Jimmy V Celebrity Golf Classic

How We Survived The Jimmy V

By Hoo and Fran

It was an extremely well organized getting in (though not getting out we found) and we managed to be at Todd's starting hole around 8:40. Well the start time was supposed to be at 9:30 but thanks to several bits of lightening and some miserable rain it didn't start until 11:30. Then it got really hot and humid.

After 14 1/2 holes though the skies darkened, there was thunder and the tournament was officially called off. We were on the 18th hole (conveniently near the club house) when it was called on account of rain, but we had started on the 5th hole. So we were spared the last 4 holes (for which we were most grateful). But it ended up being a good thing as you'll see.

Random comments

Glasgow luxury hotelsTodd's golfing partner (a former pro for the course actually) was nice enough to hand us some cold bottled water at one of the holes.

The event person traveling with Todd informed us that Todd was just a "doll" and a very nice guy to work with. She also told us that Todd thought we were awesome for coming out for this to watch him as well as the amount of travel we all do to see him wherever he goes. Of course what Todd kept telling us is that we were totally insane. But as usual you could tell he really appreciated us being there. And when he said his final goodbye to us, he thanked us for coming!

Todd was really laid back and relaxed all day. He chatted with us at the start of quite a few holes and was really in just a good mood. The day was of course spiced with several smirking questions asking if we were hot enough or tired yet. Good ol' Todd. At one point we lagged a bit behind and you could see him up at the tee urging us on. Quite funny. In one place he even pointed us in the direction of a short cut!

As others can attest, Hoo did make the comment she promised Mary about the quad flip. Hoo explained how Mary had put up his jump stats like baseball stats so we had percentages and it turned out his best jump was the flip. His response: "Not in this lifetime" and gave her one of those 'you've got to be kidding' looks. He did say that Yags was working on one though.

Hoo also asked him if we'd ever see a skid/slide spiral out of him and he said 'no because he'd probably fall on his face' and did this cute hand motion and sound effect.

"Phooey! is what we think as we want to see him do one".

Later, after 12 holes the rain came again and the tournament was called off. So everyone went back to the clubhouse. Well, the players went inside so we had to regroup a little at that point. Thankfully Hoo mentioned to Todd earlier that we had his birthday present.

So we went up to the clubhouse and got one of the security folks to go find him. He came out and actually ended up spending the next 40 minutes just hanging out and chatting with us. Which no doubt never could have happened had the rain not cut the play short - which was why the rain ending the tournament prematurely was a *good* thing.

For Todd's birthday a group of his fans made a donation of $1,060 in his honor to the Stacey Pensgen training fund. A certificate explaining the donation was gift-wrapped and presented to Todd. Todd very carefully unwrapped the present. No ripping of paper - he neatly pulled it open where it was taped. He then read the certificate very intently, you could tell he was reading all the names. He was very flattered, and appreciated that his fans had done this. So the gift seemed to us to have been a great hit.

Melanie took a picture of him opening it, so hopefully it will come out.

While just chatting the subjects ranged from his upcoming events (we know his schedule better than he does) and just about everything else. The new short is going well - there will be a new costume for it, though he doesn't know what. He might redo the 13th Warrior one near the end of the season just to give it a fresh look, but nothing definite yet.

We also talked about the Gladiator music overload, the Kennewick Open which will feature US skaters exclusively in teams of two skaters. He knew he had the US Junior champ (Ann Patrice McDonough), Michelle Kwan got Ryan Bradley, Sarah Hughes and Tim Goebel were together and Michael Weiss got Deanna Stellato.

Todd is looking forward to the start of the season. He doesn't know / hasn't thought about what program he'll use if he makes the Grand Prix Final.

We talked about his house and the TV show. He said he does occasionally use those granite countertops for hot foods. Hoo refrained from asking if it was hot take-out or not.

And yes the Ferraris on the bar were all gifts to him. His Mercedes is a COK, two door, navy blue.

Back to the tournament

It was frankly not one of Todd's better golf outings (for him). He readily admitted afterward that he hasn't spent that much time playing lately (too busy skating! <g>). However, he was lucky enough to have some pretty good players as partners.

While we were waiting for Todd to join us Fran asked one of the security people about the results and he said he thought they'd use the point everyone left off at as the final score (although there might have to be some adjustment since, as Todd pointed out to us when he arrived, not all teams played the same number of holes). There's a good possibility Todd's team may have won (or if not, come mighty close) since when they left off they were 10 under par. They were playing Best Ball, so there were no individual scores only team ones.