Another day at the Open

Back for the final round

My Goddaughter Marisa came up with tickets and took me to the Open for Father's Day.  I decided that this godfather gig is a pretty good deal. All the good stuff about having a daughter and none of the worries.

Els missing putt on 14

Very different conditions from yesterday.  Cold, wind;damp and fog - which is to say - normal San Francisco summer weather.  Marisa wanted pictures of Tiger.

Marisa and Tiger on 5th tee

I'm not sure why - Tiger had already dropped 4 additional strokes by the time we saw him on the 5th tee. He was not even doing as well as Beau - the seventeen year old high school phenom who briefly led the Open on Friday.

Marisa and Beau on 5th tee

We eventually made it to the 14th green grandstands for more Tiger.

More Tiger

Furyk had not completely blown it yet when we saw the leaders at 14...

Marisa, Furyk and McDowell

I still can't believe that Furyk blew it. He folded like cheap suit. He choked like a 30 handicap with a Benjamin on the line. He folded like a lawn chair. Whatever. It was a fun day. 


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A Day at The Open

US Open - Olympic Club

And what a day it was! Perfect weather, great golf, and a beautiful course. Phones and cameras were not allowed on the course, so I painted these images in watercolor from memory after I got home.

18th Green

18th Fairway

Final group (Woods and Furyk) approach 18

Tiger bogies, Furyk leads

As always, departure on shuttles was a bit of a zoo

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Off to the show

Look for me on to TV.  I'll be wearing a black golf cap.

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We should have left earlier - US OPEN parking shuttle screw-up

The line for the buses to get to the parking lot. You'd think The Open would have figured out a better system. Or at least get enough buses.

UPDATE:

Over two hours later, it was dark, it was getting cold and we we were still in that line. There were periods of time with many thousands in line that only one bus with a capacity of about 50 people was loading. There was extended periods of time where there were NO BUSES LOADING.

No general attendance spectator had any choice but to park in the spectators lot and take the shuttle buses. Everyone you see in this picture paid $110-$175 for the privilege of walking the course and watching the US Open for a day. Paying that much for ticket, we have a right to expect to be treated better than this and find a competent operation for getting us to and from the course.

The organizers know how many tickets they sold. They know it was a sellout. They knew how many cars were in the spectator lot. They knew exactly how big a "corral" they needed to build to manage a line of this size.

So how is that no one could figure out how many friggin' buses they needed?

What a colossal cock-up. It left a bad taste after an otherwise fine day at the Open.

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Tiger misses short birdie putt on 17

One of the pleasures of the Open is watching a train wreck hole. 17 is a train wreck hole. Watched Rollins come to the hole in the lead and post a triple bogey. Even Els doubled to fall back to 2 over with Tiger.

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On the 4th tee at the Open

Watson and Macilroy watch Ishikawa's tee shot.  Watson has been playing golf for longer than the ages of his playing partners put together.

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5th green - US Open

Ernie misses his birdie, settles for par. Tiger pars. Westwood has a bit of bad luck - a gust knocked his tee shot into the trap - bad out - 3 putt doible.

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At the US Open

Watched the leaders on 15, Weir and Choi at 2 and 3 under. Chai dropped a stroke. 

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