Two brothers have a golf trip of a lifetime

The year was 2000. I was a snowbird spending January and February in Palm Springs, Calif.

After a round of golf at a public golf course, I stepped into the pro shop and spotted the one cap you see — British Open. I thought to myself, “What a neat way to spend a vacation with my brother Robert.”

Robert lives in Florida and is an avid golfer. I bought two caps and called him.

“Robert, we haven’t spent any time together in our adult lives. How about a two-week golfing vacation, with one week at the British Open Golf Tournament? It’s a new millennium and the tournament is to be played at the cradle of the game, St. Andrews.”

He accepted my invitation, and after some bad flying weather, we finally connected in Manchester, England.

The McDonald brothers Robert and Richard were off to Scotland. Brother Robert has made several past trips to Scotland and played many of the famous courses. I had made one previous trip, had my golf clubs stolen and attended the British Open at Turnberry.

Our lodging was a good hour drive away from St. Andrews. I let Robert be our guide driving on the wrong side of the road. As we neared the tournament, the road was well marked and we had no trouble finding our way.

Going back to the day I arrived in England, as I approached the British customs agent and submitted my passport, he very sternly asked me where I had purchased the cap I was wearing. I stammered a bit and was informed in a very stern voice, “It is not the British Open, it is the Open Championship.”

I thought I was going to have to trash my cap, but he passed the “dumb Yank” on.

The first day was a fun day. We purchased our tickets for the whole week. Many of the previous winners, Sam Snead, Jack Nicholas, Nick Faldo, Tom Watson, Gary Player, to name a few, teamed up.

The real tournament started on Thursday and Tiger Woods was the favorite. Quoting from the St. Andrews paper, “Woods Favorite, but Scots are expected to challenge.”

Tiger did run away with the tournament and there was no challenger.

Somewhat of a surprise were the streakers during the tournament. As I recall there were five incidents. The first was a man in his birthday suit running across the first fairway and making it to the famous Swilken Bridge on the 18th fairway to do a toe dance. The police soon arrived with a blanket to carry off the nude man.

The last incident was as Tiger and his group approached the 18th green. A lady burst out of the gallery on to the 18th green and danced — nude — around the flagpole. The story in the morning paper said she was a local stripper trying to make a name for herself.

My brother and I played several courses during our stay in Scotland. We did play two courses adjacent to the old course at St. Andrews but were unable to draw a tee time for the old course. Reservations need to be made at least six months in advance for the old course.

An interesting course we played was in the city of Perth. It was King James VI, a course built on an island in the middle of the River Tay and accessible only by walking over a railway bridge.

Needless to say, my brother and I enjoyed the two weeks together without one argument and did not shave any strokes.

The next year, 2001, I was invited to join a very dear friend to attend the Masters golf tournament. What a thrill that was.

My childhood friend, Tom, has had tickets to this famous golf tournament for a number of years. What a wonderful experience to have Tom as a guide. We spent four full days at the tournament and as you might have guessed, again Tiger was the winner.

The beauty of Augusta National is hard to describe. There is such a vast difference between the Scottish Link Course of St. Andrews and the woodland course of Augusta National. These golf tournaments of the years 2000 and 2001 left me with memories I will never forget.

Robert and I are now in our 80s and still enjoy chasing the little white, dimpled pill.