Saturday, August 26, 2006

Bridgestone Trip Diary: Wednesday

Day 2 started out with me learning something new. I learned that I could get to the lobby of the hotel without going outside and walking around the building. The desk clerk who checked me in yesterday didn’t say anything about that and made me go around the building to go to my room.

And I was right yesterday when I said luck was involved in finding the parking area. I made a wrong turn this morning and had to turn around.

Got to the course before or about 8am. I checked out the tee times board and when I heard this man suggest to his kids that they catch up to Fred Couples, who teed off on the 10th hole earlier, I decided to follow them. This was my first foray into the guts of the course. I was excited. I followed Fred, who was out with a couple of equipment reps I think through the 16th hole. One interesting thing, Fred pulled out a golf ball, said “there’s a spot on here,” and licked the ball. I would have thought the caddie would be doing that. I wonder what the spot was. There was a lot of golf talk between Fred and the equipment guys. Since I don’t pretend to know anything about golf, I’m not going to quote it, but it had something to do with one type of ball doing certain things as opposed to a different type of ball. I think Fred was playing both kinds?

Observations and questions during Fred’s practice round:

1. Why do people applaud during the tournament but not during practice rounds?

2. It’s pretty noisy during practice rounds with lawn mowers, vehicles towing lawn mowers. It makes you wonder why cameras and cell phones bother the golfers so much during the tournament.

3. There was a really cute little girl who ‘tried’ to get Fred’s autograph. Personally, I think she had a better chance of identifying Elmo than Fred. I couldn’t see her watching golf enough to know who the players are, she had to be around 4 years old. Come to think of it, maybe this is why Tiger wears red? The Elmo effect.

4. Some old man followed Fred up to the tee box to get an autograph. He was either completely oblivious to the fact that he was where he shouldn’t have been, or he was so selfish, he didn’t care. I’m leaning toward the "drive with the turn signal on” oblivious.

5. There was a photographer following Fred around with a camera bigger than his head. The camera was huge.

6. It looked like Fred’s head was sunburned. Just a spot on top. He should maybe switch to ball caps.

7. Coming away from the 16th I saw a sign that said “Gray Bar”. I had to take a second look because I completely misread that.

I left Fred after the 16th hole and returned to the tee times board. I was sad to learn that Sergio had begun his practice round while I was out with Fred. He started at 10am on the 1st, so I went out all by myself to find him. (A scary prospect considering how lost I get when I’m driving - see prev. post). I hadn’t been on the front side of the course, but I got around pretty well and finally caught up to Sergio and Luke Donald on the 4th green. Sergio’s approach to the pin landed pretty close to the hole. The people camped out on the green were impressed.

Sergio’s gallery was a little more aggressive than Fred’s. It’s interesting to connect the easy going gallery to easy going Fred and the more active gallery to a more active Sergio. Now just because I said Sergio’s gallery was more aggressive, that doesn’t mean they were ill-behaved. They were well behaved from what I could see. On the 5th green, Luke crouched down behind Sergio’s ball and watched Sergio putt. I don’t know if that was to try to help Sergio or to just see how the putt went for his own benefit later on. They would stick tees in the green in spots where they believed pins could be placed during the tournament and practiced putting to the tees. Fred didn’t do that.

On the way to the 6th, Sergio posed for a couple of pictures. On the tee, Luke hit first. I can see why the announcers like his swing. It doesn’t come across that well on tv, but it really is something to see. If I had to use a simile or metaphor to describe it, I would say it’s like a sigh, natural and soft, but with a lot of substance or meaning to it. As for Sergio’s swing, I would love to describe it, but I wasn’t really paying attention to golf swing mechanics when I looked at him.

While on the 6th, Sergio had peeled an apple and threw the peeling toward a marshal, I guess so the marshal could get rid of it. The crowd said something and Sergio said jokingly “Do you want to eat it?”. On the green, Sergio finished his apple and the caddie threw it out onto another part of the course. I don’t think I’d like to be Sergio’s caddie and have to hold his saliva covered apple. Especially on a course like Firestone with the enormous amount of yellow jackets (bees) that are present. I have yellow jackets here and they swarm the peach trees and fallen peaches that are right next to my door. It’s like running a gauntlet to get past them.

A special fan moment with Sergio - a little boy wanted an autograph but couldn’t get close enough to Sergio to get it. Sergio noticed the little boy and found him again in the crowd and signed something for him. He also signed the back of this woman’s shirt. I think she may have embarrassed him a bit when she said, “that feels good.” LOL.

On the 8th hole, Sergio ate another apple. It was about this time that I started thinking I liked all this course walking. It’s good exercise and a lot more enjoyable than the treadmill.

Then approaching the 9th green, there was a photographer with a big camera kneeling next to me. Sergio saw this guy and posed and smiled for the picture. If Sergio noticed me at all, he probably thought “she has a notebook, writes a lot in it and hasn’t asked for an autograph. She’s a strange girl.” LOL.

Then the practice round came to an end. I actually saw Jose Maria Olazabal smile as he greeted Sergio in passing. Sergio went to the practice range and Jose Maria was headed out for his practice round I think. I saw Luke Donald sign some autographs and then head for the clubhouse. I think his brother lost him because he came along a little later, stopped and looked around. After having watched those two for more than half of their practice round, I think I’m going to have to say that Luke’s brother is the more handsome Donald.

I decided to watch the practice putting green for a while. I saw Ian Poulter in green and black, much better than yesterday’s clothing choice, Stephen Dodd, Geoff Ogilvy, Charl Schwartzel, Adam Scott, Nick O’Hern, Zach Johnson, Jim Furyk and Fluff, Jose Maria, Rod Pampling, Vaughn Taylor, and Scott Verplank.

Twice I was in position to see Tiger Woods and wasn’t even trying to. The first sighting happened because I was looking for shade. I knew my face was getting redder all the time so I wanted to get out of the sun. I found some shade at the 9th green. I knew Tiger was somewhere on the 8th hole, not only was that what people were saying but that’s where the big crowd was. I figured Tiger would be turning up soon at the 9th green, but it was shady there so I decided to stay and see just how frenzied it got when he showed up. First though, I got to see Jose Maria again. He finished his practice round right before Tiger played the 9th. I think Michael Campbell might have been with Jose Maria. Then Tiger showed up. He was playing with Corey Pavin. The crowds weren’t so bad while Tiger was on the green. The people in the bleachers even applauded when Tiger finished. But I heard that the mob of people chasing after Tiger on his way to the range almost tripped him.

For my part, not knowing what else to do, I decided to head back to the practice green. On my way there I saw a caddie with a bag on the 1st tee. It was Chris DiMarco’s caddie. So I waited there and got a couple of pictures of him (caddie and Chris). Chris said to the crowd, “You guys know Tiger’s on the range, right?” One adult male tried to get Chris’ caddie to ask Chris to autograph something for his kid. Tip: If you want the caddie to do something, at least use his name when you ask him. Saying “hey mr. caddie” isn’t going to cut it.

I made it to the practice green and stood around there for a long time. And I mean a long time. I saw a lot of players and I saw Sergio finish up his practice. He spent extra time signing things today and also took a couple of pictures. I decided to stay until Jose Maria finished. This put me in line for the second Tiger experience. Tiger came to the practice green. He practiced a little but talked to Jim Furyk a lot. Got a couple of pictures of Tiger and Steve just because they were there right in front of me, then watched as the crowds became a bit dangerous when Tiger left the practice area. The crowds were squashing all the people lined up against the security fence. I watched Jose Maria for a while longer, until my camera battery got low. Then, I decided he would have to finish without me. I’m sure he was crushed - not. I left the course, came back to the hotel, washed off the sticky sunscreen that is doing nothing for my face by the way, then went to dinner.

Extra Notes:

1. I bought a couple of souvenirs today - the pga tour beanie baby, a golf ball with the WGC logo on it, and a plastic id holder to put my ticket in - it’s supposed to rain on Thursday.

2. If Phil Mickelson has been here, virtually no one has seen him. Everyone I’ve been around says he hasn’t been seen.

3. There’s apparently some kind of meet and greet with Sergio Thursday night somewhere in the area. I heard a guy tell some of his friends that he had VIP passes to get in. Sounds like a corporate sponsor thing (Update: I found out from Google News it was a Michelob Ultra thing - Akron Beacon Journal)

4. How well did I do with my objectives?
A. I could fit my id in my pocket so I had all the essentials today.
B. Found the bathrooms. They scare me. Haven’t found the courage to use them yet.
C. Didn’t eat lunch. But I did drink a bottle of water. It’s a step in the right direction.

5. I want to work for the manufacturers. I want to be the guy who walked with Fred Couples and tossed him golf balls. That’s a job I could handle.

6. Cynical Fan Story: Man lectured his little boy for getting an accidental mark on his autograph hat. Apparently, to be worth something other than cherished memories, the hat can’t have anything other than signatures on it.

7. The Tiger crowds wouldn’t be so rude, demanding or dangerous, if he would just set up a booth at every event and sign stuff for an hour a day for three or four days. But if he did that, then he wouldn’t be so valuable because everyone would have his autograph. It’s a supply and demand issue. Like they said in the 60’s if you aren’t part of the solution, then you are part of the problem. If Tiger thinks the crowds are a problem, then he shares some of the responsibility for that.

8. On the local news and in the local papers, it was reported that Tiger arrived at Firestone in a white Ford Taurus. Is this the car Buick will give away if he wins the tournament????

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