Behind the Scenes: The Irony Of It All

Editor's Note: If you want more of an inside look into season four, tune-in every Wednesday at 8:30PM/ET for our new Big Break IV All-Access show.
 
I feel I shouldn’t go on without sharing some notes about the night before we shot episode 3.
 
You see, last night, I had the night off. And upon recommendations from some locals, we headed for a favorite Carnoustie hot spot, The Kinloch Inn. Bart, fresh off of his elimination, decided to join us, and all-in-all about 15 of us started into town. The moment we entered the pub, we were greeted with stares and people were whispering something about “The Golf Channel” under their breath.
 
Apparently, the newspaper in town had been alerting everyone of our visit, hence the entire bar knew who we were the second we walked in. Soon, however, the whispers disappeared and we were mingling with the Carnoustie locals. Bart was even enjoying some celebrity of his own as a handful of townspeople actually recognized him from The Big Break II and were anxious to meet him. All-in-all, the evening and the Scottish hospitality made us all feel at home in a country so far from it.
 
But, as the sun came up around 4:00 am every day, morning was here before we knew it and we were off to shoot episode three.
 
We awoke that morning to find there was no Mulligan challenge. And the guys were certainly excited about finally getting a little match play action. However, the Europeans had to sit someone out of the challenge because they were up a player. Even with Thomas’ vocal protests, the European team chose to sit their most experienced teammate, Warren, out. It may have quickly led to their demise as Marty, the emotional young gun of the group, came down with a bad case of the shanks. And one bad shot led to another. It was decided, even before the final match of Paul and Thomas was played that the Europeans would be going to elimination.
 
So now it was my turn to escort the European team to the driving range. And they certainly arrived in style. Guy’s pants made quite an impression and several of the ladies on staff, I have to admit myself included, had to get pictures with Guy that day.
 
The smiles ended the moment we headed to the elimination, however. As we piled out of our golf carts at the challenge, you could hear the North Sea churning just beyond the dunes. In a strange twist of fate, roommates Eddie and Richard found themselves at the bottom of the leaderboard and heading into a playoff together. While they were speaking French to each other a lot during the challenge, there was certainly no mistaking their body language. In the few days we had been there, these two guys had become fast friends and neither wanted to see the other gone. In the end, though, Richard was the one that said goodbye.
 
It was not long until I saw Richard again. To my surprise, the All-Access crew had decided they would shoot exit interviews in my suite that night. You may ask why. Well, when you’re staying in the Jean Van De Velde suite it doesn’t take long to figure out. In yet another ironic twist of fate, Van De Velde’s fellow countryman, Richard Gillot, was the first to be interviewed in the suite that bears his name. Bart and Richard, the only two married men in the group and the first two men eliminated from competition, ended that day toasting to each other. Toasting to The Big Break. And looking forward to seeing who would be joining them next.
 
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