Former US Open champion Michael Campbell's last few weeks have been full of ups and downs - but not quite as many as he had planned for his two sons.
Campbell is in Switzerland primarily for the Omega European Masters and resumed on Friday two under par, six behind leader Rory McIlroy.
However, the 39-year-old New Zealander took the opportunity on Wednesday to drive for an hour and a half to the ski area at Zermatt - only to find the slopes closed.
"It was still fun to spend time with the family. They threw snowballs at me," said Campbell.
"It was cloudy and not very nice, but it was all about the boys. I can't ski any way because of insurance - it would cost about two million dollars a year."
As a professional sportsman he simply cannot risk getting injured and so scuba diving, snowboarding and sky diving are all out.
"I've never skied. I thought I would do when I retire from this game," he added.
That is still a long way off, but Campbell's career has been such a rollercoaster that on several occasions he has thought about giving it up.
After finishing third in the 1995 Open at St Andrews he lost his European Tour card, then after climbing back up the rankings he had another nightmare time.
His US Open victory over Tiger Woods in 2005 was a fairytale - he qualified for the event - but earlier this season he missed seven cuts in a row.
"I tried to be more consistent and it went wrong completely. I've seen all my friends - Angel (Cabrera), Geoff Ogilvy, Trevor Immelman - winning majors and I have that hunger and fire back in my belly," he said.
"I do miss cuts and I do win tournaments. That's the way it is - I am full of surprises."
His presence in Crans-sur-Sierre now is a bit of a surprise in itself.
"I wanted to play, then pulled out, then last week decided I wanted to play and they couldn't give me an invite," he continued.
"The only way in was a top 10 at Gleneagles. Here I am - I holed from five foot on the last to be 10th."
McIlroy, the 19-year-old from Northern Ireland, lowered by three his previous best score on the European Tour and he led overnight by three shots from Welsh pair Garry Houston and Kyron Sullivan and Argentina's Julio Zapata.
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