continued from page Kiwis with ….

continued from page

Kiwis with Ryan Fox showing off the Claret Jug in his native country for a year, before returning it when the championship is played next year at St. Andrews, the home of golf.

With an opportunity to visit New Zealand years ago, I was fascinated by the Kiwi culture and the natives’ great love of the outdoors. While I did not play golf, I visited golf courses in Auckland, Christchurch, and Queenstown.

I once had a fishing outing while spending a long weekend in Queenstown, a popular tourist destination, that is among the most memorable vignettes in a lifetime of travel.

With friends, we were able to book a guide and a charter boat and went out on the lake on a windy day, which was not the best for fishing. However, we were able to catch three nicesized trout.

A friend at the hotel where we were staying, aware of our plans, provided a most valuable tip. He said that if we caught fish, we could arrange for the hotel to cook them for us. The front desk personnel introduced us to the chef who confirmed that would be possible.

The chef prepared our lunch on a warm, sunny, beautiful afternoon, the best meal of the three-week trip to Australia and New Zealand. New Zealanders are “real” people.

With that in mind, it should not come as a surprise that the latest Open champion is a guy who booked a coach ticket, ordered a beer from the flight attendant, and placed the claret jug in an overhead bin.

My guess is that he will extend some benevolence in his community with the five and a half million New Zealand dollars he got for winning golf’s oldest championship.