Day 2 - What Could Have Been

Day 2 – What Could Have Been
Saturday, Aug 18

At 1PM, we were off to the age-old and prestigious Portmarnock Country Club, a beautiful links course along the coast just north of Dublin. It’s a men’s only club, and will remain so based on a ruling by Ireland’s Supreme Court. The key to keeping the men’s only status is that the original charter from the 1880’s was to establish a “men’s club” that happened to have a golf course built. Other clubs apparently have been established as golf clubs and therefore the Supreme Court ruled cannot discriminate on membership.

After lunch and some practice on the range, we teed it up on a glorious day of mixed sun and clouds and a warm breeze. Temperatures were in the low 70’s and the breeze was modest by Irish standards (10-15 mph). We played the usual Saturday game with the Emhardts, Blaze and Monachino in the lead-off group and Fisher, Love, Ruberg and Saysana were in the second group.


We had some delightful caddies that helped us navigate the course. Of particular note on the golf course: Paul parred the first 8 holes, shot 37 on the front and a 78 overall. Jay birdied the first hole in dramatic fashion – his 20’ slightly uphill putt was creeping up to the hole and slowing down just right of the hole. But, the prevailing healthy breeze pushed it the last 2 inches up and to the left and it fell in the cup for an opening birdie. Chan birdied the next 2 holes. With a few par-net-birdies, that put the team of Fisher, Love, Ruberg and Saysana at 8 under after 3 holes! (where they stayed for the remainder of the front nine.


But the back none saw some fireworks. On the 135 yard, Number 12 par 3 (don’t let the yardage fool you – uphill, wind, pot bunkers  – it was a real challenge of a hole. Jay hit a great shot that landed softly and started to roll left toward the hole where it appeared to stop close to the hole. We could not tell how close, but it looked pretty tight. Then Chan hit a high fade that landed on the green and was slowly trundling toward the left and slowly getting closer to the hole. We all started yelling when suddenly the ball hit the flag stick and changed direction ever so slightly and stopped right next to the hole. The other team was on the tee-box above the hole and they greeted us with cheers. Jay’s ball was about 18 inches from the hole and Chan’s was on the lip! It was so very, very close to a hole-in-one! What could have been !!!!


We also learned that on one of the par 5’s on the back nine – where we all hit driver and hybrids to clear some traps in the fairway – that Dustin Johnson, from the back tees flew those fairway traps. Yes, we all hit driver and hybrids and he flew them!


In the end, the notable results were:
Blasewitz – 78 (Medalist)
Fisher, Love, Ruberg, Saysana – Team winners (-17)
Skins – Blazewitz (1), Love (1), Ruberg (1), Saysana (1)

We went straight from the golf course to dinner in the small but bustling town of Malahide just a few miles away from Portmarnock. We ate at Giovanni’s and had some wonderful Italian food. Of particular note: Chan had a calzone that was the size of his head, which he easily ate; Bill had three bottles of wine or so, and Paul was engaging our waitress - Rebecca, a tall, slender, dark-eyed Irish beauty with a glorious accent and a great sense of how to handle a bunch of rowdy golfers. The sensible ones (Emhardts, Ruberg, Love and Saysana) went back to the hotel to shower and sleep, while the crazies (Fisher, Blasewitz and Monachino) went out for a nightcap … and more. When they returned to the hotel, the bar was still open so they continued with additional libations (mostly Jameson's) in that bar. As reported the next morning, it was extremely easy for everyone to go to sleep.

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