US curling captain uses gold medal as ball marker during golf tournament
Professional golf, a sport notorious for being as quiet, subdued and serious as a traditional Presbyterian church service, drops that pretense when it’s time for a good old Pro-Am (professional-amateur) tournament.
When that happens, the sport becomes more like the version of itself played by drunk people on municipal courses on a Saturday afternoon, full of goofy revelry and some surprisingly good shots that get told and told again at the watering hole like the bard’s tales of medieval times.
And, well … Your Honor, Exhibit A:
USA curling captain Matt Hamilton using his gold medal as a ball mark is a major flex pic.twitter.com/ytpfcKQaPC
— Out of Bounds (@SI_outofbounds) May 17, 2018
That is U.S. men’s curling gold medalist and team captain Matt Hamilton — dressed in a garish costume that would make Monty Hall do a double take if someone wore it to an old “Let’s Make a Deal” taping — using his Olympic gold medal as a marker for his golf ball on the green.
Hamilton and his professional partner Andrew Novak were tied for 27th place on Friday at the BMW Charity Pro-Am in Greer, South Carolina, after shooting 3-under-par through 15 holes of the second round of the better-ball format tournament.
The BMW is something of an odd beast among golf tournaments; the first three rounds, on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, rotate between three golf courses.
Some players are at Thornblade Club, where Sunday’s final round will played. Others are at the Furman University Golf Club, and still others play at Cliffs Valley, with each team and player’s location noted on the leaderboard.
The 10 best pro-am teams advance to the final round on Sunday, so we may yet be seeing more of Hamilton when even the amateurs get serious.
The pros, meanwhile, have their own tournament afoot, played under the traditional rules, with the 65 best players advancing to Sunday, including Michael Arnaud, who tied the course record with a 60 on Friday and came one putt short of a 59.
A putt for 59 …
The dream falls just short for @Michael_Arnaud.#WebTour pic.twitter.com/3OGfKIeyab
— Korn Ferry Tour (@KornFerryTour) May 18, 2018
Arnaud was tied for first at 14-under with Oscar Fraustro, who got to his score by shooting seven-under on each round rather than taking the world by storm on the tournament’s second day.
With $126,000 on the line for the pro winner, this has also been a moving day of sorts for those hopefuls wanting to earn their full PGA Tour card off the Web.com Tour.
Fraustro started the weekend 129th on the money list; if his lead holds, he will come out of this tournament in tenth.
So there’s a lot more going on here than just a curling guy using an unusual prop.
But it sure does help draw attention to the action and some great golf being played on the PGA’s minor circuit.
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