Miracle at St. Andrews by James Patterson

Author:James Patterson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Published: 2019-04-07T16:00:00+00:00

33

CALDECKER ISN’T THE ONLY one whose stock has risen overnight. When coverage resumes Sunday afternoon, Nantz introduces viewers “to Travis McKinley, the newest member of the CBS family.” Then Kearns puts me on camera, as I stand microphone in hand between the blue markers of the first tee. As he counts me down, “Five…four…three…two…one,” I remind myself that I don’t have to whisper.

“From the tips, TPC Heron plays seven thousand, three hundred yards. That’s four and a half miles as the crow flies. Golfers, however, don’t fly, and on the ground, it’s more like six miles. Each mile is two thousand steps. If Hugo Caldecker is going to have a chance to win his first golf tournament, he will have to take twelve thousand of them, and for Caldecker, who lost part of his right leg as a result of complications from a car accident in South America four years ago, each step is not only more difficult than that of his competitors, it’s harder than the one before it.”

On Friday and Saturday, Caldecker’s steps became labored and painful toward the end of each round. On Sunday he is limping badly off the second tee. At every opportunity, Caldecker takes the weight off his left leg. On the second tee, he avails himself of a nearby bench. On the third, with no bench in sight, he sits on his golf bag, and after tapping in for par on the 4th, he sits on the bank behind a green. As he hobbles up fairways, he uses his 2-iron as a cane, and in between shots, he lifts his left leg and balances himself against his bag or leans directly on his caddy, Samuel Montgomery.

He also takes strength from his huge gallery. The attention given to Caldecker and his handicap, the bulk of it piped into American homes through my microphone, has won him a legion of new fans who roar his every shot and chant his name. At times it’s difficult to watch, yet somehow Caldecker gets through the first five holes without surrendering a bogey or his share of the lead.

“You can just imagine what a win would mean to this young man,” I whisper as Caldecker limps off the fifth tee. “The big paycheck, the two-year exemption, the invitation to the Masters and the trip to Hawaii for the Tournament of Champions, as well as tangible proof that all his hard work has not been in vain. For now, though, he has to find a way to put aside all thoughts of what a win would mean and focus on playing one shot at a time and putting one foot in front of the other.”

In my headset, Kearns barks his approval: “One foot in front of the other—love it—and don’t let up.” After Caldecker pars three more holes, Kearns unveils a graphic that he runs at the bottom of the screen whenever Caldecker is on camera and tabulates live every additional step, and Nantz updates viewers when he reaches 2,000, 3,000, 4,000.

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