This seems to be the week for divulging little tidbits of slightly embarrassing information about myself, and tonight's post shall not disappoint. The reason that I was so excited about the idea of a New Zealander reading my blog is that I love European golf. Confused? Not for long.
When I was in grad school (i.e. actually attending classes on campus) I was under a great deal of stress and not dealing with it well at all. I had, for reasons that may perhaps be clear, stopped drinking alcohol and that didn't seem to be helping (although it probably was helping and I didn't realize it). Most of my classes were at night because it is a commuter school (and the MA program is designed primarily for teachers seeking Masters degrees so they can increase their pay - tres academic, eh?), so I'd be home in the morning and afternoon with nothing to do but study and...watch TV. So I'd watch...TV. And what's on TV in the morning that's tolerable? Hmmm. Well, in 1994, that would be the Golf Channel! It was brand-new and extremely cool and telecast the PGA-European Tour events live. For those of you with no international imagination, that equates to around 7:00 AM-10:00 AM Eastern Time. So I'd watch Renton Laidlaw and Peter Oosterhuis do the color commentary and play-by-play for these fascinating, historic golf events at beautiful old courses around Europe (and Asia and Australia, but that's another story). I've always liked watching golf on TV. It's soothing, and if something interesting happens, they'll undoubtedly show it again. And European golf is very "quirky" - they yap a lot with the players and show their wives and girlfriends and stuff. I fondly remember Renton waxing rhapsodic about the potato salad at the venue in Sweden for the Scandinavian Masters.
You might be asking yourself, why would she watch European golf? Who even plays on that tour? Who have I heard of? Well, there are the household names - Jose Maria Olazabal, of course (1994 and 1999 U.S. Masters champion), and Nick Faldo, and Bernhard Langer (who shares my birthday and who is allegedly married to a woman from this small town). And then there are the Europeans who may not be well-known to those in the United States but who are popular in Europe, like Paolo Quirici from Switzerland or Thomas Bjorn of Denmark. But the really interesting ones are the "rest of the world" players - those like Vijay Singh, who come from weird places like Fiji without a golfing tradition, or from really cold places (OK, no good examples) or those from... (aha, here's the connection) New Zealand. And from there hails my favorite golfer of all time, Frank Nobilo. I could blather on about his piratical heritage or his T4 in the Masters or his mysterious back ailment or getting bonked in the head with a golf ball on his honeymoon after his ill-fated (in my opinion) second marriage. But I'll just say this: he's stunning to look at, and he has a sweet swing.
That is why I like the idea of New Zealand, and New Zealanders reading my blog. Some intellectual I am, huh? Tee hee.
