Forgotten clubs and a missed flight, Adam Schenk's bizarre start in Bermuda

SOUTHAMPTON, Bermuda – This is not another of those tales about a player’s golf clubs getting misplaced by the airlines.

This is about a player forgetting to even bring his clubs to the airport with him.

“Nobody’s ever done that before. I mean, it was bad,” said Adam Schenk, who can laugh off the mishap for a few reasons.

One, “I do silly things like that,” said the 30-year-old. And two, he was able to re-arrange his travel plans and has responded beautifully, with rounds of 63-66 putting him in the thick of things here at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship.

When he signed his card for a 5-under 66 putting himself 13-under for the tournament late Friday morning, Schenk sat just one off the clubhouse lead, so surely, he has recovered nicely from the shock of what occurred Monday. That was the day Kourtney Schenk drove her husband from their home to the airport in Indianapolis.

“When we opened the trunk and (the clubs) weren’t there, my wife and I looked at each other and were like, ‘Well, I guess we’ve got to go back (home).’ ”

Schenk appreciates how inexplicable it might sound, so he offers the way it unfolded.

“We packed our car at 5 a.m. or so and we went inside to say goodbye to our dog, Bunker. (I) walked right past the clubs that were packed in the garage.”

If Schenk thought he was going to sneak under the radar, he is wrong, because Kourtney Schenk tweeted out Thursday after her husband’s bogey-free, 8-under 63: “Nice round for a guy that missed his flight on Monday morning because he forgot his golf clubs at home when we left for the airport.”

Kourtney Schenk has more than 1,600 followers and even Adam laughed at her tweet. “She’s funny like that,” he said.

Bermuda is not the easiest of islands to commute to this time of year, especially at the last minute, but Adam and Kourtney perused websites for their options and found a seat on the Boston-to-Bermuda flight at 9:10 Tuesday morning. It meant a return to Indianapolis airport late Monday – this time with the clubs – for a flight to Boston where Adam spent the night.

“I wouldn’t say it impacted me,” said Schenk. “It would have impacted me if I couldn’t have gotten here till Wednesday. That would have been tough. But luckily that flight opened up and I was able to get here Tuesday.”

And skillfully, he has guaranteed himself a longer – and a more profitable – stay.