Chapter 23

I drove Bailey back to the hotel after the ceremony and you couldn't have sand blasted the smile off her face.

When were almost in the parking lot, she turned to me and said,"I want you to come with me,"

I asked where we were going. I figured wherever it was I'd be OK with it at this point.

"I mean I want you to come on tour with me for the next four weeks," she said. "I've wanted you to come with me since the beginning but I didn't know how to ask you to. It's why you had a gallery pass today. I've put you on my list for every tournament I entered.

"When I talked to you in Cincinnati, I thought you were still in North Carolina. That's why I was so surprised. I was going to ask you to stay with me then. I was mad at myself for missing the chance then. I don't want to miss this chance."

I was in a quandary. Five weeks ago, I was disappointed she hadn't asked. But the money I'd spent this weekend and my flight to Raleigh would have paid for most of the eight-week trip.

"You don't have to if you don't want to," Bailey said, the smile gone from her face. "I just thought it would be fun."

"Bailes, it has nothing to do with what I want," I said. "There is absolutely nothing in the world I'd like better. I'm just not sure I can afford it."

"Dad will pay for everything," she said. "He and I talked about it before we even left. It won't cost much more for four of us than it does for three."

I explained the whole NCAA thing again.

"If your dad pays for anything for me, the NCAA might pull my eligibility and yours, too," I said. "Unless I share a room with you or them, I have to pay for that too. Even if I share a room with you or them, I have to pay for my share of it. It's a mess and you'll learn all about it in the fall. I had to pay the full cost of renting a private jet and pilot to come over here last night. The arrangements were already made and I'd already promised your parents before I thought of it. It's what I was worrying about last night when you woke up.

"Let me check how much money I have. I'll go with you to Toledo since I have to get home somehow. But I'll have to check on Florida. I do promise I'll be with you in Illinois for the U.S. Amateur. I'll do my best to spend both weeks there, but I promise to be there for at least the last one."

Bailey's smile returned.

"I could always hire you as my spiritual adviser," she joked. "Or I could hire you to take the puppies for a stroll now and then."

We ended up stopping in Lexington and I picked up my car. It was a long drive from Williamsburg to Lexington with four people and a hell of a lot of golf equipment in the Stenstrom's SUV.

Since I had my own transportation, it would allow all of us to stay an hour away at the Stenstrom's home in Michigan before the tournament. Bailey and her dad would stay closer once play started, but Judy and I elected to drive back and forth each day.

The Stenstroms seemed to have the right idea about finances.

They'd set up a Limited Liability Corporation and Jack and Judy essentially were using Bailey's money from a trust fund her grandfather set up against any future earnings she might get. This system allowed them to easily calculate the amount of outlay for each item. The NCAA quickly approved their application to hire me as Bailey's part-time driver (No, I'm not joking) and we were able to expense the gas and a hotel room back to the company. I had to reimburse the Stenstroms for incidentals — somehow the NCAA thought food to be something other than a necessity — but it worked out extremely well for all of us. My expenses were far less than I'd anticipated. Jack was happy to have someone to share night-time driving duties. Judy was happy to have someone to spend time with and Bailey, well Bailey was just happy about everything. The girl smiled from the time she woke up until the time she fell asleep, I think.

Well, I guess she wasn't happy about everything. She had become extremely recognizable in a short time, and she was mobbed by fans and photographers wherever she went. My duties also became part-time bodyguard, which I didn't mind. I would protect her however I could anyway.

Bailey didn't mind the attention — as I did — because she was extremely confident and articulate. I tried to tell her that half the people were rooting for her and half of them were rooting against her so they could get their jollies when she stumbled, but she didn't care.

What Bailey did mind is what the attention caused. Because of her age and beauty, tabloids went nuts over her. They offered money for pictures in a bikini — and ungodly sums if she popped a nipple out or something. Three out of four members of our group decided for the sake of propriety and her image it would be best if I stayed in a separate hotel room.

I had been dealing with the media on a considerably smaller level for almost two years. I knew Jack and Judy were right. I knew if someone managed to catch me sneaking out of Bailey's room it would be all over the prurient press in no time — not to mention the Internet. Bailey protested vehemently until I mentioned the name of a once-popular tennis player who had her career ruined because her personal life was more important to people than her professional life.

"We just need to have very public dates and try to be as accommodating to fans as you can be," I said, "and we have to be very discreet about things we don't want everyone to know. If the media catches hold of something, and you've treated your fans well, the public will turn on the media instead of you. I've learned that firsthand.

"Your fans can make you practically untouchable because those same fans are the ones who will increase a network's TV ratings or buy their papers."

Bailey played well in Toledo — in front of what seemed like every friend she'd ever made, including the Fergusons who made the trip up I-75 for the event. She wasn't in the last group on Sunday, but she was still playing Sunday. I certainly was pleased with the outcome.

Bailey was getting offers from all sorts of places for endorsement opportunities. She was unhappy when I told her that the NCAA would strip her eligibility immediately if she took money for anything — or endorsed something with a promise of payment later. The USGA is a little more lenient — for instance a golf manufacturer can give you a set of clubs to use and you can maintain your amateur status. But the NCAA would have no part of that. If Bailey got a new club or tried a new ball, we made sure we kept the receipt. I learned my lesson and I wasn't going to let Bailey find out how arbitrary — and contrary — the NCAA could be if I could help it.

She was also getting the attention of many men's magazines — some tame, some not so tame. Jack and I were furious, but we also were realists. Like me, Bailey was on an academic scholarship, so the school couldn't threaten to pull her athletic scholarship for doing something they didn't like. A cross country runner from a school out west had started a web site the year before that featured her in various stages of undress. I'd seen the site, but as far as I could tell she usually wore more clothes getting her picture taken than she did when she was running. Nonetheless the school pulled her scholarship and then she was dismissed from the team.

It had a happy ending though — no, not that kind, you pervert — because she wound up with a better deal at a school closer to her home that didn't give a crap about her personal life so long as she kept it legal.

I had returned my Fiat to Lexington with Ellie and we were using her sensible sedan — while she tooled around in my convertible — for our one-week trip to Florida. Jack and Judy had purchased a van to haul the golf equipment