Golf In A Parallel Universe (27 page)

They took me in the Club house. I was bleeding from some cuts on my face and I had a bloody nose and busted lip. They medical staff were treating me. I was basically ok with my head and face but my ribs were killing me. He hit me hard when he tackled me. The Parametric recommend I go to the hospital to have my ribs X Rayed. We had several people in the room with me including the police. “What happened?” I said out loud in frustration. Everyone was at a loss. One of policemen was in plain clothes in a suit and tie. His name was Detective Harrison. He told me that they are taking him to jail now and they will sort this out. He asked if he could ask me some questions and I agreed.

“Jim, what can you tell me. Do you know this guy?," he asked. “Well," I replied. “I met him for the first time Tuesday. I played a practice round with him and a couple of other guys," I told him. “Anything happen then? Anything unusual?," he asked. “No, just a normal practice round. I remember he did not talk much," I explained. “Have you seen him since, he asked. "No, I haven't," I replied. Then I put my finger to my head, as I was thinking. "I just now remembered something that was really odd," I told him as I was shaking my head. “What” he asked. “Just a few minutes ago just before the ceremony. People were coming up to me congratulate me and people were shaking my hand."

“Yeah, go ahead” he nodded. I remember he came up to me smiling and shook my hand and congratulated me. But as he was walking away, he gave me a real dirty look," I explained. “Really, what dirty look?," he said in an attentive tone. “It was like.” I paused trying to think. “It was the type of look like “I am going to get you” type of look. And I guess he did." I said laughing nervously. At that point I threw my hands down. “Why would he do this?," I asked in a frustrated tone. Everyone shook their heads not knowing what to say. “Well that's what we will try to find out," replied Detective Harrison.

Then from the back of the room, a voice rang out. “I think I know why." Everyone spun around to look. And there stood Jerry Churchill . Standing there with a look on his face that he knows what this is all about. “You know something sir?” asked Detective Harrison. Jerry walked up to us. Also the president of the PGA was with him. Detective Harrison knew who Jerry was. He is a big golf fan, and that's why he volunteered to work this tournament.

“What can you tell us Mr. Churchill?," asked the detective. “I think that he is trying to protect a piece of golf history. You see, Dafford Hilton is the grandson of the one and only Ben Armstrong" explained Jerry. “What?!” a few people blurted out, including me. “Yep” Jerry replied shaking his head. “Ben Armstrong is the only person in modern golf to come close to winning the Grand Slam of Golf. He still holds the record of winning three majors in a year. And it looks like Dafford Hilton does not want that record to be broken.

“It's like he has mental issue” someone blurted out. “His family does have mental issues” Jerry replied. “Ben Armstrong was a great man. A true gentleman. And he was an ambassador to the game of golf. But his wife was nuts. She caused him more problems than you can imagine. She had real psychiatric issues. But back in those days, everything was kept under wraps. There was no internet, no paparazzi type reporters around every corner like today. It was all kept quiet. They had a son. His name was Dave Armstrong. He became a professional golfer also. He was playing on the tour when I was playing. And he was very very strange. He just seemed like he had some loose screws in his head. Everyone pretty much kept their distance from him because he had a high temper. He did not last very long on the tour. But I remember him telling people that his father's record would never be broken. In fact he had said that he would never let that happen. No one really knew what he meant by that. He got married and had Son later in his life. It looks like he passed the torch to his son Dafford. His son is this guy today, Dafford Hilton. I believe genetic mutation of mental issues went right up the family tree.

Everyone was just silent trying to process this information. “Mr Churchill. Can anyone else confirm this information you just gave us?," asked the detective. “I can," a voice rang out. Everyone turned around, and it was David Hicks, the PGA President. “Jerry is right. There are very few people around old enough to know about all of this. And I am one of them. All that about Ben Armstrong's wife is true. And the same for their Son Dave Armstrong. We had Dafford Hilton on our radar for a while. He changed his last name from Armstrong to Hilton. He did not want anyone to know that he was the grandson of the great Ben Armstrong.”

“That was not the case for his dad, he wanted everyone to know," said Jerry. “You're right” Mr. Hicks replied. “Like I was saying. We had him on our radar when he started the tour three years ago. But he never showed any signs of anything unusual until today, he said shaking his head in disbelief. "Thanks for the info Mr. Churchill and Mr. Hicks," said Detective Harrison as he started to go over things. “I need to contact the DA and make sure this guy does not get out on bail anytime soon. I think he is in danger to the public and most certainly to Mr. Galloway. Also, Mr. Galloway, I recommend to put in a restraining order on Dafford Hilton. That's something that he may or may not honor, but it is the first step. ” My agent Bobby Williams was also in the room. “I will take care of that” he said. “But now we need to get Jim to the hospital to take a look at those Ribs. Detective Harrison got my our numbers. “I will keep in touch with you on this. “My goal right now is make sure he does not get out on bail," said the detective.

Bobby and Zack walked me to the car. As we were walking people were looking at me and did not know what to say. Some of the players came up to check on me. I tried to joke about it. “Looks like I stepped in the ring with the world champ," I said laughing. Some people laughed a little. But most of the players and everyone were pretty upset. As we were walking. Zack was really upset. “Damn It! If I would have been there with you I may have seen him coming and I could have stopped him," he said in a frustrated tone. I slapped him on the back. “Hey don’t worry about it. That was just one of those weird things. There is no way anyone would have seen that coming," I told him smiling.

They took me to the hospital. I did not feel so good. I was coughing and my ribs hurt. Turns out I had two cracked ribs and a bruised lung. They wanted to keep me in overnight for observation because a bruised lung can lead to complications. If all looks good, I will be out tomorrow the doctors told me. I reluctantly agreed. Eventually they got me in a room. Zack and my agent were with me. “Bummer” I said laughing. “Not my idea of celebrating my victory winning the US Open." We all laughed. Then Bobby got a little serious. “I am so sorry Jim, you deserve better than this," he said sadly.

I smiled. “Ah don’t worry about it, shit happens. Besides, I think if this would not have happened I probably would have been partying too hard tonight and would have done something stupid and hurt myself more than this. We just laughed, and we were all feeling a little better. “How do you want me to handle this Jim? As far as letting people know your condition," asked Bobby. “I know there a lot of people concerned," he told me. I thought for a few seconds. “Just let everyone know that I am OK. I am just a little banged up. I have no problems with letting everyone know my condition. Let everyone know that I am in good spirits and I will be ready to get back on the course as soon as possible," I told him in a positive tone. “OK, Jim, sounds good, I will put the word out. I also need to call our lawyer Devin and find out what we need to do as far as the legal end of things with a restraining order. Take care buddy, I got to run," he said as he walked out. He was upset, but determined to do whatever we need to do to handle this situation.

“Gosh, I am lucky to have Bobby on our team. He has been my agent my entire career, and he has always been there for me," I told Zack. “You're lucky," replied Zack. “I have seen a lot of players go through agents like some guys go through girlfriends. It's good to have a good agent in your corner.”

About that time my cell phone was rang, and it was Emily. “Speaking of girlfriends, I will leave you alone for a few to talk. I will be back in a few." said Zack as he walked out of the room smiling. I answered the phone. “Hello Emily." She was crying. “Are you OK?," she asked as she continued to cry. “I am fine, everything is OK. It's so good to hear from you," I told her. After a few seconds she was able to gain her composure. “My gosh, I could not believe what happened. We were all so happy, then that crazy guy jumped you. The TV cut off to a commercial just a few seconds after it started to happen. But we could see exactly what happened. I was terrified," she said as she starting crying some again.

Eventually, I was able to calm her down and assure her that I was OK. She asked why he did this to me. I explained what we found out about this guy and the possible mental issues and trying to protect his grandfather's record and all of that. “When are you coming home?," she asked. I told her that I am not sure. I should be out of here in the morning. I was supposed to play in another tournament next week's tournament. But it looks like I am going to be out of commission for a couple of weeks. I told her that if I get out in the morning, I will stay here another night in my hotel and regroup and most likely come home Tuesday.

“I want to be there when you come home. I want to help you," she told me. With cracked ribs, and a bruised lung you are going to be very sore for a few days."

“Ah, you don’t have to do that” I replied. “No for sure. I want to be there for you," she insisted. Those words really struck a chord with me. Now I felt like crying. I never had anyone tell me that. And this is a woman that I may be falling in love with. And to hear her say that she wants to be there for me, made me feel really good. “Uh Sure, that's very nice of you," I told her. “I told her that I will call her tomorrow afternoon or evening. By then I should have a better idea if I will be coming home Tuesday. "Sounds good," she replied. We talked for a few more minutes and said good night.

I really enjoy talking to her. It just seem so natural. And her showing that she really cares about me, means a lot to me. I start to think that maybe we do have a real future together. Finally, after a few minutes Zack came in with about a half dozen Pros that I know. “Look who I found wandering the halls and chasing nurses," Zack said as they walked in. These were guys that were some of my best buddies on the tour. And they are a rowdy group. After they could see that I was OK, they were not going to let me off easy. They started Razzing me about letting US Open Trophy Cup get broken. And how I do not know how to throw a punch. They laughed and said that I would do anything to get out of paying the expenses for a big Victory Party tonight. We all had a good laugh, it was good to see them.

But after all the laughing a couple of the guys were really pissed. They wanted to go after Dafford Hilton. I told them to cool it. I told them about what we found out today about his possible mental issues. I told them to just leave it alone. It is not worth doing anything about this. They agreed. We visited for a few minutes and had a good time. There were a couple of other people came in and out the next few minutes, but eventually everyone was gone.

“I will be here in the morning” said Zack. I told him basically what I told Emily. I will most likely just spend one more day here at the hotel and figure out what I will be doing. “Looks like you have next week off," I told him. “We will see he replied." Eventually he left, and it was getting late.

After they all left. I was alone for the first time since the incident and I can think about what happened today. Here I am in a stupid hospital room on one of the biggest days of my life. I tried to think how I should handle this. And then I made a decision right there to not let this incident with Dafford Hilton ruin my day or ruin my life. Heck, he has bigger problems than me. I played four great rounds on an extremely tough course in bad conditions and I won the US Open. No one is going to take that away from me. So that one thing to be thankful for. Another thing to be thankful for I found that Emily really cares about me. And I could not be more happy about that.

Finally I fell asleep. I had those recurring dreams again. I dreamed about playing golf as a hacker like I always do. And I would hear that voice “Keep it Parallel Jim. Keep it Parallel.” In the dream I seem to understand what that means. I did not dream about the incident that happened with Dafford Hilton. But the family in my dreams seemed to be happy and relieved that I am OK because something had happened to me. They are happy to see me but they are crying. They were asking me to come home. I was confused because I was already home. It was such a strange dream. And it seemed so real.

The next morning I wake up and I am really hurting. My ribs are killing me. They ran several test on me and I checked out fine. The doctor came in. “Don't expect to be hitting any 340 yard drives for the next few days, but you will be fine," he said smiling. I laughed and told him it takes me to clubs to hit that far when I am healthy and he laughed about that.

“Here's the deal” he said. “I don’t expect you will be ready for competition for a while. I do not want you to even touch a golf club for a week. You're bruised lung is most what we worry about. Just take it easy the next few days. If you start coughing a lot or have trouble breathing or spitting up blood, then get medical help right away. But I think you will be fine. As far as your ribs. You have two cracked ribs, but they really very minor. It could have been worse. Ribs are hard to gage on how you will feel. Sometimes people get cracked or broken ribs and they do not have much problems on recovery. Other people have lots of problems. So you can never tell. Swinging a golf club, there is no telling how they will feel. But they will be fully healed in about 6 weeks. "Six weeks!” I yelled out. “I am out for six weeks?," I cried out. “No, not necessarily. That's just how long it takes for the bones to heal. You can still do things while they are healing, they are not major cracks. I would say that after two weeks you may be able to swing. It all depends on how it feels. But give it a week without doing anything. Then the following week, go slow and see what happens. You may be ready after two weeks, or maybe longer, It just depends on how you feel," he explained. “Well they do not feel so good now” I replied. “That's normal. The next couple of days will be the worse, but it will get better," he replied.