Birdies, bogeys, putts, tees, pars, numbered holes and greens are all double Dutch to someone like myself who is neither golf player nor spectator. But what was very simple English earlier this week, was the fact that Stephen Michael Ames of Trinidad and Tobago had placed second in The 2002 Players Championships last Sunday afternoon at Ponte Vedra Beach in Florida.
Thirty-seven year old Ames, this country's first Professional Golfers' Association Tour player had outplayed the World's No 1 Tiger Woods, the defending champion, to walk away with U.S.$ 648,000 the equivalent of nearly four million Trinidad and Tobago dollars prize money, second to Craig Perks of New Zealand.
And because money determines ranking in this game, Ames is now one of the top 15 Golfers of this year's Tour Money List. On the other hand, Ames has moved from No 144 to No 65 in the world. At one stage of the game on Sunday, Ames looked like he would walk away with his first PGA Tour title, and a spot in the Masters where the fifty top players in the world get to play.
"To play and win the Masters is the ultimate in golf" says Ames' number one fan, his mother Marilyn, who was still in a state of euphoria last Tuesday morning as she spoke of her eldest son's successes while at the same time downplaying the visa problems with which he had battled for nearly a decade.
The Americans called it "a misrepresentation of facts." I see it simply as a "careless reply" to a misunderstood question from an American Immigration Officer, which resulted in Ames having to move to the European Circuit about eight years ago until he was eventually granted one week visas into the United States four years ago. These have since been raised to two-year visas. The current visa expires on April 28 the day of his 38th birthday.
The Champion Golfer has always been a sports enthusiast. As a student at St Peter's School in Pointe a Pierre, says his mother "Stephen was always much happier outside the classroom than inside. I had to find an area in his life where he could excel so I put him into sport." Competitive swimming was followed by tennis, badminton, a little bit of field hockey, and then he was introduced to golf by a friend who invited him to play with her.
"He was then doing tennis and swimming but started to like the game. I was not surprised when he came to me and said of the three sports that I do, I want to play the golf, so we sent him to Victor Alexander for lessons and from there he has never looked back." Stephen did spend three years at Junior College in Boca Raton, Florida, came back home and worked with his father's Maintenance Company, from where he went to practise golf every afternoon. And finally the day came when he said to his parents, Michael and Marilyn, "I love this game so much why don't I turn pro." It was expensive sponsoring him and there were times when the Ames' thought they would not be able to continue and he would have to give it up.
On turning pro in his late 20's Stephen registered with the local body of the Professional Golfers Association and started on mini tours in Florida. Then went to Qualifying School so that he could get on the better tours, such as, the Ben Hogan Tour (now the Buy Dot Com Tour), and the United States PGA Tours, where he won one event in Pensacola, Florida.
It was while travelling on a Canadian tour that he met his wife, a Canadian flight attendant, Jodi, who promised in-flight to come and see him play golf. The next week, a surprised Ames saw Jodi among the spectators. They were married at Lake Tahoe. And Jodi, who has a good understanding of the game has toured with her husband even acting as his caddy. The couple now have two sons, five year old Justin and Ryan, who will be two in May.
When Ames lost his visa eight years ago, he once more had to go to Qualifying School in Europe to be able to play on that circuit. There he won the Lyon Open in France and the Benson & Hedges International Open in England in 1996 before returning to the United States and Qualifying School again where he placed third and got his card for the US PGA Tour in which he currently plays. Ames must stay in the top 125 to keep his card otherwise it is back to Qualifying School.
Stephen Ames and his young family live in Calgary, but travel together as the PGA provides professional teachers for the children up to age five. "The players on the PGA are like one big family" says Marilyn "they all know each other and the children can stay with the teachers who organise games and other activities to keep them busy. There is nothing that the players require that the PGA does not provide."
From her Maraval home, Marilyn Ames never misses a game in which her son is playing "once it is on one of the television channels. Also we try to go to see him every year, usually to a tournament. The family went to Argentina in 2001 when Stephen and Robert (her younger son who plays on the South American tour) represented Trinidad in the World Cup. It was a beautiful experience. Other than that I have been to one U.S. and one British Open."
Not only has Marilyn herself played tennis and golf, but she made sure that her two daughters, Anna-Lisa and Carolyn, also played various sports because she felt sport was very important to the development of her four children as human beings. "The discipline is good and it gives them something constructive to do with their lives instead of liming."