Springs golfer friend did lots of driving for show

For Ashley Davis, the new Golf Channel reality show "Highway 18" gave new meaning to the old saw "drive for show, putt for dough."

The "Amazing Race"-style golf show required its competitors to vie on the golf course and freeway on their way to a $50,000 cash prize, plus $50,000 more in airfare and golf equipment.

Davis, a Toronto, Ontario, native who now works in development for the United States Olympic Committee in Colorado Springs, competed on the show with her childhood best friend, Ashleigh Korzack. The competition, she said, was intense.

"It wasn't a vacation," she said. "You're waking up at 4 o'clock in the morning and going to bed at 11 at night. You're running around like crazy people and trying to not get eliminated. Every day, there's a road challenge and a golf challenge."

The golf challenges featured quirky feats like chipping with a set of antique wooden clubs and hitting over a pane of glass.

The show was filmed during two weeks in April, taking the contestants on a thousand-mile road trip to the best golf courses in Florida.

And there were plenty of surprises, including being greeted on the first day by golf legend Arnold Palmer.

Although Davis and Korzack competed in golf in college, the field included pros and semipros, and they were sometimes at a disadvantage on the course.

"We had to make sure we made it up in other ways, in thinking and on the road," Davis said. "It wasn't just golf."

Davis can't say how she did on the show, but she said spending two weeks with her best friend was reward enough.

But who came out ahead on the golf course?

"Honestly, we have completely different games," Davis said. "I'm very aggressive and I hit it a long way. She lays up and she may end up beating me in the end. Historically, we've beaten each other probably the same amount of times."

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