The Battles At Burnt Bridges Country Club: The Greatest Golf Rivalry Ever

By S.K. McKenzie

This is the story of an incredible golfing rivalry between two men and their respective country clubs that has lasted over 30 years. The first legendary match was over 25 years ago and is considered the greatest golf match in amateur or professional golf.

Max O'Malley and Brian "The Lion" Mane go head to head in one final match that promises to have all the drama, tension, laughs, and enthusisam as the first. One man is chasing history, the other man wants redemption.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Nov 15, 2013
• ISBN: 9781304628121

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The Battles At Burnt Bridges Country Club: The Greatest Golf Rivalry Ever

The Battles At Burnt Bridges Country Club:

The Greatest Golf Rivalry Ever

By

S.K. McKenzie

Copyright © 2013, S.K. McKenzie

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of both publisher and author. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

The following story is fictional but inspired by true events and people. Many names and nicknames have been changed to protect the guilty. The harsh and or offensive language used at times was not altered, in the effort to keep the authenticity of the events described.

ISBN: 978-1-304-62812-1

Hope you enjoy, laugh, and God Bless.

Prologue

In June of 1987, the day after Father’s Day, there was a legendary golf match played at the historic Burnt Bridges Country Club, between two young amateur golfing rivals in the state of Oklahoma. The first of these young men was Max O’Malley from Cottonwood, OK. The second player was Brian Mane, out of Tulsa, at the time Mane was the number one ranked amateur in the state Oklahoma and number three in the nation.

At stake in 1987 are many things; the title not the trophy, of best amateur in the state of Oklahoma, bragging rights for their home courses, and a great deal of money being wagered not only by the members from both courses, but by many golfers and professional gamblers abroad. Rumor has it that even Vegas was in on the secret match that became not so secret in its legendary status.

Brian Mane plays out of the Burnt Bridges Country Club (B.B.C.C.) whereby he is a member and grew up mastering his golfing skills. The B.B.C.C. has 36 holes, over 500 members, and is located in Tulsa Oklahoma with a population of well over 400,000.  It’s claim to fame; it has hosted four State Amateur events along with three men’s major championships in its glorious and rich history, 1 Men’s U.S. Open Golf Championship and 2 Men’s PGA Championships.

The biggest and most famous names in golf such as Hogan, Snead, Nicklaus, Player, Watson, and more have all played, competed, and walked the grounds at Burnt Bridges. Needless to say, Burnt Bridges Country Club has an impeccable history, is more than exclusive, and is not only the most prestigious club in the state of Oklahoma, but is also regarded as one of the top country clubs in all of the United States.

Brian Mane has the finest facilities anyone could ask for at Burnt Bridges C.C., along with a swing coach, tips and instruction from touring players, and anything else he might need to succeed. From day one, Mane is being groomed for a life in professional golf.

Max O’Malley plays out of the Cottonwood Country Club (C.C.C.), located on the outskirts of Cottonwood Oklahoma. The Cottonwood C.C. is only 9 holes, with no professional on staff, nor a driving range to speak of. It’s claim to fame, the course is regarded as the oldest in the state, as are many of the members.

Years ago the Cottonwood C.C was a premiere family facility, before the plethora of new golf courses saturated the area.  By 1987 the course was more or less a good ole boy establishment. It has a pool, a lake for water skiing or fishing, and is managed by the young bartender, cook, entertainer, and maintenance man known as 2 Sticks, since he claimed he was a better drummer than any member was a golfer, especially Max.

Cottonwood Country Club survives and thrives according to the total amount Budweiser consumed by its members, but with all that said, to Max it’s the greatest place in the world, it has everything a kid could dream of.

How this historic match was conceived has been the subject of many conversations, theories, and debates. The truth is we may never know how it all came together; all that matters is that it did, and it was perhaps the greatest match ever played in amateur or professional golf.

All of this history is relevant today, because now some 25 years later, a rematch between the same two young amateurs in 1987, who are now closing in on being 45 years of age has been re- organized, re-assembled, re-kindled, and will be re-played.

However, the rematch will have one major and interesting difference, 14 other men from Cottonwood Country Club will also be playing, against 14 men from Burnt Bridges, in a modified Ryder Cup team format, winner takes all match. Brian Mane will be the anchor and 15th man for Burnt Bridges Country Club and Max O’Malley will do the same for Cottonwood Country Club.

One last match, between these two golfing rivals and the two country clubs they represent, will be played on the Monday after Father’s Day. For one of the men playing in this rematch, history will be chased, for the other; it’s a shot at redemption. For all others who participate in the rivalry, this will be the golf match of their lives.

Chapter 1

In The Beginning

When Max O’ Malley was just a kid, 6 years old or so he had some difficulties. You see little Max had a lazy eye at times, from out of nowhere his eye would move towards his nose like it was a magnet.  This affected his ability to judge depth perception, read, catch a ball, throw a ball on target, and many other things normal kids do. As you can imagine other kids had a good time at Max’s expense and he was the last one chosen for sports on the playground.

To add to this difficulty, Max also had trouble catching on to the most basic tasks and had trouble learning in kindergarten and first grade. His teachers were sure he was slow and that he had a moderate learning disability.

For example, Max could not spell his last name on assignments. He had trouble with reading comprehension along with adding and subtracting. His grades were very poor. All this led to Max having somewhat of a chip on his shoulder when he got older.

One day while in the first grade after the lunch bell rang in school, all the kids arose from their desks as expected and began to line up to go to lunch. Max grabbed his Evel Knievel lunchbox and thermos and then got in the line to go to the school cafeteria.

As the teacher began to lead the kids, Max noticed they were not headed to the cafeteria for lunch today. Instead all the kids are going outside to the playground.  Not only is it just his grade, but all the kids in elementary school are going to have lunch together outside, Max thought this was the coolest thing.

As the kids arrive outside Max opens up his Evel Knievel lunchbox and begins to eat his peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He soon realizes that many other little kids are laughing at him but he has no idea why.

Turns out, the lunch bell was just an alarm for a fire drill and it was only 9:30 AM. Max then figured out that he did not know how tell time, it was before the days of digital clocks. Even so, Max went ahead and ate his PB&J.

Later that same week Max had a bad bicycle accident despite the fact that Max’s ride still had its training wheels attached. As Max was rounding the corner in the neighborhood one of the older kids came out from behind the bushes and shot Max in his lazy eye with a rock from a slingshot. Max wrecked his four wheel bike into a tree by the corner and then fell from his bike onto the street.

Max then made it home albeit bloody and bruised. He then was taken to the hospital and an emergency surgery was performed on his lazy eye. Turns out this was a real blessing in disguise for young Max.

The surgery was a success, not only did the doctors save Max’s eye; they corrected the problem by connecting the tendons in the socket to keep his eye from moving inward.

Within the next few months after his eye surgery Max quickly learned how to read, to do math, to tell time, and most importantly to him; he learned how to catch, throw, kick, and play any kind of ball imaginable in 1973. Max went from being the last kid picked to being the captain and doing all the picking himself, his confidence is now soaring. Lastly, Max got a new bicycle, this time without training wheels.

Later that same year, Max who was only 6 years old at the time confronted the 10 year old boy who shot him in the eye months earlier.  To put it kindly, little Max took care of business. From that day on, Max O’Malley was never bullied again in Cottonwood, by anyone.

It was during