May’s wife really loves that Bob

Victoria Sun

Monday, Aug. 21, 2000 | 10:09 a.m.

Whether PGA Tour golfer Bob May comes in first place, second place or last place, it's all the same to his wife, Brenda.

Of course she wants her husband to do well and hopes that he fulfills all of his goals on and off the golf course.

But no matter what happens, her support for Bob remains the same.

"I know there is nothing I can do to make him play better or worse," Brenda May said on Sunday after Bob finished second to Tiger Woods in the PGA Championship after a stirring final-round showdown and three-hole playoff. "Trenton (their 4-year-old son) always tells him, 'Birdies and eagles' before he tees off.

"I love him no matter how he plays or what happens. There's nothing he can do on the golf course to make me love him more or less."

That's why Brenda said that it was fun, not nerve-wracking, to watch Bob play the best golf of his career and push the best golfer in the world to the brink of defeat.

Brenda would have flown to Louisville to witness her husband's performance live, but she is expected to give birth to the couple's second child in about 5 1/2 weeks. So she was grounded in Las Vegas.

At Bob and Brenda's home in Summerlin, she was surrounded by a large group of family and friends.

"I'm just so proud of him," she said with satisfaction. "To shoot three 66s is incredible.

"He definitely put up a fight. We definitely can't be disappointed by any means. I think it's nice now that maybe he'll be recognized as a good golfer."

During the final round, May took the lead on the second hole and didn't relinquish it until Woods birdied the final two holes in regulation.

When Brenda spoke to Bob earlier in the week, she said he was very calm.

"We all knew he could do it," she said. "It was just a matter of time before he was able to show it.

"He was pretty relaxed. He had nothing to lose. He wasn't supposed to win. Tiger is supposed to be the one who wins and all that."

For those who witnessed the championship unfold on TV and saw another woman being identified as May's wife, it was actually his mother, Muriel, who was with him at the Valhalla Golf Club.

Back at the May household, Brenda was oblivious to the blunder when it happened. Afterwards she was amused by it.

"We didn't hear it here because my son got so excited because grandma was on TV," she said. "He was yelling because he saw his grandma on the screen."