Christmas came early for Atlanta-based real estate developer and avid golfer Michael Barnouin, who recently received his stolen cowhide wallet that he purchased in Montana.
The culprit – a scavenging gull with white-feathered arms, webbed feet and a slender beak – often wandered in clusters nearby. Pebble Beach Golf Linksa public golf course Pebble beach hotel in Monterey, California.
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Barnouin, 30, played there for the first time earlier this year, on Aug. 7, after completing a home renovation project in nearby Carmel.
“One of my favorite things about traveling to Carmel is that in all of Monterey County you have some of the best golf courses in the country,” Barnouin said. “You have Pebble Beach (Golf Links), you have Spyglass Hill, you have Spanish Bay. Personally, I like Carmel Valley Ranch“.
Pebble Beach Golf Links is also where Basketball Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade hit his first ever hole-in-one. Barnouin would never have considered any threat to his property, much less a herring gull. sea bird commonly known as a seagull.
“I’m playing great. I had a great round. Hole 7 is the kind of famous par three, you know Dwyane Wade had that hole in one,” Barnouin said. “Hole 8, it’s a long par 4 and you kind of have to lay it down and then you have this bay that you kind of have to hit it onto the green for your second shot.”
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Barnouin took momentum and got the ball over the water and finally completed the hole. As he prepares for the ninth hole, the people he is playing with tell him that a seagull is in his cart.
Golf requires concentration and sportsmanship to be quiet during his swing, so naturally Barnouin was “a little frustrated” when they were talking during his backswing.
“I don’t care about the seagull in my golf cart,” he said. “He can take whatever he wants.”
Little did he know that he was running away with his cowhide wallet.
