BROOKSVILLE - The craziest thing has happened to Bill Jordan, Nlike Griffin and Mike Lindsay.
"They've definitely changed," Binny Desiree said.
The men once were area businessmen who played a little golf. Heck, Lindsay hardly was able to play at all.
"My wife," Lindsay said, "It was tough to sneak out." But not now.
On February 8, Jordan, Griffin and Lindsay had their names pulled out of a hat, which suddenly meant they would play a round of golf Friday at Silverthorn Country Club with ... Arnold Palmer.
Since then, Lindsay has been at Silverthorn every day, practicing. And all three of them reportedly have been trying on clothes in the pro shop.
"I think they've tried on everything," said Desiree, Silverthorn's membership and marketing director. "They even acquired special permission to come in and try things on after the pro shop closed. Then, after they try the stuff on, they come and ask me if they look all right."
"We have to look nice," Griffin said.
A quick review of how this happened: Silverthorn, which opened November 25, is run by Palmer's management company. When the course opened, the deal was that on Friday Palmer would play with three members as part of a tournament and grand opening event . The sooner the members joined the club, the more chances they had at playing with Palmer in the weighted lottery system.
Lindsay, 48, and Jordan, 56, were founding members. Griffin, 35, joined just before the new year.
All of them were lucky.
"You just don't win things like this," Lindsay said. "The only thing better than this, is probably winning the lottery. But I'm not even sure winning the lottery is better."
The three will tee off with Palmer at 9:30 a.m. in a shotgun start. Watching will be a gallery of 500, all of whom bought tickets through the American Heart Association to help raise money for the charity.
It is rumored that a bookie is laying wagers on the Palmer group. Bets are based on how high Lindsay, Jordan and Griffin, who range from 8- to 15handicappers, will shoot because they're nervous.
"Will we be nervous?" Jordan said. "Hell yes."
The men compared it to playing baseball with Babe Ruth or basketball with Michael Jordan.
"I'm telling you. these three are completely different men," Desiree said. "Just the other day I got into this deep philosophical conversation with one of them. We were talking about religion and God and all this real heavy stuff. Then, all of the s udden, he leans back and says, 'Ah, who the hell cares'? I'm playing with Arnold Palmer next week.
"It's been so much fun to watch them."
This article appeared in the Sports Section of the St. Petersburg Times on Thursday, February 23, 1995. 0 1995 by the Tampa Tribune, Tampa, Florida.