JimFormation

“I came here to completely destroy you, to bury you,” my Opponent said as we walked together down the 10th fairway.

His comment confused me. Was this an attempt to intimidate me or get me off my game? Was he making small talk? Was he letting me know how surprised he was that I was leading after nine holes? I don’t know.

Not knowing how to respond I answered, “If that’s not how you felt, I wouldn’t want to play you.”

:::

A couple of hours prior, I was in the locker room with Rock looking at the brackets for the Club Championships. The Club Championship Tournament is a single elimination, head-to-head event. The brackets were set up with a 36-hole qualifying tournament. Last year’s Club Champ automatically gets the first seed and a first round bye.

Rock has the first seed. I’m the 5th seed.

Rock and I are on the same side of the brackets. If he wins one match and I win two, we play each other. Rock realizes this and smiles, “I can’t wait to kick your ass.”

I smile back and say, “I hope you get the opportunity.”

:::

The two conversations are almost exactly the same, but I take them completely differently. Rock is an Insider; my Opponent is an Outsider.

Rock and I are good friends. There was a complete lack of intimidation in his comment. Oh, he wants to kick my ass but in a completely friendly way. If we get to that point, our match will be good humored and friendly all through.

In contrast, I don’t really know my first round Opponent. I’ve played with him twice. He’s cocky, but hasn’t been able to back it up.

He is a little outside of our group; he’s trying to get in. His conversations are hopeful but strained. His one-liners are uncomfortable. He can’t say, “I want to kick your ass” the way Rock does and not expect a dozen guys to think he’s an asshole.

And, my god, does he. play. slow. Brutally slow. Pull your hair out slow. We Insiders hate slow players. If you play slow, you’d better play top-of-the-food-chain golf. Doc, an Insider (but doesn’t play top-of-the-food-chain golf), can play slow; lovable guy, ex-boxer, not right in the head. If Doc only has $5 in his pocket, he’s going to treat you to coffee and a danish with it.

I don’t share my Opponent’s comment with the rest of the Insiders. They wouldn’t take it well.

:::

After the round, my Opponent says, “I thought we played pretty even. If I hadn’t had a couple of screw ups, I’m right there the whole match and maybe we’re going into sudden death.”

Politely I agree and later speak to one of the guys we were playing with, “Do you think we played even? I thought I was in control of the whole match. I never felt he was in it.”

My playing partner agreed.

Even when my Opponent went eagle-birdie on the 6th and 7th holes to bring the match back to all-square, I never thought he grabbed control from me. After those holes I did think, “I hope I’m not underestimating him.” But I kept with my plan, “Make pars and he’ll fold.”

After an unfortunate three-putt on the 8th hole, I parred the next four holes winning three of them. He folded. The match was over.

And I moved one step closer to giving Rock the opportunity to kick my ass.