When my brother-in-law (BIL) called in August with another one of his, “Do I have another great opportunity for you,” I listened because he usually has pretty good ideas.
“What is it?” I asked.
“The Ryder Cup is at Medinah outside Chicago the end of September,” BIL said. “Let’s try to get tickets for us and the girls.”
“OK,” I said, impulsive as ever.
I saw it as one of those once in a lifetime, bucket list type adventures. How could I not say OK?
The trying to get tickets part was left in my hands. BIL showed me what was available through the various ticket brokers, so I wasn’t too concerned.
A few evenings later, I sat down with Google and began the search for four “2012 Ryder Cup General Grounds Admission Passes.”
Until this event, I’d never had to use the services of a ticket broker, and you pay a pretty hefty service fee for their services. I waded through my options and saw a lot of tickets available. We were looking to go on Sunday, the last day of competition, for the individual matches.
Remember: I needed four, only on Sunday. The other thing I was looking for was someone who would ship me the passes so that I’d have them in hand before we left for Chicago on the 28th. But most sellers gave a range of dates when the tickets would be available, with small print saying if they didn’t have time to ship them, we would need to pick them up at a location near the course, to be named at a later date. I didn’t much like the sound of that.
Next, I checked eBay and found one guy advertising Sunday passes for the International Pavilion, described as, “A climate controlled chalet with elaborate decor, big screen televisions, a variety of food and beverage options for purchase, sun patios, scoring monitors and a lively atmosphere, (all of which) make the International Pavilion a fantastic place to enjoy the Ryder Cup.”
They had me at beverage. Yes, the tickets cost a bit more, but I figured it was worth it. Plus, buying on eBay kept me from paying the service fee all the ticket brokers were getting. Also, this particular seller said he would ship the tickets by the middle of September.
I made the bid and three days later they were mine. As I read through the confirmation email, I saw again that the tickets would be shipped by the 15th. But now there was more to that sentence, which was, “unless we don’t have them in time, in which case you will need to pick them up at a location near the course, to be named at a later date.”
Great. I was so nervous about it I called the seller. I told him my wife was nervous about picking up the tickets at a location near the course, to be named at a later date. He said he didn’t want us to be nervous and if I wanted out of the deal that would be fine. “Well, it’s my wife. You know how it is,” I told him.
He was a 100 percent rated seller on eBay, with tons of sales, so I stayed with him. He said if he got the tickets in time he would certainly ship them to me and we said goodbye.
Then I got an email from him on September 20, which read, “We know you’re excited about coming up next week. Unfortunately we will not be able to ship your tickets.”
(To be continued...)