Day 6 (Kingsbarns)

Today we played Kingsbarns which is one of the best courses we’ve played so far. It was almost as picturesque as the Castle Course (it’s just five minutes south on the same coast) but was a much more fair course. The greens were some of the best that we’d played on so far – they rolled well, had subtle but true breaks, and held reasonably well. The signature hole is the par 3 is all carry over the water with a bail out area on the left. Of course I hit it fat and went into the seaweed at low tide… We've had great weather on this coast - mid to high 50's with low wind and no rain. These conditions are exponentially easier to play golf in, not only physically but mentally and emotionally. I cried a few times during the 45 mph winds at Western Gailes and was very appreciative of these calm conditions.

Dave came out of the gates firing with a 36 on the front nine. He hit some amazing shots and we all just tried to keep up. When this guy is hitting the ball well, it's pretty. Shots are shaped perfectly, chips are landed in the perfect spot, and putts are drained in the back of the cup. Dave's caddy had a serious man-crush on Dave early on and was loving the possibility of a low round out of his guy - and a larger tip. Dave held it together until the last hole where a couple chip shots came up a few feet short and forced him into the burn that runs down the right side. Couldn't have had anything to do with the fact that Harrington hit his drive so far right that it went over the event tent into the sitting area next to the pro shop. His caddy said he'd never seen anyone hit it over there in his entire career as a caddy.

After the round, we had a great dinner after spending the majority of the afternoon trying to find a way to weasel our way on the Old Course. We had missed our third ballot of the trip and we were all incredibly nervous about the possibility of coming all of this way and not playing the Old Course. It’s like going down to Vegas and not going to the Royale for some craps, just can’t happen. After a few cocktails and a session at the spa, it was decided that if we wanted to ensure our round at St. Andrews, we needed to make sure we were the first in line for the Friday tee times. The plan was hatched to get up at 2am to make it to the waiting line at the Old Course Starter’s shack at 2:30am… Somewhat drunk and in our robes, we talked the concierge into 1) making our complimentary breakfast early, 2) delivering that breakfast to us at 2am, and 3) driving us to the start shack so that we could be first in line. Can I say that I’ve never seen someone better at immediately establishing a relationship with customer service reps than Jeff? He’s unbelievable. People love this guy.

Off to bed at 10pm to get up at 2. We’re very sick people.