I put clothes out on his bed like I always do. Stuff that actually matches (but the shirt and pants match – they’re both red ….. and the green socks – no one looks at socks anyway) and factors in the weather forecast – relevant especially today with a massive front threatening to blast winter early into our part of the world. What came downstairs was not what I put out.
Oh no, I’m not going to be cold.
Me: You’re going to be cold and wet.
Oh no I won’t.
Me: OK.
I saw him at the turn, from my relatively weather protected perch at the scorers table, the thin wind-breaker that lives in his bag zipped firmly up to his chin. On hole 14 – as far as possible from the shelter of the clubhouse – the heavens broke and the wind raged sending the players scurrying back into sideways sleet.
From my point of view at the scorers desk I had just one rule issue. A boy lost has ball and decided to drop it just in the vicinity of where it might have been, contravening Rule 27-1 which requires a player to drop a ball under penalty of one stroke, as near as possible at the spot from which the original ball was last played. By not going back to the original shot, he played the ball from the wrong place, contravening Rule 20-7c. In this particular situation he probably would have been regarded as having committed a serious breach (significant advantage obtained by hitting from the wrong spot) which ordinarily would have resulted in a DQ – but US Kids seldom DQs a player in a local tournament, and the player was awarded the max score of 10 for that hole.
From Max on the bag point of view, Rob played well and to his credit, did not complain about the weather. The storm cut the day short and for Rob’s age group (the last out on the course) the tournament was shortened to a 9 hole event. He shot his average score in much colder than average conditions. Long pants and weather-proof sweatshirt still lying on the bed.
