So for starters my picture is terrible. Quick iphone picture, but it captures the day pretty well. Overcast. Chilly. There were hand warmers, rain jackets, and it seemed like lots of coffee was sold. I never saw the sun peek out.
I arrived at 7:30am even though my volunteer shift wasn’t until 2:30PM. I started by heading right out to the 13th and 14th hole where my volunteering starts. I saw the best up and down that I have ever seen. I’ve watched a lot of golf. See day one post. I believe the guy was a club pro. He hit a very bad tee shot on 14. It hit in the trees on the right. They are 20 yards right and 30 yards short of the green. It was not well hit. It dropped below and behind the trees. His only option in my mind was to hit it into the bunker then to try and get up and in for a 4. Not likely in my mind. If he takes his medicine I’m thinking 5. If he gets cute I’m thinking 6. This pro, after a fairly long delay and a non-ruling (called an official in but it didn’t appear to change his lie) hits his shot into a very steep bank above the bunker, it hops onto the green, goes over the ridge and ends up about 3 or 4 feet. Smooth par. Write that one down without all the details please.
After watching the miracle shot of the day at 7:45AM, we headed over to the area between 4 green, 5 tee, 7 green and 8 tee. It’s a popular area because you can hop around and see four holes at once. That kinda went without saying. I’ve never been accused of brevity. See this post. We (Hal, Big Hal, Smitty and my buddy Greg Heldman) watched a bunch of great pairings roll through— still finishing up their first round. One observation I had was that no matter how many marshals you put out there, there will be a couple of guarantees. First— that the grounds workers or people grilling food, will still be loud as hell while players putt and tee off. It was so bad I thought about walking over myself. Second—people don’t know how to silence a freak-in cell phone. I watched one group of guys who had a phone go not once but twice in a matter of hours. They just don’t get it. This tournament has phone zones set up all around the course. It was easy to turn your phone on to make a call, send a text or check email (twitter for me) and turn it back off to go watch play. These guys will screw that up for everybody.
After watching several groups play 7 and 8. I decided to follow Loren Robert’s group for a few holes. I really loved Loren’s attitude and insight at the Evening with Champions Tour Players event this week at my church. I got to stand within 10 feet of him hitting his wedge into number 2. He got the yardage, 88 yards, from his caddie and committed to his shot. He had a lie in the rough but not a bad one. He didn’t even finish his follow through before he said “no Loren, not over there.” He had dumped it into the right bunker. He paused, kept a great attitude, and told his caddie that he missed the shot 8 yards right of where he was aiming. I wish I talked about misses like that. He bogeyed the hole and you can tell that’s one of the few things that a pro has trouble leaving behind— a bogey on a short par 5. Ouch!
I watched guns a blazing next, as Kenny Perry, Tom Lehman, Fred Funk, Nick Price, Mark Calcavecchia, Craig Stadler and Jay Haas, made birdies on various holes on the front. Some were long putts, but most was laser beam wedges and short irons. The way the players chose to play number 7 was very interesting. I believe I watched Tom Pernice Jr hit 3 balls into the water on number 7 today. He seemed to play the rest of the golf course well aside from that hole. I saw some big name players duff chip shots. I’ll save the names. I even saw Stadler hit what appeared to be a shank today off 8 tee. It never got very high off the ground, ended up 60 yards short and in the high weeds. Of course he made like 7 birdies in the round. Don’t think it affected him like it would you and me. Also, he did grab his hand or wrist after contact and let go of the club. May not have been a bad swing. Bob Tway also hit a ball into the drink on 7 after going for it in two. He got up and down from I guess about 185 yards for par. These guys are good. He’s also a lot taller than I always pictured.
Local favorite Ted Schulz seemed to play steady, although I only saw him play one hole— the 14th. He shot even both days. Tom Watson dazzled yet again. He wore a bright green long sleeve shirt, and got it around really well despite a double bogey start on 10.
I only lost the jacket today for about 2 hours. Basically during my volunteer shift.
Most of the notables made the cut. There were only a few I thought would that didn’t. Tom Kite being one of them. Played was suspended with some groups needing to finish as many as 6 holes I believe. Cut is to low 70 and ties. I’m back out tomorrow. Since the TV coverage is pretty limited, I figure why not.
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