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"We were all dying," Kelli says. "I was pacing around my house in Dallas, Henry was pacing around his in Florida. We were acting like lunatics!"
Kuehne didn't make a bogey en route to a 9-and-7 victory, and his father did cry, right on the final green. If achievement has always been the defining family trait then Trip's inability to win a USGA event surely nettled Ernie more than any other Kuehne.
Says Kelli, "Trip didn't need that trophy to validate his career. We all know what a great champion he is. But it completed my dad."
Back at Bandon Dunes, Trip, too, was overwhelmed with a sense of closure. During the trophy ceremony he whispered to Ernie, "I've got one more big tournament to play, and then I'm done."
Ask Trip about his first Masters, in 1995, and he says with a laugh, "I played great in the practice rounds."
The highlight of the week came on Tuesday. After a morning 18 he found himself hitting range balls with Tiger Woods. They were friendly even before their epic tussle at the Amateur the year before, and they couldn't resist a rematch.
"It was supposed to be nine holes, but it got pretty intense," says Kuehne, "so we kept going."
The course was all but deserted that afternoon. By the back nine a fleet of mowers zoomed around the duo as they played their grudge match.
"We weren't saying the score out loud, but both of us knew exactly what was happening," says Kuehne. "We were both playing great, and it was back-and-forth the whole way — he was 1-up, I was 1-up. There were about 25 people following us and they started calling out the score."
They played the 18th hole in the twilight, with Woods' birdie taking the match. "You got me again, dog," Kuehne told him as they shook hands.
Kuehne shot a 43 to start the tournament and missed the cut. In 2002, when he decided to rededicate himself to amateur golf and wrote out his goals, returning to Augusta topped the list. Yet now that another drive down Magnolia Lane nears, Kuehne says, "Sometimes after work my car doesn't want to go to the course. It wants to point home. If I'm having any trouble motivating (myself) to practice for the Masters, I know I've made the right decision."
Waiting for him at home is Ernest William Kuehne IV, a bright, athletic kid with a mischievous streak. Says Trip, "I have been very fortunate to have so many people support me. Now it's time for me to give Will the same kind of opportunity to succeed."
Of his parents, who divorced last year, Trip says, "The game of golf took a huge personal toll on them. For 20 years they devoted themselves completely to our careers. One day they looked up and didn't know who the other person was. That's one reason I'm ready to stop playing — I don't want that to ever happen to Dusti and me."
The Kuehnes have already rented two houses in Augusta for what Kelli says will be a "big ol' party." Even as Trip exits stage right his influence will endure through his brother and sister. Kelli was so inspired by the Mid-Am that last fall she started grinding on her game again, reclaiming her LPGA card with a gutsy final-round 67 at Q School.
Hank, too, has cited Trip's renaissance as motivation to return to his former glory.
"I hope they get back to where they were," Trip says. "I don't want them to be beaten down by golf. I'd like to see them leave the game on their own terms."
Just as he is about to do. At long last.
