Getting Close to the Athletes

I have attended pro baseball, football, basketball, and soccer games.  However, there is nothing to compare to attending a golf tournament.  This is one of the rare events where you can actually get close up to the athlete.  We are talking like a few feet.  You can hear them chatting with their caddy and you can see the clear sound of club hitting ball.  You can go pretty much wherever you want to go.  It is an all volunteer help at the course too so you feel less threatened.  Two years ago, I followed Phil Mickelson and it was only a handful of us back then.  I also followed Sergio Garcia and helped him find his ball which was actually lost in the rough under the trees. 

I followed Phil Mickelson again this year and he had a little more of a crowd following.  Like two years ago, we also followed Tiger Woods.  That requires strategy because he has three times or more the following anyone else has.  However, we went to the first day of the tournament so we were able to get real close.  It is apparent to me and others that Tiger simply isn’t there.  He looks like he just isn’t into it.  No smile, but yet no eye of the tiger either (no pun intended).  There are guys like Mickelson who while serious have a good time out there.  And believe me Mickelson was all over the place like Tiger.  Someone commented they always wanted to play like Tiger and now they are.  I digressed. 

Attending a golf tournament requires a viewing strategy unlike other events.  Some people camp out at one spot and stay there whether at the stands behind some of the greens or on a chair alongside the course.  Advantage there is you can see multiple players and you don’t have to get sweaty walking around.  Disadvantage is you see one type of shot.  We prefer to walk around with a given player pair.  So we did that with Mickeson-Mcilroy and Woods-Westwood for 9 holes each.  You see the good and the bad.  We saw Mickelson hit a bad shot but then save it by holing out from off the green.  We saw Anthony Kim hit a log wedge between two branches.  We saw a guy get pegged with an errant shot by Westwood.  You see a little bit of everything. 

I thank Charles Schwab for the tickets.  It was another memorable experience.