A Hole In One For Two Hearts
Besides a love for music and each other, newlyweds Amy Grant and Vince Gill also have in common a love of golf. Starting Monday, they will be hosting the 2000 Electrolux USA Golf Tournament in Franklin, Tenn.
On Friday, they spoke with fellow golfer and Early Show Anchor Bryant Gumbel about it.
The event is a combination of tournaments that Gill and Grant used to host separately. Grant hosted Miss Minnie's Tee Party, a female golf tournament to benefit the Minnie Pearl Cancer Foundation. Gill hosted The Vinny, a celebrity-amateur tournament to benefit Tennessee Junior Golf.
Why are they so devoted to the game of golf?
"You can't win. You can't ever beat it," says Gill. "Golf is just such a neat game. Every game is different, every hole is different, every shot's different. You never master it."
The Electrolux event will feature six top money winners on the current LPGA season: Karrie Webb, Annika Sorenstam, Laura Davies, Charlotta Sorenstam, Dottie Pepper, and Nancy Scranton, along with others on the LPGA tour. They will battle it out for a purse of $800,000. Part of the tourney will be broadcast on CBS Sunday, May 14.
Gill and Grant were married on March 10. Gill has an 18-year-old daughter, Jenny, and Grant has three children: Matthew, 12; Millie, 10; and Sarah, 7. "We've got our own sitcom coming out real soon on CBS: Six Is Plenty," quips Gill.
Grant's ex-husband has been very vocal in saying the relationship started while she and Gill both were married to their previous spouses. Some Christian radio stations pulled her music due to the controversy. They deny this and say they were just friends until both were divorced.
"We get along so well, and it was like that from the moment we met," says Grant. "There are times that it's a little overwhelming, blending families, and I was a pretty independent girl."
The fact that have married while both are in the midst of successful public careers can be a boon as much as an obstacle.
"We're just trying to really make a conscious effort to...reverse the process that we had in the past and really try to have a life first and then maybe a career with what's left over," Gill explains.
They first recorded together in 1994 on Grant's double platinum album, House of Love, in which they did a duet on the title track. Gill released his latest album, Let's Make Sure We Kiss Goodbye, in April. The album is dedicated to "THAT FRIEND OF MINE, my life long companion, Amy."
The album includes two songs co-written with Grant and a duet, "When I Look Into Your Heart."
Gill is tied with Chet Atkins for the most Grammy awards (14) for a country artist. He is also the only country artist to win an award for nine consecutive years. Grant, a five-time Grammy winner, is recording an album to be released later this year.