Pinehurst Practice Round Day 1 - June 13

We arrived about 7:20 at the back entrance between 4 and 5 green. There was no one through yet, very few fans and the army of marshalls. We walked up 4, the par 5 on the first side. When we arrived on the 3rd green, there was a group in the fairway, it was Tiger. He was paired with Euan Walters of Australia and Conrad Ray. Ray is golf coach at Stanford and played with Tiger at Stanford. I took a ton of pictures of Tiger. The best is on the website, it shows Tiger putting with his bag in the foreground.

Tiger seemed in control of his game. He was on target with his irons, but I did not follow him around to see how well he was driving, but the rough is dangerous. It is not really that high, but the balls nestle down very easily. We saw one guy who was in the rough and about 220 to the 5th green, the hard par 4. His ball only flew about 160 yards from the rough, not a pretty site.

Another guy who was on top of his game today was John Daly. He birdied 5 with little effort. A drive down the middle, an iron to within 7 feet of the pin, and then drained the putt. I only saw him on 1 hole, but he was playing well.

We watched Lee Janzen work with Butch Harmon for at least an hour on the driving range. He seemed to hit it very well, but was working intensely on swing mechanics with Butch.

Many guys played all 18, but it seemed that just as many played 9, teed off on 10, then headed back to the Clubhouse. The heat and humidity must have been getting to them, or maybe they went to the driving range to work on their games.

Around the greens, most used putters, while a few experimented with drivers and 3 woods. If you have never been to a practice round, these guys take their time. If they don’t like their drive, they hit another. Sometimes if they hit in the rough, they’ll pull it out and hit from the fairway. They will experiment with different techniques around the greens and will putt all over the green, guessing where the pins might be during the Open. It is interesting to watch. They players are much more relaxed and do joke around a bit and talk to the crowd from time to time.

The players were signing autographs, but mostly with kids. The fans were waiting between the green and the next tee and the players would stop and sign. A hot spot for signing is between 10 and 11. I will strategically place my kids in this area to pick up a few souvenirs.

The weather looks to be incredibly hot tomorrow and Wednesday, but a cold front is moving in for the tournament, bringing the temperature down to around 80. It will be much better to watch the Open without the blistering heat. I would think that it would help the players tremendously.

Another interesting thing is watching the guys who qualified to play, but don’t play on the tour. One younger guy, Derek Brown, was at the range with his caddy. They were both in their lower 20s. We overheard the caddie talking to some friends in the stands, mentioning how excited they both were. We found him on the course playing with non other than John Daly. It may have been a bit intimidating, but it must have been the thrill of a lifetime. Derek is a local and is touring on the Atlantic Coast Tour. He was the Qualifying Medalist from the sectional in Atlanta. I’d look for him on the PGA tour in the future.

We’ll see what tomorrow brings…..