The India House tournament went off without a hitch. Qualifying took place over 3 days during the week. Players from across the country gathered to tackle Bhutan's most devilish 10 acres of land. The picture above is of the legendary par three 2nd hole, where good and decent golfers score 10, 15, and even 20 shots. My fivesome teed off on Wednesday morning at 9:15. At days end, I was the only one left in my group with a chance at making the cut (1/3 of the field make the cut). I was 10 over my handicap (0, I shot +10) and stood in about 25th place out of 150 players. My 10 over par round wasn't good by any means, but I've had rounds in the past where I hit the ball equally well and shot under par. The 10 strokes just added up... an extra bunker shot here, a missed 4-footer there, and before you know it you shoot 74 on a par 64.
I began play on Saturday convinced I could better my score. I couldn't have possibly been more mistaken. The pin positions on Saturday were unbearable. Hole after hole, the greenskeeper had placed them 2 feet from the edge of the green. On hole number two I made a bogey 4, but watched other players in my group make 7, 9, and 13. I finished the round 22 over par, my worst round since high school!
Without a doubt the most rewarding part of the experience was getting to know my playing partners. The youngest member of the group was a guy named Kille, a 17-year old caddie at Royal Thimphu. Kille only made it through 8 grades, but is well regarded by his peers and stands high on the caddie totem pole (meaning he gets the good loops with foreigners who tip well). He's also got a decent golf game, though he buckled under the pressure like a lawn chair in a tornado. Not all that uncommon when you're playing for a car and you're one of the favorites.
The next best player in the group behind Kille was a Major in the Indian army. The Major is a short wide man, who's portly appearance and low croaking voice reminded me of a bullfrog. Major had a nice swing despite his 10 finger grip and amphibian characteristics, but his real talent was telling dirty stories about his girlfriends and wives (I think he had 2 of each). It took me a dozen holes to realize I was better off walking slowly to the next tee so as to avoid the lurid details of his love life.
After Major, was Colonel, a small and sprightly man from south Bhutan. Colonel was well mannered and excessively excited about playing is his first tournament. The interesting thing about Colonel was that he truly was a self-taught player. He'd only played a few rounds in his life and yet was competing in his first tournament. He had learned golf from various books and the internet, though I wonder if the book he first picked up was authored by Jim Furyk. His swing was long and inefficient, but you could tell instantly he had spent plenty of time at his army base hitting 7-irons out of the dirt of some lonely field behind the barracks. Colonel missed the cut, but his effort was impressive nonetheless.
The last member of our group was a guy I had played basketball with the night before. His name was Dasho, and he is the 40 year old husband of the King's sister (royal blood = Dasho). He is a remarkable man by all accounts. An engineering degree from Berkeley and an MBA from Yale are just couple of his minor accomplishments. He also started, with the help of his wife, Royal Thimphu College, Bhutan's first higher education institution. Dasho struggled the day I played with him, the result of being far too busy to practice, but he was a joy to play with. Back in the US, it's not okay to strike up a conversation with a guy in a tournament after he makes a 9 on a hole, yet Dasho seemed more than willing to chat it up regardless of the route his ball took to the bottom of the cup.
On Sunday night after all the golf was played everyone gathered at the Indian embassy for the awards and banquet. The official awards ceremony was titled "Prize Distribution Function" and was exceedingly well planned. You get the idea from the name that formality is not something the Bhutanese/Indians shy away from. A caddie, who practiced golf in the evening by sneaking on the course, won the grand prize. His brother even took second prize (won a flat screen TV). The boys' father who works grounds crew at the course makes $60 a month. His sons, with one good week of golf, netted $8,000-10,000. What a life changing event!
After the prize distribution event everyone gathered in the moonlight to celebrate the amiable, yet complex, relationship between India and Bhutan.. Pork curry, was the appetizer, but drinking was the main priority in the early evening. After eveyone was sufficiently liquored up, the real spread of food finally appeared. It was delicious. I have decided that Indian food in Bhutan is actually better than Indian food in India. Gorged and content, people drove slowly home, unafraid of the $40 fine for a DUI. The next morning, Thimphu rush hour was a bit lighter than usual and golfers slept off the final effects of India House Golf Tournament 2009.
