MAYBE TIGER WOODS BEST DAY EVER ! by vanderKOK

6/14/08 MAYBE TIGER WOODS BEST DAY EVER !
A DAY AT THE 108th U.S. OPEN, TORREY PINES, CA

RANDOM NOTES FROM
THE U.S. OPEN GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP,
TORREY PINES, CALIFORNIA
SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2008

WELCOME !
I WAS THERE, FOLKS, ON SATURDAY JUNE 14, 2008 AT THE 108th U.S. OPEN PLAYED THIS YEAR AT TORREY PINES IN SAN DIEGO, PRACTICALLY MY BACKYARD,

AND NOW I AM BEGINNING TO WONDER IF, IN FACT, I SAW, TIGER WOODS BEST DAY EVER ?! IT MAY GO DOWN IN HISTORY, BUT ONLY IF HE WINS TODAY, MONDAY, JUNE 16, 2008 IN THE 18 HOLE PLAY-OFF VERSUS ROCCO MEDIATE.

So a few weeks ago, I invited my dad to go watch the U.S. OPEN GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP at Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego and he said he couldn’t go because he has “chaplains’ committee” in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It is his annual gathering with fellow chaplains from the Christian Reformed Church (CRC). But he said he would buy me a ticket, so I said ‘GREAT!” and lo and behold in my mailbox a few days later was a ticket to the SUPERBOWL OF GOLF, practically right in our backyard. How could I pass it up ?

And so I came down to San Diego in my old jalopy station wagon (which some admire as a classic by the way) on Friday, and slept in the back of the car to catch the 5:00 a.m. shuttle from Qualcomm stadium to the golf course. I wasn’t very excited about the prospect of a long line at Qualcomm Stadium for a 30 minute drive to the golf course, but it turned out to go relatively smoothly.

There was NO LINE at 5 a.m. and NO TRAFFIC either. I was feeling okay having started out prior to the shuttle with a bagel & coffee (or Americano) at the nearby Starbucks (even though the microwave oven was not “warmed up” so I couldn’t get a more desired breakfast sandwich and my bagel wasn’t toasted) . The BUS was almost full. We crossed over the San Diego River and past the EXIT for the MISSION DE ALCALA ( an old Catholic mission which I explored back around 2000 as I was getting oriented to southern Cal and ended up visiting all the old Catholic Missions from Southern to Northern Cal) and I noticed a sign for “Pottery Canyon” and told myself to check that out sometime. . We pulled up at Torrey Pines (by the glider port, which I am familiar with ) and stepped right off into the entrance.

The OTHER THING that I was disappointed with in advance was that NO CELL PHONES OR CAMERA PHONES OR ANY OTHER KIND OF CAMERAS were allowed. As some of you know, my BIG THING is broadcasting LIVE MOMENTS to my fans via my cam phone. I thought about sneaking my cam phone in with me but decided I didn’t want to RISK A BIG SCENE. We did have to go through metal detectors at QUALCOMM but I wonder if they were actually on. Anyways, I left my phone in the car and went “naked.” This also meant that I didn’t know the EXACT TIME since for many years now my cell phone has been my “watch.” I stopped wearing my watch ever since I was injured back on February 3, 2000.

Arriving at TORREY PINES I was handed the daily tee-off schedule and a MAP of the course. IT was NOT my first time in the area, but it was my first time on the golf course. Around the course is UCSD (University of San Diego), as well as SCRIPPS INSTITUTE (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scripps_Research_Institute )
and the SALK INSTITUTE and the GLIDERPORT (for hangliders above the ocean) as well as BLACKS BEACH (which used to be, and maybe still is, a clothing optional beach, at least partially).

It was a relatively long walk from the shuttle entrance to the 1st hole, but NO WORRY, we had plenty of time before the 8:30 a.m. tee-off time, the first pair of which included RYUJI IMAD from Japan & ANTHONY KIM from Dallas, TX, and then EVERY TEN MINUTES until 3:00 would be another pair, 40 PAIRS IN ALL, meaning, for those of you who can’t count, 80 GOLFERS made the cut, and ONLY A FEW BELOW PAR, including, of course, who else but TIGER WOODS. But TIGER WOODS would not tee-off until 2:50 p.m.

And by the way, I have NEVER SEEN SO MANY GROUNDSKEEPERS BUSILY AT WORK. We walked past the back of the SCRIPPS INSTITUTE as well as the HILTON HOTEL both of which look directly down upon the golf course. In fact part of the golf course goes right along a relatively industrial section of the SCRIPPS INSTITUTE, nothing beautiful.

Arriving at the first hole tee-off which is a stone throw away from the 18th green I noticed the merchandise pavilion which was not open yet and browsed around the area, also observing a tent entitled “U.S. OPEN EXPERIENCE.” (which turned out to be for American Express cardholders who wanted a complimentary handheld TV monitor to carry with them all day; I discarded my American Express Cards many years ago so I didn’t bother). I walked over to the practice area, where a few of the first golfers were already warming up, including JESPER PARNEVIK from Sweden and BOO WEEKLEY, an American from Florida, the second pair. As well as ANTHONY KIM, doing chip practice.

I browsed the list of golfers that made the Saturday cut, looking for familiar names. BOO WEEKLEY was slightly familiar. I had heard his name a few times in golf news. And there was VIJAY SINGH , more familiar to me, as well as JUSTIN HICKS, a new name to me, having made the news on the leaderboard the first day of the OPEN. I also recognized TREVOR IMMELMAN from SOUTH AFRICA, AND A FEW OTHERS.

GEOFF OGLIVY . Then of course, the second group of 20 HAD MORE FAMILIAR NAMES including PHIL MICKELSON, the hometown favorite from Rancho Santa Fe (a big fellow, dressed in black) , and there was JIM FURYK from FLORIDA (Florida apparently is a favorite transplant location for professional golfers). Another SOUTH AFRICAN, Retief Goosen, was familiar, and SCOTT VERPLANK AND THEN OF COURSE, ERNIE ELS & as well as DAVIS LOVE III and of course, last but not least TIGER WOODS and STUART APPLEBY. , among others.

I hoped to catch a glimpse of most of them throughout the day. When the merchandise pavilion opened I went in and a fellow at the door said, “I like your hat” (pointing at my “vintage” 1971 California Angels baseball cap) as he held out a merchandise bag for me to use. I thought they were free bags and said, “FREE BAGS ?” But I can assure you NOT MUCH, IF ANYTHING, WAS FREE at the U.S. OPEN.

EXCEPT AT IT TURNS OUT, I found a unopened granola bar on the ground by the 8th hole, that somebody must have dropped (which saved me $3 dollars, which would have bought a whole box of granola bars at the supermarket. But then neither food nor beverages were allowed to be carried in by spectators, so if you wanted to eat or drink at the U.S. OPEN, including, a simple glass of water, you had to BUY IT ! No, there were no drinking fountains either. The DUTCHMAN in me was a little disappointed, but I sucked it up and made it through the day without buying anything but a hot chocolate in the morning.

However, I also bought a VISOR and a LANYARD for $38 dollars total at the merchandise pavilion which sold a little bit of EVERYTHING with the words “108th U.S. OPEN at TORREY PINES” on it. I figured I would give the VISOR to Jim-dad for FATHERS DAY (which is today by the way,
HAPPY FATHERS DAY, 2008 !) and hang the lanyard up at ministry headquarters.

Unfortunately, this also meant I was stuck carrying a shopping bag around the rest of the day. By this time it was almost tee-off time and I ambled on over to the 1st tee and there was IMADA & KIM ready to go. I found a seat in the bleachers and waited expectantly. A kid from Washington D.C. and his girlfriend or wife sat next to me. A few moments later a fellow with an Angels cap sat in between me and the D.C. kid. The announcer said their names on the microphone at EXACTLY 8:30 a.m. and the 3RD ROUND OF THE 108Th U.S. OPEN was underway !

I wanted to see the WHOLE COURSE but didn’t know who I should follow. When the second pair came up, BOO WEEKLEY & JESPER PARNEVIK I decided to TAG ALONG. I could ROOT for the SOLE AMERICAN of the first four golfers, and the one name that I was slightly familiar with. Funny thing is, anytime BOO hit a good shot in addition to cheers there was a resounding round of ‘BOO” of course, because of his name. And BOO had a fairly good third round, AT least better than his partner, PARNEVIK who was having the DARNDEST TIME making even some of the easier putts.

By the way I also managed to have the PRESENCE OF MIND to say a few OPEN-EYE PRAYERS during the day, including prayers for JIM KOK, Dave Dejong, & Jeff Pettinga (according to my notes). May GOD be with them, and all others. I just randomly pray for persons who for one reason or another pop into my mind.

The 2nd hole is 389 yards. And both WEEKLEY &PARNEVIK (dressed in a combination of purple & lavender) both hit the green on their second shot, very close to each other. A squirrel suddenly appeared and sniffed the balls, then ran off. Then both of them both missed their first putt. They both made par.

On the 4th HOLE , which runs parallel to the PACIFIC OCEAN and looks down over the majestic sea, PARNEVIK “lipped” a putt, one of several close misses for Parnevik for the day.

Without my handy-dandy hand-held device that I not only use for pictures but also NOTE-TAKING I was left with only my magic marker and various pieces of paper, including a blank envelope that was my first notepad, but didn’t last very long. For the rest of the day I scribbled reminders on the course map as well as napkins I got at the concession stands.
8th hole: Both Weekly & Jespers hit the green.
On the 9th hole,WEEKLEY had a NICE 2ND SHOT, while PARNEVIK’s 2nd shot landed right next to me in the rough. I sat in the bleachers for a few moments on the 10th –beautiful 2nd shot by Parnevik. 11th hole Parnevik finally hit a putt.
12th Parnevik missed a putt again. 13th, Parnevik’s caddy was smoking a cigarette in the fairway while his boss made a nice shot to the green . 13th is a TOUGH one-WITH a ravine to the left, and down the hill and back UP again. It would be the DEMISE of MICKELSON later in the day. 14th- PARNEVIK nice second shot and hit the putt too. BOO was in the bunker. 11:45 a.m I’M WATCHING PARNEVIK and WEEKLEY on the 16th. BOO had a nice drive but missed the birdie putt. 12:10 p.m ?? . Caught a glimpse of AMES & IMMELMAN on the 7th
17th- NICE second shot by PARNEVIK and 18th BOO in bunker. 12:20 Saw CLARK & QUIGLEY on first tee THEN I MOVED OVER TOWARDS THE 6th FAIRWAY and sat in the grass for a while. I saw 12:30 6th green saw THOMPSON & LEONARD putt. 12:40 ? SAW mills & KUCHAR, saw MICHELSON & SCOTT again. On the 6th SOMEBODY yelled ‘YOU’RE THE MAN “ TO MICHELSON, , he missed a long putt.

AFTER RESTING MY LEGS FOR ABOUT AN HOUR, I moved back over towards the first tee, and alternated between the 1st tee & the 18th green for a while. People on the top of the bleachers overlooking the 18th green had a PERFECT vantage point for both the 1st tee-off as well as the 18th green, and some seemed to be “camping out” up there on top. Most of the bleachers had a continuous flow of people watching and moving on, but in some places people were staying there more than moving on. Most of the time I could find a place to see without sitting in the bleachers but when the TIGER CROWD came along there were times when I simply could NOT see the green at all. There were a lot of periscopes being used –very unique-I had never seen that before, and a few people in trees as well as people standing on various portable “benches” including milk cartons as well as the various types of portable fold-up chairs.

1:20 P.M watched STREELMAN tee off at 1st hole. 1:22 P.M. 18th green, VIJAY SINGH hits nice shot OVER THE POND. ALSO VILLEGAS from COLUMBIA teeing OFF I N PINK PANTS. 1;40 pm CAUGHT VERPLANK teeing off. 145 pm DANIEL CHOPRA from SWEDEN drops ball, nice recovery
18th hole but missed putt. 1:50 p.m. I Just missed the Robert Dinwiddie & Oliver Wilson tee off.

2 P.M. WATNEY & BREEM ending the day at 18th green. COLLINS from TEXAS with turquoise shirt, Carl Petterson from SWEDEN red shirt. Also saw HICKS & PEREZ on 18th green. 2:10 pm I DID manage to catch ELS (big fellow, ’94 & ’97 U.S. OPEN CHAMP ? ) & OGILVY (slim fellow) (2006 U.S. OPEN CHAMP ?) tee off . 2:20 watched LUKE DONALD on the 1st tee .

2:30 p.m (approx) MCGOWAN hit the water on the 18th—ACTUALLY caught the front edge of the green Which is just like hitting water, IT’S an incline BACK to the H20. 2:40 p.m. I watched TRAHAN & DAVIS LOVE tee off. I caught TIGER doing tee off practice for a few moments and then scrambled over to the 1st tee, along with the REST OF THE HUGE CROWD. TIGER was the 2000 and 2002 U.S. OPEN CHAMPION ?

5th—BOTH TIGER & KARLSSON missed close putts o n 5th. 6th KARLLSON HAD TO drop a ball. ?? 7th HOLE , TIGER’s TEE OFF in the rough. Then he corrected himself and BOTH TIGER & KARLSSON hit the green, near the same spot, but KARLLSON missed the putt WHILE WOODS made it. 8th-WOODS HITS GREEN, and just missed a birdie putt. While KARLSSON hits front rough edge of green. 9TH TIGER on green in two JUST MISSED EAGLE PUTT ? KARLSSON hits GREAT PUTT on the 11th.

11th HOLE ROCCO MEDIATE missed a birdie putt. APPLEBY is in the bunker. DAVIS LOVE nice green shot on 13th.

10th hole—TIGER & ROBERT KARLSSON his partner from Sweden BOTH hit same first shot, and TIGER misses a birdie putt

On the PAR 5 13th HOLE 1st TIGER hits a great SECOND shot to the GREEN and then TIGER EAGLE PUTTS the 13th ! IT’S A HUGE PUTT, A LONG ROLL FROM THE TOP TO THE BOTTOM . WOW ! The CROWD goes CRAZY, including ME ! Meanwhile, right behind TIGER was current leader ROCCO MEDIATE who proceeded to BOGEY the 13th.

I CAUGHT A glimpse of OGILVIE & ELS on the 14th. CAUGHT A glimpse of the golfer from COLUMBIA, VILLEGAS THE PRETTY BOY with PINK PANTS on THE 15TH. 15th ROCCO had a double bogey, with a shot OVER THE GREEN from right next to it. That was a big oops by ROCCO who was still leading at that point.

17th HOLE—TIGER WOODS hit to the right of the green, very close to where I was and suddenly there was a HUGE scramble by the spectators to HOVER over the ball, which was out-of-bounds. It was as if people thought they would get some sort of divine power just by being next to TIGER WOODS ball. And NOBODY WOULD MOVE AWAY.

A POLICE OFFICER PUSHED HIS WAY IN and started telling people to ‘MOVE BACK !” but people were not moving too fast. Slowly but surely, and grudgingly, people made space for TIGER to get in and take a shot . BUT that is one thing that stood out in my mind how some of the crowd had started to become increasingly rowdy or raucous towards the end as they followed TIGER, including a very UN-GENTLEMANLY shout BY a drunken spectator as TIGER was about to putt on the 18th.

But what CAME NEXT was what REALLY STOOD OUT ! I was below the hole to the right, and couldn’t see the green clearly but I knew TIGER was on the edge of the green to the left. I could see him take a swing, and the suddenly the CROWD ROARED ! He MADE IT ! I read later that it was a CHIP and that the ball hit the pin, and that TIGER, himself, said it was PURE LUCK. But luck or skill, it’s IN THE HOLE !

18TH HOLE – and just when we thought we had seen it all from Tiger Woods HERE COMES the par 5 18th hole ! Woods is on the green in two, lying nicely above the hole. He watches his partner

Karlsson miss the putt and learns from it. The crowd hushes, some drunken fool yells some expletives just before Tiger putts, but TIGER is UNPERTURBED and calmly taps the ball. It rolls slowly, and then breaks, just right, and GOES IN THE HOLE ! WOW ! ANOTHER EAGLE PUTT ! The crowd goes wild again, including me ! What a perfect ending to a great third round Saturday. Actually, Rocco Mediate & Stuart Appleby still had to finish, but that would be anti-climactic.

I watched ROCCO & APPLEBY finish and then began the long walk back to the SHUTTLE. My left leg was feeling the pain, but I made it and we were quickly ushered on to an awaiting shuttle and I was back at my car 30 minutes later. Fortunately, for me, the day was mostly overcast, and so I didn’t have any intense sunburn. The marine layer burned off later in the day.

SUNDAY, JUNE 15, 2008 I watched the news and checked updates the next day for 4th ROUND ACTION and really didn’t know what to expect. NOBODY was pulling ahead. But it is now 7:03 a.m (pst) on Monday, June 16, 2008 and apparently ROCCO & TIGER ended up in a tie, with TIGER, of course, making a CRUCIAL BIRDIE PUTT on the 18th, , meaning there will be an 18 HOLE PLAYOFF today !

Who WILL win the 108th U.S. OPEN AT TORREY PINES ! We WILL KNOW in a few hours ! Will TIGER’s KNEE HOLD UP ? Will 45-year-old ROCCO’s back give out ? Rocco has NEVER WON a major and this may be his last chance. Can he
HOLD OFF TIGER WOODS ? Or will TIGER, as usual, PREVAIL even with his bad knee ? STAY TUNED. It AIN’T OVER ‘TIL IT’S OVER as they say.

POSTLUDE:

IT IS NOW 3:00 p.m. on Monday, June 16, 2008 and the TOURNAMENT IS OVER ! It went BEYOND the 18th HOLE playoff to a 19th HOLE ! TIGER & ROCCO were tied at the 18th and so it went to SUDDEN DEATH on the 7th hole. And GUESS WHAT ? TIGER PULLED IT OFF, AGAIN ! HE made PAR on the 7th hole while ROCCO bogied. GAME OVER ! ROCCO did pretty good for a 45-year-old man, BUT not good enough as it turns out. TIGER WOODS is now only FOUR MAJORS AWAY from tying JACK NICKLAUS for most majors won.