Chapter 32

Our three-person accommodations at the Jomtien Beach Hotel in Thailand ran us 16,000 Thai Baht a night. Pretty impressive, even when converted to American dollars (in the neighborhood of 500 of those suckers), but the hotel was first-class-plus, and the suite -- on a high floor in the gorgeous tall structure, with views of the sea from two directions -- would have been worth it, I thought, even if the rent were coming directly out of my pay.

Kim was paying her full 1/3 share these days, and joking that she should be paying half, since she was sharing me, as well as the suite. Tess told her she considered me as no more than a cross they both had to bear, and that it was generous of Kim to help in keeping my libido under control.

The Amata Spring Country Club, where the tournament was being staged in this, the third year of the event's existence, was a beautifully manicured, scrupulously maintained oasis. We had seen a lot of pretty fancy clubs in our travels. Sometimes, particularly back home, these clubs just gave me a case of the willies. I'd been hanging with the rich folks, now, for some considerable time, and I'd had years of experience at the local club in Chapel Hill -- Tess' home club -- which wasn't exactly a slum itself.

But some of these places -- whew! They made me want to go back to my room and put on a fresh shirt! They made me wish I'd have sat still, back at age 13, when my parents wanted me to get braces.

The rich are different from you and me.

These foreign venues, however, seemed less intimidating, despite their luxury. Amata Spring Club was every bit the equal of even the best American country clubs, but it had, somehow, a friendlier aspect. I felt relaxed there, for reasons not entirely clear, even to me. And our hotel! It was like a drug! Going back to our suite was a prospect so delightful that I found myself flushed with anticipation every time we returned there.

And that was true, even when I wasn't anticipating getting laid immediately after we closed the door.

Tess liked the tournament course, although it was shorter than she would have preferred, partially neutralizing her long game. Not surprisingly, Kim liked it even more. It was Kim's first time there, also, although her countrywomen were prominent in the field, and a South Korean woman, Hee-Won Han, had won the previous year.

The three-day event had a big purse -- bigger than most of the truncated, 54-hole tournaments. Last year, Han had won $195,000. This year, the first-place trophy was accompanied by $210,000 American. (That's about 6.8 million Thai Bahts!)

Wednesday night in Thailand wasn't exclusively Kim's property, because, this week, the tournament didn't start until Friday. Presumably, Tess would swear off sex on Thursday night, instead. We all participated Wednesday, and, without sharing the details, let me say that a good time was had by all.

"Does this place relax you as much as it does me?" I asked them both, sprawled on the bed after some strenuous aerobic activity a short while earlier.

"It's kind-of frightening," Tess said. "It's like they put something in the water."

"I don't care what the airline fares are," Kim said. "I'm coming back here, next year."

"I don't like the course that much, though," Tess said. "Too short. It doesn't suit me."

"You need to make us some money, wench," I told her. "We're losing money on this trip -- large money."

"We could have saved an enormous amount," Kim said, "if we'd flown coach on all these flights -- since we left the U.S."

"Don't be crazy," Tess said. "That flight across the Pacific? We'd have been unable to move, after all those hours in steerage."

"Kim did it, when she flew home earlier," I pointed out.

"But she wasn't going to compete in a tournament a few hours later," Tess said.

"Anyway, you don't need to spend all those hours stuck in your seat on the plane," I pointed out. "There's always the exercise periods, in the roomy restrooms."

"That was my one-and-only mile-high club experience," Kim said. "Don't even think about another of those three-ways, on the flight home from Japan."

"You're just having negative memories because you had to be the one to go first," Tess told her. "It's better when you're only Number Two, because Will tries harder."

Kim was unconvinced. "No. On the way home, you two can do whatever you want. I'm going to sit in my first-class seat and consume copious quantities of hard liquor."

Despite Tess' complaints about the golf course, she performed brilliantly on the Amata Spring layout, closing out the first two days with a 67 on Friday, followed by a record-tying 65 on Saturday.

Kim made the cut at one over, but was well back.

On Sunday, Tess (with, by now, a much more charitable attitude toward the golf course), closed it out with a three-under par final round, winning the whole shebang by three strokes.

Six-point-eight million Thai Bahts!

Kim had to settle for, maybe, paying her expenses for the Far East trip. She collected $29,800. We decided to fly to Japan on the following day -- Monday -- and to spend another night at the hotel that, all three of us agreed, was the best place we'd stayed together since -- well, since we parked the RV in Chapel Hill and became world travelers.

While we were in Mie, Japan, preparing for the next event, Tess was contacted by a Japanese equipment manufacturer who was eager to sign her to a long-term endorsement contract. The company was new, and although it had already secured an excellent reputation for quality, it was finding it difficult to compete with the more established manufacturers of golf clubs and other paraphernalia associated with the sport.

The company, known internationally as "TESLA," was hell-bent on securing a name-professional golfer to become closely identified with its products. Somebody back at the home office in Tokyo must have been bright enough to suggest that TESLA and "Tess" had something in common. Something on which the advertising folk could capitalize.

A couple of what, in the United States, would have been Madison Avenue hucksters were dispatched to Mie, in South Central Japan, to rendezvous with Tess to discuss the matter.

I was amazed, when we got to Mie, to find that it was a city of two million people! I was a little ashamed of the fact that I hadn't ever heard of Mie until we'd made this trip. That's what comes of being an ignorant Westerner. Well, the Mie folk weren't offended. They had never heard of me, either.

Tess had, on her father's advice, steered clear of long-term endorsement contracts in her first year on the Tour. Roy, Senior hadn't made his pile by being slow-witted. He had concluded, early-on, that Tess was likely to become a major attraction on the LPGA Tour. He recognized that she was unusually attractive, had a strong, confident personal presence, and that she was likely to do very well in competition on the Tour.

Why not wait, Roy had suggested, until the deals she was offered were more than just the run-of-the-mine participatory contracts to endorse Titleist golf balls or Nike equipment? Why not wait until something major happens?

Well, something major had happened. Tess had won the British Open. And now she had won another event on the LPGA tour -- in addition to having made a huge splash in Sweden at the Solheim Cup competition.

Let the bidding begin!

Tess, her father, and her lawyer back home had had several communications, since she had been approached by TESLA. They had investigated the company and had concluded that Tess would sacrifice nothing, in the way of quality playing equipment, were she to sign with the Japanese corporation. She was advised, however, to sign nothing. She was simply to listen to the company's offer, take good notes, and bring it home with her for conferencing with Dad and the lawyers.

I had to hand it to the Japanese guys from TESLA. They spoke excellent English, to start with. Their "L" words were fine -- no "R" substitutions as I had so often heard in parodies of Asians, attempting to speak English. These guys would have been right at home in New York.

And they didn't pretend it was small potatoes -- their interest in Tess. Clearly, they were eager to build a campaign, based on the similarity of Tess' name to their corporate name. And however well some other young golfer performed, she wasn't likely to be named "Tess."

She also wasn't likely to be as photogenic, dynamic and drop-dead hot as Tess was. Give them credit, they made no bones about it. They wanted her bad, and were willing to pay.

They offered her a ten-year deal -- for her close association with everything they sold that was golf-related -- at $26 million. They were going to branch out into a clothing line, they told us. They'd be selling -- and Tess would be wearing -- TESLA-designed clothing, as well.

They gave her lots of written materials -- all in excellent English. Pie charts. Colorful graphs. Payment schedules. Numbers of days in a year when Tess would be expected to make herself available for special events, production of television commercials, and other activities associated with the contract. She would be expected to play, annually, in at least two Asian tournaments, out of four specified.

We didn't have to take very many notes. We had notebooks full, courtesy of TESLA and the corporation's advertising agency.

We left the meeting a little stunned.

"Do you realize what this means?" I told her. "They're offering you more money, I'm certain, than any female golfer has ever been offered for a similar deal. Jeez! When Tiger turned pro, he got $40 million, right out the door -- but, my God, he was Tiger! This is a whole bunch of money, Tessie!"

"We can get more," she said. "They didn't even try to be coy. They want me! When my Dad is through with them, I'll probably own half the corporation!"

Well, I doubted that bit of hyperbole, but I shared her confidence that Roy Senior could sweeten the deal.

"What about the clubs? The balls? Is their stuff any good?" I asked.

"From what I have heard, it's every bit the equal of anything manufactured in the U.S., or in Europe," she said. "But, there again, I'd make damned sure, before I signed anything, that I could use it effectively."

The Honda Tournament was an old-established event by LPGA standards. The tournament dated back to 1973, and it attracted the best professionals from around the world -- U.S., Asian, European and Australian Tours. Last year, the Aussie star, Karrie Webb, had taken home the $180,000 first-place check.

Kim and Tess both made a solid run at the title. It was a three-day event, with no cut after the first two rounds, but if there had been a cut, neither of my girls would have been threatened by it. For the first time since the Futures Tour, Kim and Tess got an opportunity to play a competitive round, head-to-head, during Sunday's final round. They were in the final threesome with Paula Creamer, and both started the final day one stroke behind Creamer.

Tess overtook Creamer on the eighth hole, and they stayed tied until the 14^th, when Creamer eagled a par five and, after that, was never caught. Tess finished second, two strokes back, and Kim was tied for third.

Tess collected $115,000, and Kim shared third/fourth place money, $67,300.

The Far Eastern excursion had been a paying proposition, after all.

We flew back home on Monday. We were feeling good, but there were no joint visits to the restroom, this time, on our way across the Pacific.

Late in the flight, Tess and I, heads close together, rejoined the discussion of our possible marriage. Kim was sleeping soundly, just across the aisle.