I am having a strange, but pleasant day, dedicated to two leading gifts of Scotland to popular culture: Golf and Harry Potter.
Golf x 2.
I got up at 6:30am to watch TV coverage of the Open Championship at St. Andrews. The Old Course is a fascinating links. I played it about two weeks after Woods won the 2000 Open. The course was in great shape that day, and the ball waa rolling just as fast and far as it does on TV. I was playing well, but failed to break 80 because of a ball out of bounds on #16 (I had 37 on the front nine, but 44 on the back).
My brother Scott and I were playing a match against two other Americans we were paired up with. We were down one hole with two to play. Then I won 17th by parring the famous (and famously difficult) Road Hole (#17). Then on 18, my brother sank a 35 foot birdie putt so that we won our match. When his putt dived into the hole, the 100 or so people around the green broke out in applause. Returning from shopping, my daughter had joined me on the walk down the 18th hole–all in all, something we’ll never forget.
Golf is one of the few sports where ordinary people can play on many of the historic courses where the pros play (though getting on most of them is far easier in the UK than in the US). After playing a course, it is a treat to watch a tournament played on it.
After watching a few hours of British golf, I went to play in the 101st Chicago City Amateur golf tournament. Last Sunday I had just barely qualified by scoring in the top 40% of those trying to qualify. Today (the first day of the tournament) I shot a 79; the leader shot a 65. I would need to shoot one of my best rounds on Saturday just to make the cut and be allowed to play on Sunday. (Jack Nicklaus missed the cut today at St. Andrews.)
Harry Potter.
Although we ordered a copy of the latest Harry Potter book on Amazon (scheduled to arrive on Saturday), my 18-year-old daughter and I just decided to go to the Harry Potter party at Reynolds Club at the University of Chicago. The party, which benefits from taking place in a large gothic hall, is sponsored (or co-sponsored) by an offshoot of the great Seminary Coop Bookstore. There should be some fun costumes and lots of small children excited by a publishing event. The one time we briefly met JK Rowling (at an assembly line book signing), she couldn’t have been more gracious to my daughter.
In our household, the arrival of a new Potter book is not the event it once was when my daughter was younger. But we will probably still want to pick up a copy at midnight.
UPDATE: Back from the book party. There were hundreds of people there. The only other law professor I saw was Bernard Harcourt (U. Chicago), and he was in costume (mostly a black cape).
2D UPDATE (Saturday): I got up Saturday morning at about 9am. My daughter Katie had already finished the 6th Harry Potter book at 6:45am and finally gone to bed. She started reading the 652 page book about 12:20am, so it took her less than 6 1/2 hours. She has been able to read faster than her two parents (both professors) since she was 7 years old. Katie liked it better than the 5th book; she said that “the angst-ridden Harry Potter of the 5th book is no more.”
I then went off to play golf in the Chicago City Amateur. I shot another 79 and, as expected, missed the cut (the leader shot 66 for a 2-day total of 134).
Comments are closed.