Before golf was invented, grassy pastures were viewed as the exclusive territory of roaming sheep, herds of cattle, and overzealous Civil War re-enactors. Celebrate turf's competitive utility with today's Groupon: for $25, you get two one-day tickets (a $40 value) and a weeklong parking pass (a $10 value) to the PGA TOUR's Viking Classic tournament (a $50 total value). Play takes place from Thursday, July 14 to Sunday, July 17 at the Annandale Golf Club in Madison.
The Viking Classic is an important milestone in the world of golf, with the winner receiving $648,000 as well as FedExCup points. Golf aficionados can redeem their tickets on any day in the competition, from Thursday's first round to the tournament-deciding match on Sunday. A Scottish-style course blasted from the cold, unforgiving earth by the piercing thoughts of Jack Nicklaus, Annandale welcomes golf balls and their professional owners with rolling hills, elevated bentgrass greens, and pampas grass. Last year's winner was Bill Haas, and past champions have included vaunted pros such as Luke Donald, currently ranked number one in the world in golf.
Besides entertaining with top-caliber golf, the Viking Classic distracts visitors with tasty food and drinks as well as cooking demonstrations in the Viking culinary tent. Celebrity chefs such as John Currence, the James Beard Award–winning maestro of the City Grocery in Oxford, will be on hand to educate the soufflé-ignorant masses. In addition, Food Network star Emeril Lagasse will be leading demonstrations viewable for an extra fee. Today's Groupon also includes the precious commodity of parking, affording cars a safe place to take a nap or play with other vehicles while waiting for their masters.
Groupon Says
The Groupon Guide to: Barbecue Secrets
Every barbecue joint boasts a secret ingredient or technique that makes its sauce unlike any other. Since most barbecue chefs have taken these secrets to the grave, here's a new list of public-domain barbecue secrets for the aspiring grillsman:
- Throw recipe thieves off your trail by filling your sauce with decoy ingredients such as talc, water, and heaping spoonfuls of rival sauces.
- Age your sauce in an oak cask for 15 years—it doesn't do anything, but you'll sure be hungry by then.
- Go bananas—add bananas to your sauce!
- BBQ is short for B.B. Queen—the wife of legendary bluesman B.B. King—and real barbecue sauce must contain exactly one of her soulful tears.
- As with success in any field, the real secret ingredient is confidence —except in barbecue sauces, in which it is horseradish.
Comment on our feelings board
