Boo In Scotland

Boo Weekley has found his time in Scotland to be interesting and enjoyable.

TURNBERRY, Scotland -- It was a memorable collision of cultures when Boo Weekley, born in Milton, Fla., and schooled at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, arrived in Carnoustie in 2007 on his first trip to Scotland and his first British Open Championship.

Boo and Scotland? The contrasts went on and on. Camo and kilts. Harmonica and bagpipes. Mullet and haddock.

When Weekley is at home, he is on a first-name basis with duck blinds and bass boats, but he wasn't at all certain what to make of this Scotland place. Especially the food. Of course, he wouldn't be the first to have problems with the local cuisine, just probably the most colorful.

While at Carnoustie, Weekley earned some sort of notoriety for his quote lamenting the limits he had discovered in the foods of Scotland: "Ain't got no fried chicken, ain't got no sweet tea."

But now, at 35, Boo has mellowed. In fact, when he opened up about Scotland in a free-spirited interview here at the British Open at Turnberry, Boo offered not so much of a peep in finding fault. Or pretty close, anyway.

__Q: Have you found a favorite Scottish food yet?

__ Boo: (Chuckles) Their bacon. Their muffins. Their bacon, it's more like little ham to us. It ain't really bacon, but I mean it's pretty good."

__Q: What is haggis?

__ Boo: "I ain't got a clue, but I tried it. I didn't like it, neither."

__Q: So you have found some things you like. Have you had any fish you like?

__ Boo: "I've eaten a few fish. The fish and chips are all right. It's just a little bit different batter than we use at the house. I've had some sole. I was looking for the guy around here ... at Carnoustie, they had a guy that smoked fish. It was out of a barrel. He was smoking 'em right out by the merchandise tent that was awesome. That's what I ate the whole time when I was over there. I'd go get that, breakfast, lunch and dinner. I ain't seen him over here."

__Q: Do people here think you have an accent?

__ Boo: "Oh, yeah, they know I do. They don't think I'm from Florida, they think I'm from Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama."

__Q: Do you think the Scots have an accent?

__ Boo: "It's always different, you know, from when we're at the house."

__Q: What do you do here in Scotland?

__ Boo: "No sir, not a lot. But my wife (Karen) and me, we walked the whole golf course the other day and it was beautiful."

__Q: So it sounds like you're liking Scotland?

__ Boo: "Oh, yeah, Scotland's a pretty place. I mean, as long as it ain't raining."

__Q: What would it take for you to wear a kilt?

__ Boo: "Probably nothing. I'd wear it. If I had to wear it, I'd wear it, but I ain't got to. Long as I don't have to, I ain't gonna wear it."

The interview ended and Boo walked off, probably looking for the guy with the smoked fish.