I got up at 4:50am. 15 minutes earlier than usual. It didn’t really help any as I still managed to leave the house the same time I normally do - 7:30am. I stopped to get gas, but the pump was broken, so I had to go all the way up town to fill up, which meant I finally got on the road at about 7:45 am. The trip was foggy until I got on the other side of the Ohio river. Two observations about Ohio driving: the cops seem to just pull over the tractor trailers, and despite the huge amount of road work being done, there is virtually no new paving. In WV, the interstate gets paved about every year or so, whether it needs it or not.
It took about three hours to get to Akron and I thought I was doing well as it was a cinch to find my hotel. My next objective was to find the parking area I was supposed to use. This was when God decided to remind me of His sense of humor. I tried to use the map that was sent with my tickets. That was a mistake. Every road I tried to take led to a detour. After about an hour of driving around and ending up in towns I shouldn’t have been in, I read and re-read the directions next to that map. Finally, I got on the right track and guessed my way to the parking area. I say guessed because I think I still took a wrong turn but ended up in the right place anyway.
I tried to get through the security check with the smallest purse I own, but it didn’t pass. I would like to take this moment to criticize an apparent double standard at the Bridgestone Invitational - I couldn’t bring a purse in, but once I got onto the grounds I saw hundreds of large purses being carried about. I’m sure some lawyer won’t be allowed to bring her purse in one day and a law suit will be filed - rightfully so.
I ended up just taking my wallet with me. No notepad, pen or camera for Tuesday. That was probably a good idea since I would have been so focused on getting pictures and autographs that I would have missed everything else. Although, watching Sergio for over an hour on the range and practice green made me wish I had my camera.
Once I got to the course, I followed the other people from the shuttle bus since it looked like they knew where they were going. It wasn’t long before I saw a golfer - Aaron Baddeley. He was just finishing up his practice round and the volunteers blocked off part of the path so he could go from the course to the clubhouse. He looked just like he does on tv and he was kind enough to sign some autographs for some people. One pre-teen girl was especially excited to get his autograph. That was cute to see.
Then we moved on and by following some of the men, I got to see Vijay. That was an accident I think. A blink and you’ll miss it moment. I just saw the back of him and his shirt was soaked. He must have put in a whole day’s worth of work even though it was only around 1pm by that time.
I then found myself at the range and putting green where I saw David Toms, Zach Johnson, Chris Couch, Angel Cabrera and his cute caddie, Vaughn Taylor, Chad Campbell. And I saw Robert Gamez and I think Rod Pampling on the first tee.
I decided the best thing for me to do since I had never been to a PGA event or even to a golf course before, was to eavesdrop on the conversations around me. Doing so, I learned that Sergio was finishing up his practice round and that these four guys were going to catch up to him and try for autographs. So, I followed them. At first I wasn’t going to try for autographs because I didn’t have a pen and I probably couldn’t’ read the signatures anyway. But the longer I stood there with all the other people who wanted autographs, the more interest I became in getting them too. And as luck would have it, I was able to take care of the Spaniard Watch in one fell swoop as they say. Sergio, Jose Maria, Gonzalo, and Miguel Angel Jimenez were playing together. As they passed by, Jose Maria didn’t stop to sign anything, but I did hear that he had signed stuff earlier that day. I got Jimenez’s and Gonzalo’s autographs, and yes I was right, you can’t read them. It was really something to be that close to them and actually look into their eyes and say thank you. I would rather have that experience than a hastily scribbled name on something that is tossed over a shoulder back to the crowd. Sergio was besieged with autograph requests. He didn’t have time to do that eye contact thing. He signed about every fourth object presented to him. I was happy to hear a lot of thank yous from the crowd. But I also heard a few “Can I have your glove? Can I have a ball?” I personally couldn’t ask a golfer for stuff like that, even if they do get them free. But then, I’m an adult and most of these requests were coming from pre-teen boys. One of the girls in the crowd said “I don’t know who that guy is, (Gonzalo) but he’s hot.” LOL.
After that, I wandered over to the ninth green and saw Corey Pavin, Brett Wetterich and Kevin Stadler. Corey looks even tinier in person. Kevin looks slimmer in person. I was very pleased to be able to identify Brett Wetterich without needing to look at the name on the golf bag. Later I heard a man say that Brett was surprised to be asked for an autograph-guess he didn’t think he would be recognized.
I found my way back to the practice green and range where I saw Peter Lonard and John Bickerton. Then I saw Sergio come up to the green. Fans asked for autographs then, but the caddie said he would sign after he was finished with his practice. So, I followed Sergio and took a seat on the bleachers behind the range. From my vantage point, I got to see: Jose Maria, Henrik Stenson, Lee Westwood, Fred Funk, Stuart Appleby, Johan Edfors, Lucas Glover, Gonzalo, Tim Herron, Justin Leonard, Fred Couples, Stephen Dodd, Shiv Kapur, Thomas Levet, Scott Verplank and Sergio of course. What did I see? Jose Maria and Sergio talked a little bit. Henrik was between them. Sergio and Henrik talked some. Sergio held court with about 5 guys. He went through a bucket of balls but it took a long, long time because he was talking and joking with his people. I really can’t tell you how any of the practice went for any of the players because I lose the ball once it gets airborne. I don’t know how they can see them. So, I sat in the full sun and watched the players interact with each other for a long time. Long enough for my poor nose to begin to impersonate Rudolph the reindeer, even though I did have sunscreen on.
When I saw Sergio take the cover off his putter, I headed for the practice green. I was glad to be moving. For one thing, there were a lot of bees at those bleachers and for another, the guys around me kept yapping on and on and on. And they say women talk too much.
Back at the putting green, I watched Sergio make quite a few putts. He putted from different distances and toyed with different putters and talked more with ‘the boys’. By this time Luke Donald had shown up and he and Sergio talked quite a bit. I heard Donald ask Sergio about his upcoming schedule, but didn’t hear the answer. Ben Crane also came out to the practice green. Then I saw Carl Petterson’s golf bag walk by and Ian Poulter, who was dressed rather boringly for that practice. A little bit of a letdown.
Standing there at the green, I once again eavesdropped on this guy talking to someone on the inside of the fence about Sergio’s putting. A tip or suggestion or something. Well, the guy on the inside actually went up to Sergio and his caddie and brought up the guy’s comment. This guy on the outside must have had something to do with the golf industry. Not just an average spectator.
John Bickerton was asked for some autographs. A nice gesture from the American crowd who might not be familiar with him. He was a nice guy. He asked the crowd for directions to a nearby shopping mall. One not so nice ‘fan’ complained about the legibility of Bickerton’s autograph. The way I see it, Bickerton could have not signed anything at all. He was being nice. It isn’t like crowds line up in an orderly fashion and wait patiently as the golfer signs things slowly. The golfers don’t have a lot of time so they do what they can.
Sergio finally got finished with his practice/chit chat session and once again a big flock of fans swarmed him for autographs. He signed as many as he could, told someone they had his wallet, made plans for Friday night I think with some people on the inside. Sergio moved up the fence signing things and when he ran out of fence, he continued to sign even though the fans were right up next to him. Luckily, there was a police officer there to keep an eye on things. Not that the fans got out of hand. They were pretty well behaved. But I was concerned for Sergio that there wasn’t a barrier between him and the crowds. The most memorable part of this autographing was this one little boy who was counting all the autographs on his hat. He said, “thirteen, fourteen, twenty, twenty one.” His dad said the boy always counted that way. LOL.
So, after Sergio escaped to the clubhouse, I decided to call it a day and headed for the entrance and the shuttle. Got back to my car and promptly ended up going North on the interstate when I wanted to go South. Turned around and got off at the right exit, missed the entrance to my hotel, had to turn around and go back.
The hotel I was staying at was allegedly renovated a few years ago, but the carpet was worn, paint old, and the ceiling of my room had half cottage cheese look and half not. There were only about 20 channels on the tv. You’d think a hotel could get a discount on the cable and get more channels. But that’s okay. If I could watch tv, then I wouldn’t have had time to write down the day’s events.
General Observations about Day One:
1. First time I’ve ever been to a golf course at all. Reminded me of the local county fair. Maybe once I follow the players for a round, I will lose that feeling.
2. I’ve never seen that much grass in one place. Here at home, my lawn is made of weeds and hay. We’ve never seeded a lawn.
3. The sound of the club hitting the ball is different from what you hear on tv. Sounds like some kiddie toy in person.
4. I don’t think I’ll be able to learn the map of the course at all. All day I was moving from green to tee to green and not knowing where I was. And you know I only had a few choices, one, nine, ten, eighteen, etc.
5. You learn much more about the players by watching them interact with each other. Sergio is a toucher. Every person he talked to, he either shook their hand, patted them on the back, smacked them in a conversational manner. Jose Maria, on the other hand, seems to be the opposite. I don’t think I saw him touch anyone, or speak to anyone for more than a few seconds. Stephen Dodd appeared to me to be the hardest working golfer there. Every time I looked at the range or the practice green, there he was.
All in all, today was pretty good. So, I got lost a lot. Believe it or not, I didn’t get upset, angry, or cry or anything like that. My parents get upset when they get lost, mostly dad gets combative and mom gets emotional. But I just went with the flow. I was getting a bit frustrated with all the detours but I always knew I would end up where I was supposed to be. And if you were paying attention to the account, you’ll notice there was no mention of potty breaks or lunch. That’s because I didn’t eat lunch, my hands were full carrying the program guide and my wallet = no purse. And I haven’t found the bathrooms yet. I’m sure I walked right by them and just didn’t see them.
Objectives for Wednesday:
1. Bring camera, not pad, pen and money. Leave useless things like ID and proof of medical insurance behind. Since the tournament won’t let you carry anything into the event. You would think they would make it easier for people to carry things like ID. If someone gets hurt or arrested, having the ID on them might make things easier.
2. Find the bathrooms.
3. Eat lunch.
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