It’s one thing to lose a friendly closest-to-the-pin competition to a professional golfer, but when that golfer uses your club to do it …
That’s the situation “defending champion”
Using one of Babineaux’s irons, and wearing sandals, Michael Allen dropped each of his three shots ridiculously close to the pin. His best shot landed 3 feet, 2 inches from the pin, while Mare’s best was 6 feet, 2 inches and Scott Simpson was another two feet farther than Mare.
Babineaux? He opted to not even swing. But then his club did win it.
Cracked Mare, “Babs just brings the equipment. That’s about all he’s good for.”
Last year, Mare beat the pros. Not this time. Not with Allen taking control on his first shot.
“I’m that undercover guy. Nobody knows me. I just slide in,” Allen said with a laugh after turning the event into a laugher. “Babs’ club is a little upright for me. But he’s got good clubs.”
And Allen put them to good use.
“Even if Babs had been playing, I’m sure I would have beat him with his own club,” said Allen, who has played golf with Babineaux before.
“We just came out to see him. I had no idea we were going to be doing this. It was fun.”
Babineaux accepted defeat with a smile, and a zinger.
“Beaten with my own club,” he said, shaking his head. “I should charge a fee right there. What do caddies make? Nine or 10 percent?”
Shifting seamlessly into a more serious mood, Babineaux added, “That just goes to show, it’s not the equipment. Those guys can really hit the ball.”
Not that Allen was a ringer. He won the Senior PGA Championship last year and last week was the runner-up in the event in Bend, Ore. It’s just no one was sure he was going to join the competition until he took the club and started swinging.
“When I had a chance to actually see those guys on the senior tour, I was blown away,” said Babineaux, who carries a 10½ handicap. “I really was. If you’re a fan of the sport you just admire what they can do.”
Of course, no one “lost” on the picture-postcard afternoon along the shores of Lake Washington.
“It was fun,” Simpson said. “Golfers are sports fans. So any time we get a chance to come meet guys who play a real game for a living it’s a big thrill.”
Mare, whose handicap fluctuates between 2 and 4, returned the compliment.
“I like to watch them, especially how consistent they are,” said Mare, who will enter the 2010 season having made his last 21 field goal attempts. “When you’re at that level, you can respect what they do.”
Even when they do it to you with your own club.
