To The Players Championship winner, Stephen Ames: Go to Augusta!

I was pulling for someone – anyone – to do something Sunday at The Players Championship at the TPC Sawgrass. No one did, of course, and Stephen Ames won in a walk.

I was also pulling for Ames to win, even as I was pulling for others in the field to make for some drama, because I know how hard it must have been for a guy from Trinidad to become a pro golfer.

Like Ames, I used to live in Trinidad. It is probably my favorite place in the Caribbean, but as far as golf, it’s nowheres-ville. The island loves its sports, mainly cricket, but golf is WAY down the list.

White people in Trinidad are a minority. It was interesting for me, in a different way from Ames, to live in a country as a minority and watch the racial tension in a country that didn’t involve whites; the racial divide in Trinidad is along African-Indian lines.

Ames, of course, lives in Canada now, where there are plenty of golf courses, but the fact he was able to become a pro golfer and win The Players, from a country where golf is almost unheard of, is a tremendous achievement.

Still, it’s hard to imagine Ames waffling about whether or not he will play in the Masters, where he gained entry by virtue of his win Ames had planned a family vacation in Orlando, apparently figuring he would not win at The Players, which wasn’t exactly bad thinking).

If he doesn’t show up in Augusta, I – along with the people of Trinidad – will be sorely disappointed.