During the week of the 1989 Phoenix Open I was paired with Tommy Armour III in the Desert Pro-Am, played at the TPC of Scottsdale (Desert). This was not THE Pro-Am, the one with Bob Hope, Barry Goldwater, Glen Campbell et al on the Stadium course. This was the OTHER Pro-Am played on the TPC's other golf course, the Desert course. Two completely different animals, but my company put up the entry fee and I was happy to play, no matter which Pro-Am.

The other two guys in our foursome were an attorney and a banker, who it turned out, were complete jerks. Not only that but these two supposed low-handicappers were hitting it all over the place.

By the 6th hole Tommy was growing weary of their slow play, and hearing about how much money they made in this that and the other investment deal. I didn't know Tommy from Adam before we teed it up that day but I was excited to play with a real, honest to goodness, PGA Tour player for the first time. And as it turned out, I would get the opportunity to get to know him a lot better that day.

I was nervous at first but I wasn't playing badly, missed a couple of short birdie putts on holes one and two and was one over thru 7 holes. Mr. Armour wasn't paying much attention to me but we traded eye rolling glances a couple of times while waiting for our playing companions to stop the endless waggling and get on with it. I could tell that Tommy was a class act and was being as patient as he possibly could. But even patient guys have their limits and I could see that he was about to reach his.

If you happen to know Tommy Armour III then you know he is recognized as a free spirit on tour and doesn't pay much attention to critics of his game or his lifestyle. The parties he throws at the Byron Nelson are truly legendary and even he admits that they may have to start limiting guests, it's gotten that crazy.

So what he decided to do on this day at the 1989 Phoenix Open Desert Pro-Am to diffuse these two boring hacks and to silence them for the rest of the round was truly genius at work.

On the 8th tee Mr. Armour walks up to me as I am teeing the ball and asks me what my strategy for playing the hole is. Would I stand a better chance of stopping the ball (with my low ball flight) with my approach shot if I laid back with a 3-wood off the tee? Well, before I could close my mouth and really react to this, he winked! And I knew from that point – it was game on.

I went on to birdie that hole and the next, Tommy started acting like a caddy and reading my putts, clubbing me on almost every shot, chatting me up about my life, my work, etc. Well, that was too much for the banker and the lawyer, they were steaming and playing even worse but too embarrassed to say anything. It went on like this for the rest of the round and those other two stormed off as soon as they holed out on 18. Tommy and I had a good laugh over it and I wished him the best in the tournament.

Darned if the little devil didn't come back and win the dang thing in 1990! And if that wasn't thrilling enough I made eye contact with him as he was headed to the scorers tent after his final round in the 90 Phoenix Open and a five-shot win. A flash of recognition, a half smile and a wink!

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