But Can You Parallel Park It?

This is exactly the kind of story that reminds us that pro golfers are just as pragmatic -- or weird, depending on your perspective -- as the rest of us. And personally, it just makes King Louis seem that much cooler to me.

Louis Oosthuizen is playing at the Volvo Golf Champions down in Durban, South Africa. It's a pro-am event, and Volvo planned to give a car to the second-round leader of the event. Louis easily took that honor with his two-round score of -12... but he didn't need a new car.

As we all know, Louis is a farmer at heart who played the John Deere Classic just because it was John Deere... and who not only spent time at the Deere factory but bought some equipment while he was there.

Many of you may not realize that, in addition to cars, Volvo also makes heavy machinery. (In fact, Volvo Trucks North America's corporate headquarters are in Greensboro, NC about 20 minutes from where I live.) And it just so happened that Volvo was giving away a different kind of vehicle for a hole-in-one on the 15th.



It didn't take Louis long to convince Volvo he'd rather have the excavator than the car.



Here's what Louis said about it:

"I've been nagging my wife for a few years that I want something on the farm as there are a few stumps and things I need to get rid of. And that's why I stood over that putt on 18 for a bit longer than normal. So I'm going to play around with it and might dig out a few bunkers."

Apparently he doesn't plan to play golf next week:

“I'm walking away with a nice gift for the farm. That's going to be a lot of fun next week playing around with it!”

At least he won't have to worry about speeding tickets.

The photos and quotes came from articles at europeantour.com and at cbssports.com.