doodledee

What a great 3-day weekend of big-time golf. Each day was a little different, so I'll take them each in turn.

Friday, Jeannine and I got to the course nice and early so we could breakfast with Keith and some of the crew in their exclusive breakfast tent. After hooking-up with some eggs, we hit the course and watched round 2 saunter by. The weather was sublime, with light winds and cool, clear skies. Lighter crowds, a newspaper, and some quality people watching made the whole day whiz by. For about 2 hours, we sat right on the ropes of #4, just off pin-side of the green next to a bunker. It was really neat to watch people hit out.

Saturday, Libby took my ticket for the morning. Weather had suspended play the night before, so the plan was to sit at #18 and watch people finish their second rounds early that morning. Unfortunately, over three inches of rain had fallen the night before, so the course was flooded and play was delayed. A massive effort removed 60,000 gallons of water from the course before the 9:15 shotgun got the field underway. Libby was able to watch the entire field finish up, including Tiger hitting what he called one of the best shots of his career out a fairway bunker on 18.

Later on Saturday, I joined-up with Keith and Jeannine and we settled in on #14 and watched the rest of the pack come through. We were stuck behind some jackasses who stood the whole time, but I guess the half-full person in me would point out that they at least blocked some of the 30+ mph winds. All in all, another great day.

Sunday was the big day. Keith had secured 4 tickets, which meant that 7 of us would be out on the course. We borrowed a minivan from a coworker, loaded everyone up and got to the course well before the gates opened to the general public. After scouting the best locations to sit, we settled on hole #17, right on the ropes. The day started slowly, but we took turns walking around the course to help pass the time. It was all worth it in the end, though, as it was an electric atmosphere down the stretch. Huge crowds, huge cheers, huge fun.

Summary

Highlights
• Watching second shots on #6 on a beautiful Friday morning
  
• Fist-pumping with Tiger on #17 as he drained his third straight birdie in an attempt to catch an uncatchable Rich Beem
  
• Doing summersaults on #7 fairway
  

Lowlights
• $4 hot dogs - with no onions?!
• Not making the cut

Mad props to the Conway's for all they did to make the weekend a success. We'll see y'all in 2009.