“I tried to care about the Houston Open, but all I could think about was my girls.”
“Did you have any contact with them at all?” Ava asked.
“None. The Pastor at their school watched them for me. I told him my situation and asked him to look after them while they were there. He would give me weekly updates, but I explained that he could not mention me at all to Charlotte or Shelby, no matter what the girls asked or said.”
“Why?”
“Because the girls could not say anything new about me to Lexi or she might go nuts. I was not allowed to have any contact with them, in any form or way. Ever. Her rules.”
“What would Lexi do if they said they saw you?”
“I didn’t know, and I didn’t want to find out.”
Chapter 16
Survival
“So what did you do, Travis?” Ava asked.
“The only thing I could. I became a full-time golfer. I’d drive out to Deer Run Golf Club every morning, worked on my game all day, then I’d drive to Marco’s for dinner. I ate for free thanks to Mac. The consistent routine helped my training.
“Deer Run was difficult, a mixture of old and new designs, with a staggering length, 7,600 yards. But the length was deceiving because if you could drive the ball long and high, you could bite off a lot of the distance on a few holes, especially the par fives by carrying the trees. The greens were slick, and the rough was light, just like the Masters, because The Houston Open was always the lead-up tournament to The Masters. Players liked how Houston made the conditions similar to the major, so it was for a great warm-up week for The Masters, therefore always attracting a strong field of players. Prior knowledge helped on a course like Deer Run, and I got to know it like the back of my hand.
“But I missed my girls. I couldn’t take it anymore, so I called Lexi at work.”
“Hello, Travis,” Lexi said, matter-of-factly. “I suppose you’re looking for money.”
“No, not at all. I just wanted to check in with you. I assume you and the girls are ok?”
“Never better.”
“Lexi, I’ve done everything you wanted for the past three months. I’ve stayed away from you and the girls and caused no trouble. I just wanted to know if I could have the girls for a day since I am their father. It doesn’t have to be a holiday or anything, and I don’t want the visit to bother you at all. How about I take the girls to the zoo one Saturday so you can relax?”
“Obviously you could give a shit about seeing me,” Lexi said. “You just want to see the girls, huh?”
“No. If you would like to come, that would be great. Of course, I miss you also.”
“Oh, shut your face. First of all, only one of the girls is your biological daughter. And I don’t know if I can trust you because you are a convicted liar.”
“A reformed and regretful liar,” Travis said, graciously, “who wants to prove himself to you again.”
“Fine. I will bring Charlotte, your only daughter, to the park at noon on Saturday. You can talk to her for ten minutes, under my supervision. That is if she wants to talk to you. If she doesn’t then you’ll know why we never showed.”
“Lexi hung up the phone,” Travis said, motioning Mac for another round.
“Charlotte would want to talk to you, right?” Ava asked.
“Yeah, of course. That was just Lexi being Lexi.”
Chapter 17
The Reunion
“Daddy!” Charlotte said, running toward Travis.
“Hey, little girl,” Travis said, bending down to hug her. “You grew again.”
“She’s done a lot of things since you abandoned us,” Lexi said. “You look tan. Still playing golf like a bum, I see. God knows you don’t have a real job.”
“Hey, Lexi. Good to see you. You look great.”
“Oh, shut your face. I’m going to sit in the car. You got only five minutes because I need to leave pronto after your prison yard visit for an important meeting. Adult stuff that you wouldn’t understand. You try anything, and you’ll be in jail by midnight.”
“She misses you,” Charlotte said, as they watched Lexi walk away. “She talks about you when she’s drinks a lot. Almost every night.”
“Well, I miss you guys. How is Shelby?”
“Shelby’s ok. I protect her. She doesn’t know how to stay out of trouble cuz she’s a little girl. But I keep her good.”
“Good girl. What should you do if Mommy starts acting mean?”
“Cough and pretend to be sick, and she’ll stay away,” Charlotte answered, smiling. “When are you coming home?”
“I don’t know, little girl. I may not be allowed to come home. But I’m going to try and win some money so you can live with me. I need money to get us away from Mommy.”
“How can you win money?” Charlotte asked.
“I got invited to play in a golf tournament. If I play well, I can win some money.”
“I don’t know, Daddy,” Charlotte said, starting to cry. “That sounds hard. Why don’t you say you’re sorry so you can come home again? It’s not fun when you’re gone.”
“Mommy doesn’t want me home, Charlotte. If she did, I’d be there right now.”
“I hate Mommy. I know I shouldn’t, but God’s wrong. I love my Daddy, and I hate my Mommy.”
“Charlotte, keep protecting Shelby. She needs you. Just stay out of trouble. I will do everything that I can to be with y’all again. I promise. I’m trying to figure a way out of this, but it’s tough to fix.”
“I miss you, Daddy.”
“I miss you, little girl. So much it hurts.”
“Shelby wanted to see you. She cried when she had to stay home.” Charlotte wiped her nose and tried to smile. “I lost another tooth.”
“Wow! Another one. Top or bottom?”
“Bottom.”
“Open up and show me.”
“Time’s up,” Lexi said, sneaking up on them and grabbing Charlotte’s hand. “Bye.”
“Wait. I need to show Daddy how I lost a tooth.”
“Nobody cares,” Lexi said, yanking her arm and walking away. “Especially him.”
“They walked to Lexi’s car, then drove away,” Travis said, a little teary-eyed. “That was the toughest five minutes of my life.”
Chapter 18
The Plan
“I tried to practice, but it was tough after seeing Charlotte. The next few months were a blur. It rained a lot, so it was hard to make a consistent practice routine. I did what I could, but it was lonely, and everything in my life seemed pointless. I kept kicking myself for playing in that stupid city amateur, and I couldn’t figure out how playing in the Houston Open would fix anything. I should’ve been home with my girls. I let them down. But the Houston Open was the only thing in my life at that time, so I kept training.
“All of a sudden, it was here. The week of the tournament. Out of nowhere, Deer Run stopped being a golf club and turned into a sports complex. Sponsor tents and scaffolding were everywhere. Giant television cranes were scattered all over the course now. Crowds of people walking aimlessly, beer and restaurant stands dispersed on every hole, and all the guys that I’d seen on television were playing on my course now. There was always a strong field of players at the Houston Open; eight out of the top ten were there that year. To say that I was intimidated would be an understatement.
“On Monday, players could play a practice round. Glenn drove with me to the course, wanting to see it all himself. He gave me my player’s packet, with my player’s badge, rules, and itinerary. We figured out how to check in, found out all the places that I could go, then headed out to the course to play the front nine. It was fun, just playing and walking with Glenn, talking about all the memories through the years, and trying to accept that I was now playing in the Houston Open. Glenn had a blast, but I was happy wh
en we left. The next day, Tuesday, I practiced a little at Deer Run, then played a practice round on the back nine by myself. Crowds were getting bigger, so I left a little early. Wednesday, I just stayed home and rested. It was a little too much, you know what I mean?”
“I’ll bet you were nervous,” Ava said.
“More intimidated than nervous. I felt very out of place and not worthy of my position. I felt undeserving and overwhelmed. I had not paid my dues, and yet here I was. I started to realize that I was a prop, a marketing ploy, and others were more deserving than me, that I had taken someone’s spot who truly deserved to be there. Does that make sense?”
“Yes. How did you deal with it?”
“I called my lawyer, asked him how much I needed to go to court with Lexi and have a chance at custody of the girls. He said $200k. I looked up the payouts for the Houston Open and figured out that fourth place paid $336k. After taxes, I needed to get at least fourth place to have a chance for my kids.
“So I set my goal on fourth place. It became my world and my only thought. I needed fourth to get my kids back.”
“That’s not what you taught me,” Ava said. “You taught me to let the game come to you. You said let go, and you’ll play your best golf.”
“Right,” Travis said, downing his Jack and Sprite Zero. “I learned that lesson on Thursday.”
Chapter 19
The First Round
“The first round. I teed off at 11:30 am. I tried to get there early, but I forgot about the traffic. Cars were everywhere. I had never been to a PGA event and didn’t realize how many people came out to watch. Plus, when I tried to park at the club, the guy didn’t believe that I was a player. He called his supervisor to make sure I was legit. It was a nightmare. So instead of having two hours to prepare, I had less than an hour.
“I went to check in, and they asked for my caddy’s name.”
“I don’t have a caddy. I’m carrying my bag.”
“Sorry, sir,” the official said. “Every player has to have a caddy. It’s the rules.”
“I couldn’t believe it. So I ask the guy if he knew anyone. He made a call and said a player had withdrawn with a rib injury and his caddy said he’d loop for me, that he would meet me on the range.
“So I ran out to the range, tried to warm up a little, then this guy walked up and stared at me hitting balls.”
“Are you Travis Hatfield?” he asked
“Yes, sir.”
“I’m Randy. They asked me to caddy for you. Do you think you’ll make the cut?”
“Uh, yeah, I think so.”
“Well, I could go to Acapulco with some old buddies this weekend. I’m already packed. Just tell me. Are you for real or what? I don’t want to waste a couple days when I could party with friends. You know?”
“I’ll do my best,” Travis said, “but I really do need a caddy. If you can’t, I’ll find somebody else.”
“You won’t punk out on me?” Randy asked, a little wishy-washy.
“I’ll do my best.”
“Ok, I’ll do it. I get 10%. Just make sure the bag is light.”
“So we head to the first tee, and I was super tight. I hadn’t done my normal warm-up, and I hated my caddy. They announced my name to tee off, and Randy was MIA. I look behind me, and he was sitting on a bench with my clubs, thirty feet away, eating a sandwich. I had to jog over to him and grab my driver. He said sorry and laughed. I drove it down the middle, but fatted a wedge on my approach, barely hit the green, and left myself a forty-footer for birdie. Then I choked the putt, leaving it six feet short. I started lining up the par putt, when, out of nowhere, Randy stuck his head in and said it broke right.”
“It’s straight,” I said.
“That breaks right,” Randy said, knowingly. “You’re wrong.”
“I look again, see nothing, but I play it outside left. It rolled straight and lipped out.”
“You pulled it,” Randy said, disgusted.
“The next hole, I had another six-footer for par. I read it alone and lipped it out again.”
“You pulled that one, too,” Randy said, shaking his head.
“We barely talked the rest of the round. Every once in a while, Randy would say something like ‘I could be in Acapulco’ or ‘At least it’s not raining.’ I made two more bogeys, but I also had an eagle on the eleventh hole. I shot +2, and the leader was at −7. Randy left my bag on the ground, without even saying bye.
“I played pretty well, but mentally, I took myself completely out of that round. I put too much pressure on each shot, playing for fourth place, and didn’t play my game. I didn’t trust myself and let Randy get to me. It was, by far, the most miserable round of my life.”
“Did you think the tournament was over?” Ava asked.
“I knew it was over,” Travis said. “I didn’t want to come back on Friday. I had let everyone down and felt completely out of place. That night, I knew the tournament and my life was over.”
“There was nothing positive about the whole day?”
“Not really. No, there was one great thing about that day. Greg Mathers, the pro who I played with for the first two rounds. He was an older journeyman golfer, and a great guy to be paired with anytime. He was amazing the whole first round, keeping me positive and not letting me give up. Greg shot −4 and was a pleasure to watch. I probably would’ve shot +10 if he hadn’t been there.”
“I remember him,” Ava said, smiling.
“After the round, when we shook hands, I told him how much I appreciated his encouragement and how much I enjoyed watching him play, that I had learned a lot from him that day.”
“No problem,” Greg said. “You have a great swing. Tomorrow will be your day.”
“I felt lucky to have played with Greg that day and Friday, and I knew he was the reason that I was able to hold it together that first round. I wanted to pay him back on Friday, by making sure Greg had a great round, no matter what happened to me.”
“So you were no longer playing for that fourth place nonsense?” Ava asked, poking him a little.
“Right,” Travis said, laughing. “I’d learned my lesson. I was going to forget all that fourth place nonsense, try to play golf my way and maybe even have some fun.”
Chapter 20
The Second Round
“Well, you know all about the second round, so we can skip that,” Travis said.
“Are you crazy?” Ava asked, astonished. “I was only six years old. I remember bits and pieces, but certainly not everything. Plus, I want to hear it from your perspective.”
“She’s right, Ke-mo sah-bee,” Mac said, reloading drinks and sitting down again. “I’ve never heard you talk about it either. Hell, nobody has. Ever. I’ve been waiting all afternoon for this.”
“Just watch it on YouTube,” Travis said, grabbing his fresh libation.
“We can’t see the front nine, Travis,” Ava said, making sure the microphone was in perfect position. “Television coverage hadn’t come on yet. You have to tell us about the front nine, and everything.”
“Fine. But what are we doing for dinner?”
“I can’t believe you’re still hungry,” Ava said. “You ate a whole pizza.”
“I’ll cook something later,” Mac said, settling in. “Stop stalling and start talking.”
Travis sighed, took a big swig, then organized his thoughts.
“I got to the course early on Friday for my 12:20 pm tee time. Taking my time, I had a great warm-up. My irons were sharp, and I knew it could be a special day. For some reason, I had almost forgotten about the first round. It was amazing. But my caddy, Randy, hadn’t changed. He showed up ten minutes before my tee time, I swear a little loaded. I couldn’t believe it.”
“So maybe we can make the cut,” Randy said, grabbing my bag and heading to the first tee.
<
br /> “I got on the first tee, and I shook hands with good-old Greg Mathers. I told him to play well.”
“Let’s make it a special day,” Greg said, patting me on the back.
“I drilled a drive right down the middle, pulled out my sand wedge and pure’d it, right at the pin, but the son of a gun hit the pin, bounced hard and rolled twenty-five feet right. If it had missed that pin, I would’ve had a five-footer for birdie, at most. Really sucked, but I tried to regroup. I lined-up the twenty-five-footer, stroked it, and it caught a lot of cup, but the ball just didn’t drop. Might’ve been the best putt I hit all week, but it just didn’t fall.”
“Man, you are snake-bit,” Randy said, putting the pin back in. “Lucky me.”
“So we head to the second hole, and there was a bit of a wait to tee off. The fairway finally cleared and I was lining up my drive, when I saw this shadow bobbing back and forth near my ball. Some guy in the crowd wouldn’t stand still, and his shadow was everywhere. I was about to say something, when the guy groaned, crashed through the ropes and fell face-first on the tee box. He was having a heart attack. Greg rolled him over and tried to help him. I yelled for a doctor and tried to help Greg. I’ve never felt so useless. Some guy in the crowd, I’m not sure if he was a doctor or what, started pumping his hands on the guy’s chest, then giving him mouth to mouth. He said that he felt a pulse and everyone cheered. I looked up and saw a woman and a little girl crying. They obviously belonged to the dying man.
“An ambulance arrived a few minutes later, and the paramedics worked on the man for almost twenty minutes. The guy even started talking a little. It was great. They got him on a gurney and into the ambulance, then the wife and the child started to board the ambulance, but the paramedics said no.”
“I’m sorry ma’am. We can only take one rider.”
“But I have to go with him, and I can’t leave my daughter here.”
Disappearing like the Wind Page 8
