see the great Tom and Jack that year? They were at their peak and just everyone who liked golf and many who could care less wanted to see them. But we found a spot and established a foothold. Lo and behold, we saw Bill and Gerald approach with the massive hoard. They were on the other side of the course from us, but we resisted yelling and jumping and waving at them. Then we all stood back and listened to the roar of the crowd as the players approached the green. I believe they were tied and the winner would be determined by the final putts. It was as still as death and we all stood like statues and didn't breathe until we heard explosions from the stands. When the dust settled, Tom Watson had won the British Open. It was quite a day and I almost saw it.
And for all of that, he won a massive $17,000. That's right..Seventeen thousand dollars. Times have changed.