PurpAnd

Following up on previous posts: Part 1 and Part II…

Saturday we played golf at Salt Creek in Chula Vista. From the hills of that golf course, you can see Tijuana! Started great, but lost momentum on the back nine, which seems to be a recurring theme for me. On 18, it took me five shots to get to the green and I was just about ready to throw my clubs into the ravine. But, in cool gentleman fashion, I got away with under-the-breath cursing at myself and at the world in general. Someday I would really love just to snap a club over my knee.

At the end of the round we heard coyotes in the distance feasting on all the bad boys and girls who didn’t break par.

Sunday we got up and had our 2nd of 3 Denny’s breakfasts in a row. We then headed to Torrey Pines to catch the final round of the U.S. Open. We arrived in time to see Nick’s group on #11. So, we followed him in to the clubhouse then got some lunch and parked it at the practice range. We watched Rocco, Sergio, Camilo, and Geoff warm-up (ya, we’re on first name bases). The crowd grew in anticipation of seeing Tiger. Soon enough he did arrive, but went clear to the other side of the range from us after I had been adamant about him typically practicing on the side where we were standing.

Tiger looked great on the range as he alternated distances and targets with the same club. Once done working through his clubs, he left the range, along with a majority of the crowd. We waited around and good thing we did cuz he made it over to the chipping range near where we had been standing.

Here, we were within 20-30 yards of Tiger as he chipped all around the practice green, in and around bunkers, and even chipping one in (without celebration or even as much as a smile - that’s how the cool guys do it). When finished here, he moved to the putting green and rolled a few before heading to #1 tee. We walked over to the ropes along the path the players take to get to the first tee.

Tiger walked right by 10 minutes later followed by his caddy, a few cameras, reporters, etc. Then, the funniest thing happened. Tiger, although he is the Chosen One, still has bodily functions. He made a quick trip to the port-a-potty and the whole world stopped and waited. It was like someone hit the pause button on the Tivo. 30 seconds later, he emerged to a roar from the crowd. People yelled over asking, “#1 or #2, Tiger!?!” Silly, but who else has that sort of rockstar status on the golf course. (Y’know, my wife claps when I leave the toilet seat down. That’s the closest I’ll come to being cheered for my bathroom visits).

After that, we walked straight to #7 to wait for Tiger’s group to come through. We saw the last few groups of the day, which included Ernie Els, Geoff Ogilvy, Rocco Mediate, and the like, from a wonderful vantage point along the ropes, 15 feet back and to the left of the players. We were concerned about security guards standing in our way, but the officers with the last few groups were kneeling so they wouldn’t block our views. I love cops.

Finally, Tiger and Lee Westwood arrived at 7. Not sure what Lee Westwood did, wasn’t really paying attention (Sorry Lee, you can still come over for tea anytime you’d like though). Tiger took 3-wood, disappointingly, and roped one somewhere. And I saw somewhere because I didn’t get to see it. As I eluded to here, Lee Westwood’s dumb caddy stood right in front of me so all I could see was Tiger’s right side and backswing. The whole trip I had wanted to see him wail on a drive from up close, but it just wasn’t meant to be.

Stay tuned for our experience along the 18th hole and after the round on Sunday.