“You have to have great hands because your technology is sh*t!” Michael Campbell said grinning.
Four hours in our round together, the US Open Champ 2005 had seen enough of my bad mechanics to wonder that I managed to even get shots in the air. He also got to know me well enough to realize that I could take the friendly spot.
In fact, he had ribbed me all day, and because Turnabout is a reasonable game, I had brought back several times, as when I asked the Kiwi star where he came from in Australia.
So it’s going.
One of the great pleasures of this game is to give your play partner an eruption of grief – the better if that partner is a former big champion.
Such chances do not occur every day. Similarly, events such as the Punta Mita Invitational.
If you are even familiar with traditional Pro-Ams, you know how those tournaments tend to work: take a photo on the first tee with your professional who, whether or not with you deal with you in your round-shaking before you say goodbye.
WATCH: Tiger Stories, a Bucket-List Par-3 & Boo Weekley Laughs | Punta Mita Golf Adventure
Wham, bam, thank you, man. A purely transactional affair.
But the Punta Mita Invitational is something else. Held in January in Punta Mita, a resort-rich, spear-shaped peninsula on the Pacific coast of Mexico, less than an hour north of Puerta Vallarta, the Invitational is an annual Golf and Entertainment Smorgas board that will clamp formal pro-AM conventions. During the three -day period, amateur participants play every day with another professional, while on two Jack Nicklaus signature courses, they ping it, in a competition that is only as serious as you want to make it.
The good times do not end when the putts fall at the age of 18. After Golf, everyone hangs together during cocktail hour meetings and sit-down dinners. You get to know the pros. They get to know you. You make friends and memories.
By the time Campbell and I met on the first tee, we had broken bread together the night before. I met his wife. I had learned about the life he made in Spain, where he runs a respected golf academy.
On day two of the event, the Golf literally became a hit-and-giggle when I collaborated with Boo Weekley-Camo on his head, beer in his hand who felt his reputation as the most lovable man in play.
Weekley got it nicely for all the crazy round. But he was not on the point as my professional on the third day, Jonathan Byrd, who realized his last name by dropping nine Birdies in 18 holes, a burning version that was unable to compensate for the bad game of his amateur partners. I think we are last ready in a tie.
But that is also the point of the Punta Mita Invitational. Winning is largely next to the point. I could continue. But the Video below is worth 1,000 words. And it is definitely worth the watch. In the meantime, for more information about the Punta Mita Invitational here.
#Punta #Mita #Invitational #ProAM