NICE TO SEE YOU AGAIN.... "KIDS"

Friday morning, after a visit to our golf course which was closed (first time ever that our course is closed the Friday after Thanksgiving Day), I decided to take a trip to play golf in Grants at Coyote del Malpais, and have a round with the noon group that usually has a game with my fellow PGA professional, Manny Martinez. I couldn't have picked a better day...

To help me avoid having to rush when I arrived, our neighboring friends had placed me in the last group out. I arrived at their west parking lot, next to #1 tee, just as the first of three groups was already playing their second shots on #1 and was happy to know that I had not delayed anyone.

When I arrived at #1 tee, the first person I saw was a very polite young man, who came to greet me and shaking my hand said, "Matt Murdoch, nice that you came to play". I shook his hand and in a clumsy way I answered, "thank you, I recognized your face, couldn't remember the name". Yeah right! I was truly embarrassed because I did not recognize who he was, and at the moment, not even the name made sense. Frankly, I couldn't have recognized him after more than 10 years since I last saw him as a teenager in Grants, nor could I have thought that he'd be there to play with the noon group.

Since Matt was in the second group off, I never gave it another thought... for a few minutes. I got my clubs ready -and Brandie- on the cart that my old friend Charlie Harding and I would be sharing, and then he introduced me to our team: Zeff ...., George.... and none other than Edee Murdoch, a long time friend and high school rival of my oldest golfing daughter, Paola.

Edee won the NM State Championship in AAA four consecutive times, and in great style, always with scores in the 70's and occasionally in the 60's. She went on to earn a golf scholarship at Kansas State, and then stayed in the golf business for some time, while starting a great golf program for ladies called "Sticks for Chicks" that still fills up every year.

She now works a "regular" job, as she put it, but it involves golf, something she is still very good at (she shot 71 from the men's white tees). Edee of course, is Matt's sister and just as Matt was hitting his second shot to the first hole, is when it became clear that the polite young man who had shook my hand, was Edee's brother and how clumsy I must have looked.

Matt, now married and with a little three year old girl, also went to school on a golf scholarship, and unlike his sister, stayed in the golf business, and is now a PGA Professional at Mission Hills Golf Club in Kansas City. Matt, who won the city championship several times in Grants before turning professional, shot a 64 on Friday and "waxed" us pretty good. Manny Martinez should be happy to have mentored Matt, who chose golf as his career.

Matt and Edee, are the son and daughter of Bob and Judy Murdoch. Bob was the golf coach in Grants for many years, and should be proud of his program, as many of the kids truly excelled in the game... and of course, he should be proudest of his mentoring beyond golf. See you in Kansas "kids"!