The Last Practice Day Weds June 15

It was another hot, blazing day at Pinehurst. Not a cloud in the sky nearly all day long. Luckily there was a gentle breeze which provided some relief. About 75 golfers teed off between 7am and 9am, but only a handful, maybe 25 or 30 teed off at noon – 1pm. For the thousands of people who arrived late morning to early afternoon, it must have been extremely disappointing to see only a few guys sweltering in the afternoon heat.

I spotted Phil Mickelson on the putting green and chipping area, but he never played in the afternoon, unless it was very late. Since he played on the weekend, I’m not sure he played Monday, so Tuesday may have been his only full round. I don’t think Ernie Els played either and I never spotted him at the range or on the putting greens

Tiger was out every morning at 7am. The usual 10,000 people seemed to follow him every step he took. We watched him on 18 from the Grandstand. His first drive went left, deep into the rough. His second landed in the Fairway. From there, he put one within 5 feet, but he missed the putt by 1” on the low side, to the dismay of many fans. He started on 10 and went to the driving range after playing just 9 holes. He played 18 the other 2 days, plus played each day on the weekend. He also played twice for 36 holes for one day the previous week. Tiger is definitely taking this Championship seriously.

Also while sitting at 18, Fred Couples hit the flag stick from way out. He seems to be playing well also.

It was rumored that John Daly teed off about 3pm on the back nine. There may have been other golfers playing later in the day

My daughter got 9 autographs in total, just missing David Toms and Sergio Garcia, a case of being at the wrong spot at the wrong time. A special thanks to Shaun Micheel for signing and spending a few moments to actually talk to my daughter, a very classy act. I did get Thomas Levet to sign my Latrobe Country Club hat at the putting green. He spent a great amount of time walking down the fence and signing anything sent his way. I also spotted Frank Lickliter signing autographs, spending a good 5 minutes signing anything and everything. After teeing off on 17, Fred Funk had one of the Marshals collect hats to sign. He then threw them like a Frisbee back to the crowd.

I gave up my pass to the air conditioned Putterboy Club so that my brother-in-laws’ girlfriend could go inside with wife and daughter for some lunch. They do not let anyone in without the proper credentials. I found a shaded part of the bleachers by 8 green and started talking to some guys taking in the cool shade. I talked about all the pictures I took over the 3 days, over 500 of them. I explained that my camera would take a burst of 9 shots and I would capture the players hitting their tee shots from start to finish. It ends up that these guys either own or are executives of a publishing company. They requested that I send them a disk of all my shots and they would print and bind them into a book at no cost! They would give me a half dozen or so copies and keep a copy for themselves. It was an offer I could not refuse. Now I will be under pressure to organize and clean-up those +500 pictures. I was hoping to work on my websites after the open, but will now work on this task.

Unfortunately, due to a lack of high speed internet, I have not posted any new pictures on the website. I may try tomorrow night, but no promises. Also on the agenda today was a visit to the Merchandise tent. 50,000 square feet of very over priced merchandise. Luckily my wife did not find anything suitable, except a hat for my daughter. I’ll wait and start hunting on eBay for those who want to get rid of their treasures for a discount.

I’ll be heading to the course at 7am or so tomorrow to take in the early rounds. I’ll try to find a spot in the bleachers in the shade, probably near 3 and 5 green and 4 and 6 tee. I’ll enter on that end, so I hope to get a good seat. No cameras are allowed, so I can sit back and enjoy the show. Until tomorrow, so long from Pinehurst…..