MALTBIE AND THE GAMBLER
THE BEST KIND OF FRIEND I was a member at Caves Valley, and we were to play in a one-day member-guest with Barry Hyde. It was a miserable rainy August day in Baltimore. Nothing was going to happen. I had a friend at Caves, and he called me and said, “OK, what are we going to do today? ” We didn’t want to waste the day. He said, “I’ve got the plane; you organise the golf.” Barry and I sat in the grillroom at Caves and looked at the weather map, and it was green all the way to Chicago and down to Tennessee and to the East Coast. We looked at a variety of places, and eventually, Barry said, “You know what? It’s clear down in Florida.” We got in a Lear and took off for Sawgrass, played the Stadium Course, and then flew back to Caves that night. It ’s worth noting that this guy is the kind of friend who if he arranged something and couldn’t go, he’d still send the plane. A lot of other guys, if they can’t go, the plane doesn’t go. One time, when I was living in Atlanta, my friend was going to fly from Washington, pick me up in Atlanta, and a few of us were going to play Sutton Bay in South Dakota, then stay at Sand Hills for an overnight, play Sand Hills and then go to Merion. He called me the night before and said he couldn’t make it, but there was never a question that the plane wasn’t going to show up. Sure enough, we played Sutton Bay, we played Sand Hills and then he joined us at Merion. These are the friends you want to have. – GORDON DALGLEISH
I’ve had the pleasure of a great friend- ship with Eddie DeBartolo, the owner of the San Francisco 49ers. I’ve flown with him on many occasions. It’s quite nice, as you can imagine. We’ve had some great times on those flights. Once he invited me to go with him to a road playoff game, and it killed me to tell him I couldn’t make it. I had to be in Endicott, New York, early the next morning for a meeting. Ed- die wouldn’t take no for an answer. I guess he felt like I must be good luck. He promised to get me to New York that evening. I hope he doesn’t mind me sharing this, but we went to the game, and then he arranged for another private plane to take me to New York. I’m like, You’ve got to be kidding me. The kick- er is that I get off the plane, and there is a car waiting for me on the tarmac. The plane next to me belongs to Kenny Rogers, the late country music singer. He sees me getting into a car, and he’s yelling to whoever will listen, why he doesn’t have a car. That was a pretty good deal. – ROGER MALTBIE
The Wrong Seat I was just 17 when my agent, Steve Loy, brought me an unbelievable invi- tation: a free ride with his client Phil Mickelson on Phil’s private jet from the United States to a European Tour event in Saudi Arabia. Phil’s brother, Tim, and Dave Phillips, co-founder of Titleist Performance Institute, were also on the flight. I had no idea what I was doing. I looked for a security line to go through, but obviously there wasn’t one. I thought I could walk right up to the plane but was sent back to the waiting area. Once I got on the plane, which was huge, I was most concerned with not bothering Phil, but he was happy to
back to San Diego. Steve had secured another private jet for the two of us to get back to his office in Arizona. By this point, I was getting accustomed to traveling on private jets, sitting in comfortable seats, eating great food and being able to walk around when- ever I wanted. However, I had to take another flight to get home to North Carolina. I flew Southwest. That was a buzzkill. My flight with Phil was the start of a real friendship. Although we play on different tours, we play practice rounds together whenever we can, and we always have a little money game going on. Our stakes wouldn’t buy much jet fuel, of course. – AKSHAY BHATIA
talk to me. We bonded over being left- ies, and he told so many great stories, like the time he won the Tucson Open as an amateur after skipping a 3-iron across the water and making birdie on the back nine when his then-caddie, Loy – who was sitting within earshot – had urged him to play it safe. After a while the crew said they could convert our seats into beds so that we could sleep. I happened to be sitting in the chair that turned into the biggest bed. Steve was quick to tell me, “Let Phil take that bed.” Of course, I immediately gave the bed to Phil, who laughed and didn’t make me feel bad about my faux pas . Phil finished T-3 in the tourna- ment, and afterwards we took the jet
GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA 77
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024
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