Bringing the Drama

last monday i walked the golf course at augusta national and it was a dream come true. i took a TON of pictures, but only uploaded half. i didn’t even soak it in really until the afternoon. we got there, and saw “woods” on the tee time board, and took off to catch up with the number 1 player in the world. we caught him all right, along with probably the biggest practice round gallery i’ve ever seen. it was awesome. i think one of the things i enjoyed the most was how everyone there knew golf. everyone there knew players like mike weir or john rollins. everyone kept up with the whole concept of “golf etiquette”, and it was great. as tiger was walking by us on 17, i said “who’s that guy with jj henry?” and the guy next to me laughed. that’s golf right there folks. we were standing at #16 watching some guys practice, when someone said “isn’t this where tiger chipped from a couple of years ago?” and more than one person said “yeah”. there was no riff raff, none of those guys yelling “you da man!” the players were in a great mood, and everyone was having fun out there. people were respectful of everything going on, and grown men acted like kids. the tickets are so hard to get, which makes it that much more special, and everyone there is trying to experience everything. nobody has any inhibitions about “should i ask that guy to take my picture?” almost everyone had a camera, and everyone was snapping a picture of everything. after following tiger for a few holes, we had lunch, then i walked the course over again just to see everything that i had breezed over in the morning. before i left, i hung around the practice green and watched mark o’meara and craig stadler. i almost thought about asking the lady next to me if she’d take my picture with craig stadler, and as he’s coming off the green, it ended up being his wife! i was so dumbstruck, i didn’t want to be that guy and bother them as they walked back to the clubhouse. he’s a past champion, i’ll get a picture with him next year. anyway, it was amazing and everything i thought it would be. it will definitely not be the last time i go.

watching the final round of the masters today, it was probably one of the best final rounds i’ve seen. everyone was over par because of the crazy weather, and it was playing more like a british open with the cold and the wind. to see guys actually have to make shots to separate themselves from what seemed to be a gaggle of players was great. zach johnson made some huge birdies and gained some distance between him and the other players. the commentators tried their hardest to make it “tiger inevitably will win”, but when it became apparent #5 would not come this year, the overly dramatic jim nantz pulled out every quirky fact about “the young boy from iowa who so desparately wanted to go to iowa but ended up with a golf scholarship at drake university.” anyway, i actually kind of got choked up when zach finished and was hugging his wife. i can’t imagine the feeling, of winning something like the masters, and to be sharing it with your family like that. i’d have been in tears too when the commentator interviewed me. and he represented when he said Jesus was with him when asked about how he handled the pressure. word. then he got to get the green jacket from phil mickelson. totally amazing. congrats to zach johnson, you earned it today.

they also mentioned that 6 years ago, zach went with some of his friends to the monday practice round, probably dreaming of being good enough to play in the masters, maybe win it. it all sounded really familiar. i might have to start thinking about a career change. now i have to catch up on my grad school class, the driving range time can come tomorrow.