Muirfield Magic

It’s been very gratifying to get messages from so many of you asking when I’m going to reacquaint myself with the keyboard and get blogging again.  Mind you, it’s going to be very hard to keep pace with the sister who is pulling in record-breaking numbers.  There are obviously plenty of folk out there who relish the challenge of following her ramblings.  It keeps the brain active, that’s for sure.

Well, I ‘m not going to be up to speed with a weekly offering for a while yet, but I thought I’d dip in and out and I’ve had such a wonderful week that I wanted to share it with you.  Firstly, I finished a rather unpleasant, very strong course of medication that has (I am assured) seen off the very pesky, rare, amoebic parasite that has apparently being lying dormant in my gut for decades.  Said nasty piece of work mounted a vigorous attack on my liver, which has now been pronounced clear.  It was quite a battle.  I won at the nineteenth.

Also, this week saw my first solo road trip for sixteen months – a much anticipated journey up to Muirfield for the annual playing of the Madill Trophy (photo above).  First played in 1995, we are homing in on our 30th anniversary of a great match against the men members of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers (HCEG).

The night before the match and the planning meeting is in full swing. From left to right: Chris Langford, Gill Stewart, Ali Gray, Mo, Pam Chugg, Jane Connachan and Katie Tebbet. Pat Smillie took the photo.

I was doing my captaining from the sidelines this year and am happy to report that the girls recorded their first victory since 2016.  We have eight a side and play four foursomes, morning and afternoon.  Despite dire weather predictions we got our 36 holes in, avoiding the rain, but I do have to confess it was a tad windy!  And chilly!

The near zero temps were more than offset by the warmth of the hospitality – a staple of the last three decades – and I was proud to introduce Carys Irvine to our team, the first member of either side to be born post 2000!  For goodness sake, we were even calling Heather Macrae a youngster, which pleased her enormously.  Just goes to show how the game can embrace the generations as well as the genders.

Two matches-all at lunchtime, I more or less abandoned my duties as team captain and enquired as to where I could watch the Scotland/Ireland rugby match.  Former Scotland captain P. C. Brown declared that he would stay and watch the match with me instead of heading home to watch.  It was all rather surreal – a little like Jack Nicklaus saying he’d sit down and watch the Masters with you!  Things went well for me, both on the screen and on the course.  Scotland didn’t score in the second half and we didn’t lose a match in the afternoon, evidence of how destructive my presence on the course had been in the morning.

Watching the Six Nations with rugby royalty, PC Brown. Thanks to Sue Penman for the photo.

Talking of the Masters, hubby and I will be heading out there on Thursday 6th April, the first day of the tournament and I will be working for the Americans over the weekend.  Why go on Thursday and why just the weekend, I hear you cry.  Well, there’s the small matter of my stepson’s wedding on the Wednesday.  Shows you how much sway I have in this family…..and how much interest there is in golf!

I’m apparently not the only one in this boat.  Alison White, a longtime friend and lifelong golfer whose resume includes stints working for the PGA, the LGU and the R&A  and who is well known to many readers of this blog, also has a family wedding during the men’s first major.  Her only daughter, Victoria, is getting married on Masters Saturday!  Ah well, can’t have everything.

I have a strong suspicion that might be where my next blog comes from – Augusta, not the wedding!  It’ll be minus pictures, unfortunately, as you are only allowed to take those on practice days.

So, life’s not perfect (is it ever?) but it’s getting closer.

This picture really made me laugh!  It was sent to me on Monday morning by Stuart McEwen, the secretary of the HCEG, with the caption, “Where’s the trophy gone……..? Something is missing from the middle shelf this morning!”