This past Saturday, May 16, 2009, Otto Klay and his wife Christine, invited me (Cara) out for a practice round at the Montreux Golf and Country Club, where Southgate Coins’ First Annual Invitational Golf Tournament will be played on May 23, 2009. It was a gorgeous day that was full of golf tips, some good and some bad shots, and lots of laughter.
Rusty stopped in at the store for a couple hours in the morning, and then met me bright and early at the Galena Station Market to escort me to Montreux. When we arrived, Otto and Christine were waiting for us. They had their golf cart all packed up and were ready to go. Rusty and Otto drove in Rusty’s truck down to the Montreux Club House, while I rode with Christine in their golf cart. Otto checked us in and we headed off to the driving range to warm up.
After hitting a few balls and snapping some pictures, all four of us headed to the 10th tee box. (We started on the 10th hole because the course was a bit busy that day and the starter didn’t want to make us wait.) Otto teed off from the Montreux tees, while Christine and I played from the Galena tees, which are the womens’ tees. Rusty took pictures and emceed the day’s events.
My round started off a little rough, since it was the first time I had played on a real course since last summer. But, as the day progressed and with some very helpful tips from Otto and Christine, my play got a lot better, and so did my score. I’m not going to divulge any of the secrets I learned on Saturday, just in case my competition (CCCCOA’s treasurer, Paul Sudmeier) reads this blog. I must say though, that the course was gorgeous, surrounded by big pine trees with rivers and lakes running along the fairways.
On the last two holes, Otto invited Rusty to get into the golfing spirit, by having him hit a few tee shots, with pretty impressive results considering it was Rusty’s first time using a golf club.
By the end of the round I was worn out, but it had been a lovely day of golf and I learned a lot about the course. Hopefully this practice round will give me a nice competitive edge over my opponent in this Saturday’s match. But we’ll have to wait until then to see the outcome.
Fore!
Cara
Meanwhile, as Rusty and I were at the golf course, Marie, Maya, Crystal, and Nicole were back at the store, and they as well had an eventful day. Here’s Nicole to tell us how their day progressed:
The day started with Crystal and myself (Nicole) excited for Cara’s practice round of golf, as we tried to rush Rusty out of the store to go meet up with her. Maya was set to arrive at 12:45, and the day was going to be filled with more spring cleaning, since we were preparing for our floors to be professionally cleaned. (That meant Maya and Marie staying after hours.) Something else that was building with excitement at Southgate Coins was the anticipation of the Preakness in Baltimore, as the only filly, Rachel Alexandra, was set to race against the big boys for the first time. This group included Kentucky Derby winner, Mine That Bird.
Our cleaning guys arrived around 3 o’clock as we started to close the store. The Preakness was about to start right around the same time. All us girls and Marie surrounded the TV as the race began at 3:15, and the floor guys were giggling at us because we were all so excited and entranced with the race—plus we were rooting hard for the filly, Rachel Alexandra. I’m not sure that these guys even knew what we were watching or why we were cheering, but they found us rather amusing nonetheless. As the race started, Rachel Alexandra took an early lead and held strong and as they were rounding the last turn to the homestretch.
At that very moment our floor guys turned on a huge floor scrubber. Not only did it drown out the sound of the TV, but it started messing with the signal and our dramatic race suddenly turned into a battlefield of black-and-white ants. Us girls started to immediately moan, afraid we were going to miss the most important part of the race. Our floor guys obviously saw and heard our distress and they turned off all their machines just in time for us to see the climatic finish. We were all shouting “Come on, Come on!” as Rachel Alexandra was still in first, but then the males behind her started to gain ground (Mine That Bird, winner of the Kentucky Derby, was gaining fast on the lone filly). As she crossed the finish line a length in front of Mine That Bird, we all broke out screaming and cheering, as our floor cleaners continued to find us hilarious.
The race was so much more climatic than the Kentucky Derby, and we all wished that Rachel Alexandra had raced in that one as well—she would have surely won. Rachel Alexandra was the first filly in 85 years to win the second leg of the Triple Crown, and with “Girls Rule” as Southgate Coins’ motto, she truly made all us girls proud!
So it was an eventful Saturday here at Southgate Coins and with Rusty and Cara up at Montreux. Everything ended fantastically and was the beginning of a great weekend with an even more exciting one to come in just a few days.
Nicole