Page 70 of Unexpected Shot
But not anymore. Not if I have any say in it.
Beau
In that instance, he fucked with Shelby’s clubs.
Asher
What?
Beau
Yeah. Phil told me. He handed her the wrong club on purpose. That’s why I hit him today.
Maddox
What do you mean today? Oh my God. He had two black eyes! And it was only one punch!
Beau
All I’m saying is that my fists have become intimately acquainted with his face.
Theo
Can we ask why he got the first punch?
Beau
You can. Doesn’t mean I have to tell you.
Asher
Oh…so he talked shit about Shelby.
Beau
Doesn’t matter why. What’s done is done. Now I have to face the fallout.
Theo
What’s going to be worse? The fine for hitting Chad or you and Shelby having World War III on live television?
And there’s the million dollar question. Neither Shelby nor I have any clue what’s about to happen. Because what happened after the fight is something we never saw coming.
While Shelby was dragged away, the medical team attended to Chad. The only good part of what happened was that he was forced to leave the course to go to the hospital.
By the time I got to the area off to the side of the course where security took Shelby, the tournament directors were there and none were too happy with our antics. I don’t blame them. I made an ass of myself all day. Shelby’s not completely blameless in this, but I made things worse than they had to be.
Once we were done with our verbal tongue lashing, we both admitted to our wrong doings and apologized. As we sat there, hands clasped, heads hanging, neither of us looked at each other. We couldn’t. We know how bad we fucked up. We know the fallout is going to be epic. We know Ethan’s going to rip us toshreds. And we have no one to blame but ourselves. All we could do was sit and wait for our punishment.
So when they told us that we were to finish our round that day, and the rest of the weekend, we were both stunned. We both asked if they were sure. We both volunteered to withdraw from the tournament, pay any fines, and serve any further reprimand.
But, the tournament directors insisted that withdrawing would bring a different kind of attention. That all weekend, the only talk of the tournament would be our antics, and that if we withdrew, it would only further the conversation and disrupt other golfers as they’d have to comment on it. They told us to go back out there, play our last two holes, then immediately go to the press conference and answer every question we were asked.
And to be on our best behavior for the rest of the weekend.
Translation: People are going to tune in now that our fight has gone megaviral. They want the eyeballs on the television to see if we’re going to act up again. If we aren’t there, no one will watch.
I might have been born at night, but I wasn’t born last night. I fully understand the media mindset, and recognize the tournament directors thinking with ratings and money in mind.
