I had the opportunity to attend The Memorial Tournament last week at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, OH with our editor, Erik (who took about 2000 pictures over the week). After my experience, it’s going to be tough to go to another tournament as a regular spectator.
This wasn’t the first tournament I’ve attended. I previously attended the 2002 PGA Championship at Hazeltine National Golf Club and the 2004 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits, but it being inside the ropes as a member of the media provided an entirely different feeling to the week.
Read along as I share some of my thoughts on being a media rookie at The Memorial.
The Course
This was my first trip to Muirfield Village, and it is easily one of the finest golf courses on which I have ever set foot. Television does not come close displaying the splendor and beauty that this course has to offer. Even in high definition, you just don’t get to see (or sense) the elevation changes on the vast majority of holes.
If you hit into this trap over the 18th green, you can kiss your ball goodbye as it goes racing past the pin.
For example, the par-three 12th looks somewhat level while watching on television, but in reality the green sits quite a bit below an elevated tee box which adds some difficulty in club selection. The par-four 14th is not a gently downhill sloping hole but rather a testy long-iron shot as too much club will cause your ball to run and end up in the creek. The par-five 15th is quite steep and requires a monster drive to reach the top of the hill.
Needless to say, there are some great elevation changes all over the course. Most tee shots seem to be either going uphill or downhill and require a bit more thought than just grabbing driver and swinging away. Your approach shot is no different as you rarely seem to have a flat shot at the green with either an uphill shot like at the 18th or downhill at the ninth. The greens are nasty as they have a good deal of slope with some false fronts that enjoy to repel balls.
The Players
Yes, these guys are pretty good. For the most part, length is fairly consistent for the majority of Tour players (Bubba Watson and Adam Scott excluded) but where the best earn their living is with their short game. The feel and imagination used is something that was more art than anything else. I had the feeling of watching a master craftsman working with their tools.
A good example was on Friday as Adam Scott went over the green on the eighteenth and was faced with a nasty downhill chip. He toed-in his putter and just tapped the ball to get it onto the green. It rolled and came to a stop five feet past the cup. Quite an amazing shot, and one that’s tough to appreciate on television without seeing the slope in real life.
If there was one disappointment in watching Tour players live, it seems to me as if most don’t look like they are having any fun whatsoever on the course. I realize they are playing for some serious money and for their livelihood as opposed to our $2 nassau, but I just wish the guys would have some fun out there. Your getting paid truckloads of cash to play a game. Enjoy it a bit.
Fortunately, there were some funny moments like Charley Hoffman and Tiger Woods sharing a laugh during Friday’s round on the bridge leading to the ninth green (perhaps sharing a laugh about Charley zinging one past Tiger’s ear on Thursday) as well as Jerry Kelly and Mark Wilson having some fun on Saturday as Kelly “kissed” his shot off Wilson’s ball on the 14th green as it went it for eagle. Mark Wilson runs up to the green before Jerry Kelly and accepts the crowd’s applause (he deserved some as well as he stuck his approach shot to three feet) and Jerry Kelly runs up and gives him a big hug. They looked like they were having quite a bit of fun. The Tour could use some more of this.
Random Observations
We sat in the interview room after Adam Scott put up a 62 on Friday and he admitted to thinking about shooting 59 several times during the later parts of the round (like during his feeble eagle attempt at fifteen and his birdie putt at 13). I hope he’s not having those thoughts as he attempts to win his first major next week at Oakmont. Overall, though, he seemed pretty at ease and joked around a bit which was a nice change of pace compared to some of the other boring interviews I’ve seen in the past.
The amount of information available to the media is staggering. Every morning in the press room there were copies of all the interviews from the previous day as well as handouts with every golf stat imaginable for use in stories. The media room was pretty cool as well as they have multiple HD televisions to watch the action (no sound) as well as laptops that have all the current up-to-the-minute statistics that allows you to follow every golfer on the course. The radio folks for the PGA Tour Network on XM Radio have a booth in the media room as well to conduct their live broadcast. There are a lot of people behind-the-scenes who work hard to give you a good broadcast.
I actually had more enjoyment running into various other media people than in seeing the Tour golfers. Yes, inside the ropes you could get closer than the general public but it wasn’t like you were going to ask “Hey, how’s it going?” or have a conversation with them. In the media room and photojournalist room, I was next to many people who were doing the same thing I was doing, reporting at a golf tournament. In the media dining room, The Golf Channel’s Frank Nobilo, Inga Hammond, Craig Kann, and a host of others sat at a table next to us grabbing a quick bite along with other tables filled with many of the photographers who give you the pictures you see on various sites and in the newspapers.
One final observation: If you thought golf was an expensive hobby and that $400 was a bit much to cough up for that new driver well then let me introduce you to the world of photography, where the camera body alone can cost four or five (or more) grand with lenses that can reach seven grand and beyond. It wasn’t rare to see photographers walking around with over twenty grand in equipment hanging around their neck as they went running around the course. So the next time your spouse complains about your golfing expenditures, just remind them you could be looking at photography equipment instead.
Conclusion
I had a great time attending The Memorial as a member of the media and was quite impressed with all the behind-the-scenes work that is done to get the various forms of media out to the golfing public. I was able to walk inside the ropes at a great course, witness some impressive golf shots and came away with a new appreciation for the opportunity I have to be involved in such a great game.
Photo Credits: © 2007 The Sand Trap. All rights reserved.