Today is the day Bradford thought as he opened his eyes. Mary was just waking up and was greeted with a good morning kiss. Still naked after making wonderful love last night, they continued their intimacy. Joe Namath, prior to Super Bowl III, had destroyed the myth that sex before a big game was taboo. Joe believed it honed his senses and made him sharp. Bradford should be razor sharp today.
Mary prepared a special breakfast while Dave showered; pancakes, bacon and fried eggs. Dave usually didn’t get this treatment unless the kids were hungry. At 7:30 AM on a Saturday, there was no chance you would see a teenager unless you checked the bedroom.
The couple had spent a quiet evening watching a pay for view movie, one of these overly promoted movies with big stars and little plot. Dave was amazed that big name stars like Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt accept roles in such bad movies. It had to be the money. Remember Waterworld? That one lasted about one month at the theatres before it hit the DVD market. Still, Dave and Mary had a nice evening, although they never got into the movie. Naturally, the kids loved it.
Mary gave Dave a kiss and wished him luck. “Do your best, honey. That’s all you can do. Just play your own game and don’t worry about anything else.”
“You sound like Ken. Are you still planning on walking with me?”
“I would love to. Judy and Ginny are going to be your unofficial cheerleaders, silently of course.”
“Good, just don’t try to start the wave or anything like that. I’m not a proponent of noisy galleries.”
“We’ll be good, I promise,” Mary said as she kissed him goodbye.
“I love you.”
The practice range was nearly empty when Dave arrived an hour early for his 10:00 match. A few extra minutes on the range wouldn’t hurt, and might help get rid of the butterflies. He had already stretched at home and done light calisthenics.
Starting with his P-Wedge Dave worked his way through his irons to his woods, hitting two or three balls with each club. He took his time and concentrated on maintaining a slow rhythm. Ken said if you hurry on the practice tee, you get too quick and lose tempo. “Take at least 30 seconds between each shot,” he advised. “Otherwise, you are just hurting yourself.” Yesterday the added pressure of being named captain had caused him to get out of his routine. He never felt comfortable.
Bradford finished with five drives down the middle and headed for the practice green. There was no doubt that he had to putt well today in order to win.
At 9:45 he was ready and headed to the clubhouse to relax and get some water. Buzz was inside talking with Mario and Kurt. He couldn’t resist asking the server to send Buzz a couple beers. Buzz refused Dave’s generosity.
“What if Buzz has a bad day, Mario?” Kurt asked as Buzz headed to the first tee. “Anything can happen in a 1-day tournament.”
“It’s a lock, Kurt. If Buzz is off, or the match is too close, we have a backup plan in place. We can’t afford to take any chances. We can’t lose this one.”
Sven and Dag were sitting at a table across the room. ”Do you really think that Dave can win, Sven?”
“Don’t worry about it, Dag. I follow orders just like you. The worst that can happen is that Buzz wins and Mario will buy us out of this mess.”
The DEA was too busy to come to the match. ”Is everything set, Steve?”
“We have been waiting five years for this day. We’re ready.”
“Buzz, how are you amigo. It’s been a long time.”
Buzz’ mouth fell open in surprise, but he knew who it was without turning around. “Jesus, it’s been awhile. What have you been up to?” Buzz knew, but wanted to keep the conversation friendly, at least until he knew what Jesus had in mind.
“Same as always, Buzz; still working for our old employer. By the way, they said to say hi. In fact, they asked me to give you a couple pictures that you might find interesting. They are a little dark, but I can still tell it’s you. Don’t they bring back great memories? I especially like the one with you in your scuba gear. Don’t you agree?”
It only took a quick glance to see the pictures were taken that fateful evening Buzz had tried to forget. The first two showed Buzz with the two bags of heroin they had stolen from Romano. Buzz was still in his wetsuit, but his mask was pulled back on his forehead. Other pictures showed Buzz in the forefront, and the debris from the explosion that had killed Diego. The pictures weren’t proof of anything, but they could be embarrassing.
“These are nice pictures, Jesus, but who would want to see them? It’s so difficult to tell where they were taken.”
“Si, compadre, without the sound track they would just be pictures. But ‘boom’, the sound track captured everything. You were so upset; maybe a jury would go easy on you and only give you twenty years. Maybe I could be a character witness?”
Buzz wasn’t sure there was a sound track, but he wouldn’t bet against it. “Okay, I get the message. What do you want from me?”
“Nothing, amigo, we want nothing at all, although my employers have placed a small wager on the match today. It would make them happy if Bradford wins. They would be so happy that they promised to burn the pictures and destroy the tape; entiendo?”
Buzz didn’t believe for a minute that they would destroy the pictures, but he had no choice. “I understand. Tell them we have a deal. And by the way, Jesus, don’t call me amigo. We never were friends.”
Buzz headed to the 1st tee with mixed emotions. He was playing the best golf of his life, but he knew what Romano would do to him if he won. The FBI already knew about his involvement, but it was Romano that he needed to worry about.
“The hell with it,” Buzz thought. “I’m not going to throw a match for anyone.”
Book Three
Club Championship
Day Two – Showdown
Chapter 1,
Par 4 – 380 Yards
Nervous Again