Collegiate Times

Cabo Fish Taco, the opening hole of the back nine, presents one of the toughest challenges of the entire course. It offers 72 tantalizing tequilas, but the timing presents an even greater obstacle.

By the time a foursome (or 30-some, like our group last fall) reaches Cabo, it's engaged in four and a half hours of competitive drinking, and that same time is right when most people are eating out. Cabo's is quite a popular weekend restaurant. One must deftly handle the gallery. Last year, we did not.

The manager threatened to kick us out after we began spewing obscenities sitting next to a family dining.

As we dealt with the manager, Jones, still on top of the leaderboard, began throwing up in front of us. We quickly exited.

"After 10 holes, I woke up in Montgomery Regional Hospital with a .35 BAC" Jones said. "Chugging three or four Trainstoppers could very well kill you."

Sound advice.

From Cabo the course wraps back around. Across Main Street is Champs, followed by Poor Billy's and Big Al's, holes 11 through 13. At Augusta National this stretch of holes is called Amen Corner, where the Masters is usually won and lost. It's got nothing on this run.

Hitting Big Al's at 10 at night, with a belly full of alcohol, can be worse than any water hazard. By then, the bar is filling up, and players can easily be sucked in by the loud music and abundance of people.

Unfortunately, Big Al's was my undoing last round. A double Red Bull and Vodka consumed at the Cellar with the intention of sobering myself up in fact pushed me past my breaking point. I ran into a familiar face and begged her to take me home.

Most of our group also faltered at Big Al's. Even if players make it past that sports bar, a solid stretch of Boudreaux's, Oge Chi, the Rivermill and Cinco de Mayo remains.

"The prize of finishing the course is what drove me down that final stretch," said senior Daniel Heaton, one of only two participants to successful finish the course. "It's not about competition, just about finishing."

The 18th hole is Top of the Stairs. When or if you get there, order a Rail. After nine straight hours of drinking, what's seven more shots?

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