Noone has described me as stubborn before. :-) I think in golf, you can't afford to be too stubborn -- you must change tack when an approach is obviously not working. Actually, I didn't find writing the search program tedious because I love programming and was delighted to learn more about the md5 algorithm, which this game forced me to do. Running it wasn't especially tedious either, the whole process being semi-automated. What I did find strange was that I got into the habit of checking the searcher results every morning in much the same way as problem gamblers check their lotto tickets at our local newsagency. Just like them, most mornings I was pissed off because I didn't win, i.e. no md5 hits were found. And when a lucky hit was finally found, I guess I celebrated just like a gambling addict who just had a win.

I think people who know me would describe me as competitive, pedantic, a bit OCD, and with a tendency to get addicted to things, such as, er, golf. Oh, and I love a difficult/"impossible" challenge, which is why I enjoyed the md5 challenge more than any other in this game because you know a solution is there yet it is so hard to find it (and I still haven't found it).

Traditionally, the three virtues of a Perl programmer are: laziness, impatience, and hubris. I'd say hubris definitely applies to golfers, but not the other two. As for the three virtues of a golfer, I suggest:

• Competitiveness
• Deviousness
• Tenacity