Volunteering At The DP World Tour Championship: A Stand Out Day

It's funny but some days always turn out to be more enjoyable than others and yet it's very difficult to determine the reason. Today was just one of those days.
I hadn't been particularly looking forward to it after the heat of yesterday because I thought that if there was a repeat today when I was due to hit the course today at 12 noon, then it would be physically very draining. As it turned out, there was a lovely breeze, the temperature had dropped considerably, I had a terrific young man Omar on the scoreboard and finally, I had the pleasure of scoring American Patrick Reed and Australian Scott Hend.
Now Patrick and Scott enjoy individually, a touch of notoriety, the former for his antics in the Ryder Cup and the latter for his somewhat short temper on the golf course. Nah! They are both pussycats. I actually met Patrick Reed a couple of years ago in Dubai and thought that he was a terrific young man with a very engaging personality. It also helped that I had a pretty good knowledge of his birth state, Texas and his home town, San Antonio.
Scott on the other hand, a grizzled and older PGA Professional has a reputation for his fiery temper which had apparently been evidenced at some stage this week but not by me. Well today I could have fully understood if the volcano had blown because the guy had absolutely no luck whatsoever! Just occasionally you would expect to get the bounce of the ball but for poor Scott, nothing went his way and yet despite this misfortune, with the exception of the odd four letter word, he was brilliant and a pleasure to work for. I have to say that at times I felt like uttering expletives on his behalf and when we had finished the round, I did say to him that he couldn't possibly have a repeat of today and that on Sunday he was likely to shoot really low. I hope he does because I ended up liking Scott.
The other thing I need to mention as well before moving on is that Scott's caddy is his wife Leanne who is a very pretty and petite individual. She is actually smaller than his golf bag and watching her carry it around the 18 holes of the Earth Course, I did at times feel like asking her if she needed a hand! I do worry about her back going forwards! I'm not being sexist either before anybody reading this complains!
It is a total privilege to walk around a golf course and to be so close up and personal to people you have watched and admired on the TV over the years. It's even nicer to engage in conversation with some of them and discover that they are indeed, quite normal despite their incredible wealth. You also realise just how amazingly talented they are but it doesn't just happen because I have witnessed them spending hour after hour on the practice range and on the putting green and their work ethic makes it crystal clear why I am so rubbish at the game! I need to practice and warm up before I go on the course or put simply, I will never get any better.
Off the course today, I was chuffed to meet up with one of my hosts last year, Chris but not his wife Ellen who was working non-stop preparing for an Ofsted inspection that is due to start at her school next week. Yes, it's the same type of inspection that teachers fear in the UK but I have always thought that there should be no warning and they should just turn up uninvited. That's how it worked in the bank and it didn't do me any harm!! Enough of serious stuff.
The Skipton Three or should I say Paul on this occasion, found himself being courted last night to buy a £4,000,000 house in Dubai! Apparently, by the time the conversation had finished, he had convinced them that he owned 94 properties in London and was looking at acquiring a little spread in the Middle East. I think the agent had been impressed at them staying in Atlantis The Palm and even more so by the fact that they could afford to spend £50 for just four coffees! Apparently, they are sending a Rolls Royce for him tonight to go and inspect the show palace! If he takes Amanda with him I fear that when I see them again in the morning, they will be the owners of a rather swanky pad and very, very poor to boot!
Final dispatch from the desert tomorrow. Thanks for reading and thanks for the comments.