89

Broke 90 by the skin of my teeth again the other day. Played alone for the first three holes, then joined a 45-ish Thai man behind a slow-moving fivesome (playing groups of up to six, not counting caddies, are generally allowed in Thailand on weekdays).

I was using the delay to take a few extra practice swings when my partner, Wanjai, remarked, "They Phuket mafia. Like Al Capone." I chuckled but when I looked up I saw that he was stone-faced. Whoever they were, they fell all over themselves in greeting Wanjai and letting us play through as we approached the next tee, suggesting to me he's either the island's top cop or criminal overlord. I wasn't about to joke about either possibility, and the only bit of biographical information I got from him was that he studied somewhere in Michigan more than 20 years ago.