Bobbie realizes that Campion is cheating. She thought his putt on the first hole shouldn’t have gone into the hole, but it did. When Campion’s long downhill putt was destined to roll off the green, but stopped next to the hole, she felt the magic ‘push’ that stopped it. Now she is waiting for the other shoe to drop. She is certain that whoever is doing the magic will start to affect her ball as well. It is only a matter of time.

The problem is Bobbie will not use magic in retaliation. It will destroy everything she believes in. Her hands are tied. She is just going to have to gut it out. Bobbie’s friends know what is going on and have notified The Wizard. He will not do anything to affect the play of the game.

The bulk of this story takes place over one day. There are eighteen chapters (holes), plus the Nineteenth Hole (Conclusion).

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If you haven’t read the previous stories about Cindy, Bobbie, and the rest and how they arrived where they are now, you should probably read them. Start with An Incremental Journey, Cynthia and the Reluctant Girlfriend, Cynthia and the Dumpster Diver, Cynthia and the Moment of Truth, and Cynthia and the High School Years — Parts 1 & 2.
I have researched the Spell’s—R-Us Universe diligently and cannot find anything that violates it, other than that The Wizard is a bit kinder and gentler than sometimes reported. Don’t get me wrong. Given an opening, The Wizard could resort to some of his more ironic and nasty transformations. I’m sure that could happen at any time.

Once again, Holly did an outstanding job of fixing my punctuation errors and occasional wanderings into gibberish. My thanks also go to Beachbud, Michell, and Djkauf for their subjective proofing and comments.

This work is copyrighted by the author and any publication or distribution without the written consent of the author is strictly prohibited. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of the characters to persons living or dead is coincidental.

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Bobbie and the Glass Ceiling, Chapters 1, 2 and 3
 

Chapter 4 — Flowering Crab Apple, Par 3, 240 yards

On the Course

“What do you think? I’m thinking 3-wood. Try to fade it in between the bunkers, and hope it stays on the green. That wind’s not helping a bit.”

“Do you want to hit the driver, you know, take a little off it?”

“No, that’s too long, and if I ease off it, all sorts of bad things could happen. We’re not going to get a stroke on this hole, regardless. He’ll hit a long iron in there, and two putt at worst. I think I need to stay away from that right hand bunker. If I go into the bunker on the left, I still have a lot of green to work to. Yeah, fade the three wood and stay out of trouble on the right.

“You know he’s cheating?”

“Yeah, I thought so. Where do you think it’s coming from? You do mean magic, don’t you?”

“Yeah, but don’t let on we know. Whoever’s doing it has worked on two of his putts. I wouldn’t be surprised to see whoever it is to start working on a few of my shots as well.

“Cindy, Randi, Marti and Charli know, and they are contacting The Wizard.”

Up in the Announcers’ Booth

“Well, Anderson and her husband have been having a major discussion. This hole hasn’t been kind to her. She bogeyed it in the first round, and had two up and down pars the next two days.

“Al, this is where the length difference really hurts her.”

“Yeah, her and about half the field: right now she is 40th in driving distance, which means there are twenty guys out there she’s out-driving. For that matter, she’s played safe on most of the par fives, and that accounts for some of the discrepancy in length. Quite frankly, she has played the course perfectly.

“She has chosen not to play in several tournaments because of the length disadvantage. It’s amazing that she even made the cut in the PGA and US Opens. I think it’s a testament to her skill, but she realizes she is beating herself to death on some of those courses.”

“She’s taking the 3-wood.

“I don’t think it’s going to make it. She tried to fade it into the wind, but it’s short, and in the left hand bunker. However the lie looks pretty good, and she has a lot of green to work with.

“Campion’s going with a five iron. He’s started it down the right side, hoping the wind will bring it back.

“What a shot! It’s stopped dead, five feet to the left of the pin. This looks like an easy birdie.

Eight Years Before — In the Announcers’ Booth

“Well, folks expected great things from this young lady, and she didn’t disappoint them one bit. The fact she had already won three pro tournaments as an amateur certainly helped her. She has a little three foot putt to close out one of the most dominating performances I have ever seen. She reminds me of what Nancy Lopez did many years ago.

“There it is. A wire to wire, five stroke victory. Her husband, and caddy, has thrown a big hug and kiss on her, and I think I see a few tears from both. I see her parents and her best friend at the edge of the path leading to the scorer’s tent where she will sign her card before coming back for the presentation on the green.

“Sam, it’s hard to remember a performance like this against such a strong field. She is just so strong. I’ve seen that Sports Illustrated spread where she and her friend posed in some pretty provocative swimsuits. There were some comments made about their physiques. They made some of the other models look anemic. She freely admits that she is between 165 and 170, but you sure can’t tell it. You can see she is very muscular, and at five foot ten inches she just wears it so well. Her friend is a bit shorter and carries a bit less weight, but it is obvious they both work out. My son has both their pictures on his bedroom wall. I can’t say I blame him. I’d better shut up, or my wife won’t let me in the house.”

There was the usual greenside interview for the television audience before they went to the more in-depth press conference. Bobbie insisted Andy be allowed to sit with her. She was asked to make a statement before the media started with the questions.

“I want to thank the people of Springfield and the Panther Creek Country Club for being such wonderful hosts. My husband and I couldn’t be more pleased about the reception we’ve received. In spite of the rain, the course was perfect. I think the grounds people worked some miracles there. The LPGA did a fantastic job, as always, running the tournament.

“What can I say? My first tournament as a pro, and I won. I think we’ll just open it up to the floor for questions.”

“Ms. Anderson, is there any truth to the rumor that you are using performance enhancing drugs?”

“First of all, let’s get several things straight, here. I fully intend to win a few more tournaments, and expect there will be a few more press conferences. If you wish to address me formally, it’s Mrs. Anderson. It’s been that way for more than a year. If we are going to be informal, you may call me Bobbie, or heaven forbid, Roberta. I think we will probably have to get it straight about Andy, too, since I will always intend to have him up here with me if he caddied for me. He’s Mr. Anderson, or Andy. He might answer to Felix, but somehow, I doubt it. These same rules apply when I am caddying for him. Hopefully, this won’t come up again.

“Now about performance enhancing drugs: golf is a game of honor. It is the most honorable sport known to man, I use that term in the species context. The day I cheat at golf, and using performance enhancing drugs is cheating, is the day I quit. Sure the check is nice, half of it is going to charity by the way, but what’s important is playing the game to the best of my ability, and I know Andy feels the same way.

“Andy and I get up at five A.M. We run five miles, sometimes ten. We eat what we think is a healthful breakfast, then rest a bit before working out with light weights for about an hour. Then we hit the driving range. I did take some analgesic for a mild muscle strain, but that’s about it. My weight is ideal for my height, five-ten in case you didn’t know that, and my fat content is toward the low side. Muscles do weigh a bit more than fat.

“I’m sure this question will come up, too. I am all woman, and Andy is all man, and really, we both hope that this sort of question doesn’t come up again.

“If it does, I will ignore it. Next question, please.”

“Yes, er Bobbie, there were some rather provocative pictures of you and another young lady in Sports Illustrated. Do you think that that sort of display is in the best interest of the LPGA?”

“Wow, doesn’t anyone want to talk about the golf tournament?

“Cindy Brewer and I were asked if we would pose for the issue. Cindy and I have been best friends since grade school. Stand up Cindy, you too, Don. Don is Cindy’s husband by the way. So you guys can forget her, too. In case you’ve forgotten, Don kicked a seventy yard field goal against Harvard two years ago. There’s still an old picture floating around of Cindy and me that was taken when we were 14, and we thought an update would be nice. We are not ashamed of our bodies, and in this case it was for a good cause. All the money we received went to an orphanage.

“There have been dozens of attractive golfers who have posed for various magazines: Jan Stephenson, Laura Baugh, Natalie Gulbis come to mind. Frankly, I don’t think it’s done the LPGA any harm. Quite to the contrary, I think it has helped erase an undeserved image about ladies’ golf. There are some attractive hunks playing on the men’s tour, Andy included. They should probably do a swimsuit issue about those handsome guys, too.

“Let’s keep the questions to golf please.

“Yes sir, the gentleman standing next to Cindy. If you’re through drooling, I’ll be glad to answer your question.”

“Thank you. First of all: congratulations on playing a spectacular tournament.”

“Thank you.”

“What would you consider to have been the most significant shot of the tournament for you? And may I follow it up with another question?”

“Certainly, the most important shot was the drive off the first tee, because that was the first shot of a career that I want to follow for maybe the next ten years. I hope to sneak in a Masters in Psychology in that time. Cindy will be finishing up her residency in psychiatry at the same time, and we want to start a clinic for children with certain issues. That will be a long time off, though.

“Your second question?”

“I heard rumors that Andy has never beaten you at golf. I can see you would have an advantage hitting from the women’s tees.”

“May I answer that, Bobbie?” Andy asked.

“I think you should. I need a rest.”

“First of all, I have known Bobbie since I was in tenth grade. Our high school didn’t have a girls’ golf team, and she petitioned to be allowed to play on the men’s team. We had a team tournament to set the seeding. Everyone, including the coach and yours truly, rode her unmercifully. Here was this, and I realized it right away, beautiful redhead who thought she was going to play golf on the men’s team. We really gave her a bad time.

“She smiled that beautiful, innocent smile, and said she was invoking ‘El Paso’ rules.” There were some guffaws from the crowd. “I won’t explain what ‘El Paso’ rules are, and to that point in my life, had never heard of them. Let’s just say that it involves not being able to hit your drive past the ladies’ tee, and a penalty. She explained what the rules were. Now you have to remember that this is coming from this innocent redhead. She teed up her ball at hit it darn near 300 yards down the fairway. None of the guys had ever seen anything like it.

“Needless to say, I lost. She beat all of us. I’m still waiting for her to invoke the rules. I fell in love with her that day, and we’ve been together ever since.

“By the way, as long as I’ve known Bobbie, she has never played from the ladies tees.

“Now for the second part of the question: I am a lot stronger than she is, and I am four inches taller. We have been on the same team since high school and there have not been too many times when we actually played competitively against each other. I no longer have to worry about hitting it past the ladies’ tees, and I probably have a two to three club advantage. In that time I think I’ve beaten her in stroke competition twice.”

“Actually, it’s been at least three times,” Bobbie added. “But, it’s not fair to compare. We are not competing against each other, and never will.”

The conference went on for quite a while, and the LPGA had a new heroine.

Back on the Course

“Just hit it at the hole. It’s uphill, and it won’t roll very far. Just get your par,” Andy whispered.

From the Announcers’ Booth

“She does have a good lie, and it’s far enough back that I don’t think the lip will be a problem. She’s running eighty percent on sand saves for the week.

“Oh, just a great shot. It stopped almost dead about five feet below the hole. She’s just inside Campion, but his putt is more of a side hill putt. Hers is pretty much straight on.

“Campion is lining his putt up. It should break about eighteen inches to the right. This is not a sure thing.

“Right in the heart, that was the best stroke he’s made so far.

“Anderson is lining hers up. It might break just a bit left at the hole.

“Not a problem. That was some save, but Campion is back in the lead by one stroke. Campion’s at eleven under, and Anderson’s at minus ten.”
”ƒ
Chapter 5 — Magnolia, Par 4, 455 Yards

Out on the Course

“Just hit that beautiful little draw of yours down the right side like you’ve done for the last three days. We don’t need to try anything funny. Just be cool. I love you.”

Bobbie and Andy were standing politely to the side as Campion got ready to hit. He hit another prodigious drive, and cut off the dogleg. His ball stopped dead center, giving him a short iron to the green, where the pin was located about as far back as it could get. Once again he sneered at Bobbie as he picked up his tee. It was a malevolent sneer.

Bobbie wondered what it was that was driving him. She had beaten him in the past, but it had never been head to head. They had been paired together in a couple of early rounds in a couple of tournaments, but they had never played together in the last two rounds of any tournament. He had beaten her as well, the previous year, when she had finished fifth to his first. Now she was beginning to wonder how much of a factor magic had been in that victory, or in any of his other victories, for that matter.

It was beginning to make sense. For a number of years, he had been known for his prodigious length and lack of control. Then at about the same time Bobbie started playing on the men’s tour, his game started improving tremendously. In fact, he had been averaging five victories a year over the last five years, including three majors. With a major or two, plus a couple of other victories, he was a sure thing for the Golf Hall of Fame.

She lined up her drive, aiming at the top of a tree far beyond where her ball would come to rest. Once again, her patented draw worked perfectly, but she was still forty yards behind Campion. He was looking at no more than an eight or nine iron, probably a wedge. She would probably have to hit a five. Still, if she remembered her golf history, the 5 iron was pretty standard forty or fifty years ago for the second shot. She had nothing to be ashamed of.

Back in the Announcers’ Booth

“Once again, Campion has a tremendous advantage. What do you think, Al?”

“Maybe yes, maybe no: He’s going to have to be very careful. If he puts a lot of spin on it, he could draw it back to the bottom of the green. I think she’ll hit it short, and let it run up as much as she can. I don’t see any particular advantage to him at all.

Eight Years Before

“Andy, does it bother you that I am winning tournaments before you do?”

“Oh, my beautiful wife, if that bothered me, I never would have asked you out that first time. I knew you were a better golfer than I was then, and you still are. I’m getting better, and my time will come.

“I asked you to marry me because you are the most wonderful woman inside that I ever met. The fact that you are absolutely gorgeous, is a definite bonus. You are also absolutely bewitching.”

She giggled and poked him in the side, finding his ticklish spot immediately. He tightened up a bit and penetrated her even deeper than he had been a few seconds before. He resumed the motion they enjoyed so much.

Their quickening respiration was the only sound in their room for the next few minutes. Sated, they lay side by side, his right hand gently holding her left. They were in their pleasant motel room near Pittsford, New York, the site of the LPGA Championship.

“What are we going to do after you win this one tomorrow?”

“I don’t think things are any different now than they were before. You need to get back on tour. I’m taking you away from your game.

“Dammit, Andy, you’re a good golfer, and you should be playing the big time. I don’t think we’ve worked this out very well at all. I have an idea. We are in this thing together for the short and long run.

“Cindy knew what I wanted the first time we met. She knew about my love for sports. She knew about my desire to have a family. She knew about my desires to help others who weren’t as lucky as she and I were. We were just ten years old, well she had lived a lot longer than that, but we didn’t have a clue. We had so much to learn, and being a witch just compounded the problems for us. Thank God, The Wizard kept us out of serious trouble.

“You saved me, just like Don, at first as Donna, saved Cindy. We grew up overnight. It’s amazing what falling in love can do. We are both going to outgrow golf one of these days, but it’s going to help us do so much more. The Wizard won’t tell us, but we know that we, and that includes you, our children, our children’s children, Cindy’s family, and many others who are close to us are going to be around for a long, long time. Apparently, the magic world has many plans for us.”

By this time Bobbie had figuratively dragged Andy into the shower. Her tee time was the last one the next day, and there was a lot of the night still left. After they dried off, they fired up the laptop.

“Look, here’s the LPGA schedule. I’ll just slide this over here, and we can compare it week by week to the Nationwide schedule. Okay, I want to play in these tournaments. I certainly don’t need to play every week. That gives us these weeks where I can caddy for you. I think you can win and move on to the big time next year. Let’s avoid ‘Q’ School. That’s a pain in the ass.

“Now, let’s look at the PGA schedule. The LPGA has cut their schedule down quite a bit. That gives us the first nearly three months of the year where I can caddy for you. Depending on how things are going, we can adjust things. I know this. I play better when you caddy for me, and you play better when I caddy for you.

Andy was entranced with his beautiful wife. He realized once again, it was about them and their future. There was never going to be any professional jealousy between them. “Let’s talk to Zachary on Monday. He’s been lining up some great endorsements, and there might be an interesting angle on this whole thing that he can play up. We’ll show him how our schedules can be juxtaposed.

“If this is going to work, I better get my act together,” Andy said as he lightly cupped Bobbie’s breast and kissed her neck.

Back in the Announcers’ Booth

“Anderson and her husband have talked it over, and she’s going with the 5-iron. The only trouble is the bunker on the left. The pin is far back. It will be interesting to see how she plays this.

“She’s hit a low shot, and once again it’s a straight as an arrow. She’s hit a zinger. This might roll all the way to the pin.

“Oh, she’s hit another absolutely wonderful shot. It’s stopped pin high about ten feet to the right of the pin. It’s not an easy putt, but she has a very reasonable shot at a birdie.

“I don’t believe Campion. He was walking to his ball before Anderson hit hers. I think she saw it, but it didn’t seem to faze her. We’ve known it for years; however, I am going to say it again, this lady can play golf about as well as anyone out there. Her course management and demeanor are spectacular.”

“Campion has a sand wedge. He’s not taking any time at all. Oh, this is right at the flag. It’s taken two bounces forward, and here it comes, right back at the hole.

“If it had hit the pin it might have gone in, but this is going to be lucky if it stays on the green. It’s left him a good forty feet up the hill.”

Bobbie marked her ball and she and Andy stood well off the green as Campion stalked the green. He and his caddy conversed briefly before he hit an excellent lag putt that stopped eighteen inches from the hole. He walked up to hit, and, without lifting and cleaning, knocked it into the hole.

“Anderson is lining up her putt. It should be just outside and right of the hole. We’ve seen this putt several times earlier today. It shouldn’t be any problem for her.

“Here’s the putt. I don’t believe it, and she can’t either. It never broke at the hole. That should have been in the heart, but it hung out to the right. A half inch to the left and we would have had a tie again. Campion’s at eleven under and Anderson’s still at minus ten.”

On the Course

“Andy, I don’t make excuses, but that putt should have gone in. I felt something for just a microsecond, and the ball moved right when it should have moved left. I don’t like it that he’s using magic to affect his game, but when somebody starts fucking with my game, it really pisses me off.”

‘Cindy, did any of you get anything that time?’

‘Bobbie, I felt it.’ It was Randi. ‘It’s coming from someone near the green. Whoever it is, just gives a very short burst aimed at the ball. Whoever it is, had to have been standing opposite me. We’re going to split up and try to circle your ball each time. We might be able to triangulate and get a fix on whoever is doing it.’

‘Have you contacted His Wisdom yet?’

‘Yes, he said to hang in there and do the best you can. He said he can’t do anything to directly affect the outcome, but he has a plan.’
”ƒ
Chapter 6 — Juniper, Par 3, 180 Yards

In the Announcers’ Booth

“We’ve three replays: one of Aaron’s putt earlier, and another of Kaminski’s from about the same location as Anderson’s. As you can see, the first two start to break left about two feet from the hole. Now, look at her putt. It looks like it’s going to break, but then it just goes straight. She hit it perfectly, and didn’t get the result she should have. That’s golf for you. Sometimes things like that happen, and they can’t be explained.”

On the course

“Take a drink of water. Are you feeling okay?”

“I’m fine. Give me one of those power bars, too.

“What do you think: an easy 4-iron, or a hard five?” she asked.

“I’d go with the hard five. I think it will come in better. Going long and putting down the hill is worse than being in that bunker. You can always get up and down from there. You have before.”

From the Announcers’ Booth

“Campion still has the honor, and he’s hitting a seven iron. He birdied this hole the first two rounds, but this is really a nasty pin placement.

“He’s hit a towering shot and isn’t even bothering to watch it. OH MY! It’s stopped three feet from the pin. I think they heard that roar all over the course. Dudley’s over on the 17th tee, and he stopped his swing. Jackson was putting on the 16th and I think he was startled. He missed a relatively short putt.

“Anderson’s hitting a 5-iron. She’ll have to get all of it to reach the green.

“Oh, oh, the wind came up just as she hit it. It’s switched a bit into her face, and the ball’s ballooning.

“Three more feet and the shot would have been perfect. She caught the upper slope of the bunker, but it’s rolled down to the flatter area. It does look like a good lie, just slightly uphill, but Campion’s got a sure birdie. It looks like he’ll have at least a two stroke lead again after this hole.”

“How’s the lie, Ray?” The camera panned in on the ball as it sat at the end of its little path in the sand that looked like it had been left by a middle sized snake.

“It couldn’t be better, not to say she’s in the best location. The lip’s pretty high, but I think she can get it close. She’s been doing it all week. If she doesn’t, it could be a two stroke swing.”

On the Course

“You hit it perfectly. That gust of wind just killed it. I don’t think they could have had anything to do with it.”

“Yeah, I thought it was right there. Whoever is doing this couldn’t have done that. They have to be closer than that, and I don’t think they can affect the wind. That takes too much of a spell, and we would have felt it for sure.”

The network had at least four cameras on her, including the one from the blimp. They all showed the same thing. She caught the sand cleanly, and it lifted the ball high into the air. She would have to see the replay later to know what happened, because she had to turn and close her eyes and mouth to avoid a face full of sand. The ball cleared the lip by several feet, took two little bounces, and disappeared into the hole. The roar eclipsed the roar that Campion’s shot had received.

Bobbie acknowledged the crowd as she smoothed the sand. Andy would finish the raking. There was no doubt that in other circumstances they would have exchanged kisses. It was obvious the shot had buoyed her spirits.

‘Take that, you crooked son of a bitch,’ she thought, as she slid her fingers between the stick and the edge of cup to pick out the ball.

‘Bobbie!’ admonished Cindy.

‘Well, he is, and there is not a damn thing we can do about it. Did you read anything?’

‘No, I don’t think they were expecting having to do anything. That was a great shot, by the way.’

‘Thanks, that took a bit of the sting out of that last putt. I’m going to beat that son of bitch, and I am going to do it honestly.’

‘Just keep your cool. We’ll do what we can to find out who’s doing this.’

From the Announcers’ Booth

“Here’s Campion lining up his putt. Once again, he seems to be in a rush. He’s hardly taking time to line it up.

“Wow! He almost missed that one. The ball circled the rim of the hole and fell in on the second time around. That could have gone three or four feet past the hole. I think Anderson has him rattled. I never thought it would be possible, but I think she has him rattled.

“Well, we’re going to the seventh, with Campion holding a one stroke lead. Number seven is a tough driving hole, and it definitely favors the long hitter. Campion’s now at minus twelve, and Anderson’s at minus eleven. What a show these two are putting on.”

After six holes, Bobbie has managed to pick up a stroke on Campion in spite of the meddling by whoever is wielding the magic. There are some tough holes coming up, not that the first six were easy. We learn a little about the resistance Bobbie meets from the golf press when her goals come to light. Bobbie loses her cool after being verbally challenged. We are going to find out how she managed to get on the men’s tour.