Category: PGA

What follows is a transcription of my notes from the grandstands near the 18th green on Sunday at the U.S. Open.

4:30 am – I showered the night before, so I wake up, put my clothes on, deflate my bed for the week, and get in the car for the short drive to Oakmont.

5:10 am – I arrive at my destination for the day – the grandstands overlooking the 18th – and find that I’ve been beaten to my ideal spot by six people. The sun isn’t up yet, and people are in the 18th grandstands. My ideal spot was the back left corner, which offers views of the ninth/practice green, the 10th, 12th, and 15th tees, and the 11th, 14th, and 18th greens. With binoculars, you can see even more including the second, 15th, and 17th greens. I will be here for the next 14 hours.

Continue reading “U.S. Open at Oakmont Journal: Sunday”

When I arrived at lunchtime yesterday, Lot C was half full. Today, at 7am, I parked in the first row. As you might have guessed, the course was relatively empty as well, and in fact the last four or five holes didn’t even have new cups cut yet or flags installed.

Tiger Woods teed off today with Bubba Watson just as I arrived, and we eventually caught Tiger on the eighth hole as I walked the course backwards getting architectural shots. Read on for the rest of my journal notes from Tuesday at the U.S. Open.

Continue reading “U.S. Open at Oakmont Journal: Tuesday”

I arrived at about lunchtime at the U.S. Open’s first official practice round today. Though, as a member of the media I am in a different lot than the one used by the majority of the fans (who are being scuttled off I-76 exit 39 to the “Red” and “Blue” lots), I must say how surprised I was at how few people were attending and how much room was available. Sunday will no doubt be mad crazy, but Monday and I would suspect Tuesday and Wednesday are great days to see some golf.

Continue reading “U.S. Open at Oakmont Journal: Monday”

Tiger Woods is a big draw at any tournament. Last year, while Tiger was taking time off to grieve the death of his father Earl, the media room at The Memorial was rather bare. Half the number of photographers were present. This year, with Tiger Woods in the field, photographers flooded the course.

We managed to get a few snaps of Tiger in action, and we present them here with a little commentary.

Continue reading “2007 Memorial Pictures: Tiger”

The Memorial attracts a wealth of good players, and a good many of them are American. However, their numbers are dwindling, as Jack Nicklaus himself is quick to point out. Nicklaus says golf is again becoming more of a “world game,” and that the pendulum is swinging back towards foreign domination of golf. Witness, he says, the last several Ryder Cups and the number of international players in the field at his tournament.

The man has got a point.

Continue reading “2007 Memorial Pictures: The Americans”

Despite having a field of about 100 to 110 contestants, The Memorial Tournament attracts a wide variety of foreign players. Though they rarely experience success at Muirfield Village, the 2007 edition was won by a Korean – K.J. Choi – and featured several Aussies in contention, including Adam Scott, Rod Pampling, Geoff Ogilvy, and Aaron Baddeley.

Here are some shots of some of the more popular international players from the 32nd Memorial Tournament.

Continue reading “2007 Memorial Pictures: The Internationals”

Last year, we looked at Muirfield Village’s defenses and those pesky furrows. This year, we didn’t do that quite as much as the bunkers were less of an issue and the course itself hasn’t changed much.

So, filling out this year’s “Others” picture-heavy post, we have David Leadbetter and his mystery bag, a shot of the new bunker rake, and a pair of shots with no people in them whatsoever.

Continue reading “2007 Memorial Pictures: The Others”

18:40 – Tiger fails to hole out for eagle to tie Zach Johnson. The final leaderboard looks like this:

Pos Player         R4  Tot   R1   R2   R3   R3   Total
--- ------         --  ---   --   --   --   --   -----
1   Z. Johnson     -3   +1   71   73   76   69    289
T2  R. Sabbatini   -3   +3   73   76   73   69    291
T2  R. Goosen      -3   +3   76   76   70   69    291
T2  T. Woods        E   +3   73   74   72   72    291
T5  J. Kelly       -2   +4   75   69   78   70    292
T5  J. Rose        +1   +4   69   75   75   73    292
T7  P. Harrington  +1   +5   77   68   75   73    293
T7  S. Appleby     +3   +5   75   70   73   75    293
9   D. Toms         E   +6   70   78   74   72    294

Continue reading “2007 Masters Live Blog”