Christmas came early for Atlanta-based real estate developer and avid golfer Michael Barnouin, who was recently gifted back his stolen cowhide wallet that he bought in Montana.
The culprit – a gull scavenger with white feathered arms, webbed feet and thin beak – often roamed in bunches near Pebble Beach Golf Links, a public golf course a Pebble Beach Resort in Monterey, California.
Advertisement
Barnouin, 30, was playing there for the first time earlier this year on Aug. 7 after finishing a residential renovation project in nearby Carmel.
“One of my favorite things about taking trips down to Carmel is just throughout Monterey County, you have some of the best golf courses in the in the country,” Barnouin said. “You’ve got Pebble Beach (Golf Links), you have Spyglass Hill, you’ve got Spanish Bay. I personally like Carmel Valley Ranch.”
Pebble Beach Golf Links also happens to be where basketball Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade hit his first-ever hole in one. Barnouin would’ve never considered any threat to his belongings, certainly not a herring gull seabird commonly referred to as a seagull.
“I’m playing really well. I was having a great round. Hole 7 is the kind of famous par three, you know that Dwyane Wade hit that hole in one,” Barnouin said. “Hole 8, it’s a it’s a long par 4 and you’ve got to kind of lay up and then you have this Bay that that you have to kind of smack it onto the green for your second shot over.”
Advertisement
Barnouin took his swing and got the ball over the water and eventually finished the hole. As he’s setting up for the ninth hole, people he’s playing with tell him that a seagull is in his cart.
Golf requires concentration and sportsmanship to have silence during one’s swing, so naturally Barnouin was “kind of frustrated” when they were talking during his backswing.
“I don’t care about the seagull in my golf cart,” he said. “It can take whatever it wants.”
Little did he know that it was making off with his cowhide wallet.
Read the full article here
