Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Tiger and Me

At the last US Open held in Pinehurst way back when in 2005, my wife and I were locals with me having lived there for 6 years at the time. We weren't even married yet, blissfully living in sin. It was a good home and a place we will get back to permanently before it's all said and done. Yeah, we love us some Pinehurst and miss it dearly. The entire Danimal clan will be piling into the Honda and head up I-95 early Wednesday morning to reunite with some peeps and watch some gawf, but mostly reunite with peeps.

At the last US Open, I was able to get my then 16-year old nephew a standard bearer gig. When he wasn't walking the fairways he was with me and fogtb, Corey P. partaking in the festivities. Watching golf on TV is something I rarely do unless it's a major or if Tiger is contention. Shocking, I know. But watching live, especially a major like the Masters or the US Open is just riveting to me. Getting to spots where you are up close and just feet away from insert any pro's name here is just awesome. It's not being next to the guy, it's seeing what he does and how he does it. The "these guys are good" campaign is such an understatement. If you've never stood close to a Professional golfer and seen a tricky shot, or a yawner of a 100-yard sand wedge, executed up close and personal, you're missing out.

So back in '05, my pal and I are imbibing along the 18th fairway, right side, near the landing area of the drive. We had spent a good 90 minutes there, strategically situated next to a beer tent and in the shade. My nephew is there too after having beared his standard for some young up and comers. A ball lands way right and we see it immediately and head on over. From where we were, we couldn't see who hit the drive but we knew there was a 33% chance it was Tiger.

Sure enough....'twas Tiger. So having done this a few times before, I knew where we had to position ourselves before the masses arrived and we did. My nephew sent this pic to me today on Twitter....

"The photographer must have been standing right beside us when he took this pic. Remember this ?"


A large portion of that dirt landed on my and my nephew's shirt, which was a Jeff Spiccoli kind of awesome. But to watch Tiger get to his ball, assess the situation as he did while not hearing or seeing one other person around him other than his caddie, talk it out with him for minutes, then to execute the shot which was hard times 10 (you can't see the tree and branches he has to navigate around/through/under) EXACTLY as they'd discussed WHILE hitting it so square in this god awful lie, and then  proceed to the next shot as if he just finished tying his shoes....it just doesn't get old people.

It's unfortunate that Tiger won't be in the Sandhills this weekend, but we will.

43 comments:

Danimal said...

And should there be any Cigar Aficionado readers out there, there may be a few quotes in the article on Pinehurst by someone you know here at GTB. Larry Olmsted is the writer.

rob said...

at a board meeting for our soccer club last night, the president of the washington cricket league gave a presentation in hopes of developing a partnership with us for field use. he gave us hats. the initials of their club are close to home for one of us, which makes the hat a keeper for me.

Mr KQ said...

Cool story. Have played #2 a couple times and stayed at The Carolina. Doesnt get a whole lot better. Probably had one of your caddies, that fella sure did earn his 5 bucks that day.

mayhugh said...

The drives are the most impressive thing to me. I am not by any means a big hitter, nor do I play with many, but it is amazing to see a straight 300 yard drive person. It almost looks like it was fired out of a cannon. So who should be the favorite this weekend for this weekend?

Whitney said...

Nice post, Danny Boy.

And Washington Cricket League... hmmm...

Danimal said...

Would love to see a Spieth vs Rors shootout. Regardless who it is, this should be a terrific Open to watch, very unique with the renovation a few years ago. This will be the first rough-less US Open ever and the course will be playing very hard & fast. Our guy on the ground there was invited to play with Mahan a couple of weeks ago and is walking with Justin Rose today for the 2nd time at Justin's request. The local knowledge factor here around and on the greens is more valuable than usual. If anyone can scoot down, you should. You'd need a place to stay but I might know someone with some tix. Fogtb Buckles will be in tow.

KQ said...

Hey Mr KQ, where's the pool? The cougars want to play.

KQ said...

I just made that way too easy for all of you.

Danimal said...

Thanks Whit. Long time no talk. Haven't seen you round these parts in a while.

rob said...

best comment combining clarence's 6/9 theme and kq's playful cougars comment wins a prize.

Clarence said...

Rob, don't be juvenile.

Avetts played here Sunday. I missed them, sadly. But apparently they did a great rendition (as always) of "Head Full Of Doubt / Road Full Of Promise."

You might be familiar with the Random Idiots tune "Pool Full of Cougars / Face Full of Junk"

Shlara said...

Danimal--I love this story!

zman said...

I'll take the cougars straight up against the spread.

zman said...

I just spent 5 minutes explaining how to install an EZPass tag to my boss.

rob said...

that's some next-level innuendo right there, zman. ezpass, indeed.

rob said...

teej/marls, remember when we went to see w&m play college of charleston in the first round of the caa tournament? the tribe really licked the cougars that night, didn't they?

Danimal said...

Thanks Shlara! I just hope the teej approves of the tags.

Danimal said...

tags, labels, whatever

T.J. said...

danimal, those are gold star-worthy tags

Dave said...

to whom who did you explain how to install an EZpass tag to your boss?

Mr KQ said...

Zwins

Mr KQ said...

And a Pinehurst road trip sounds like the perfect father's day gift, right KQugar?

rob said...

delaware just dismissed jarvis threatt from their hoops team. the same threatt without whom the hens don't beat w&m in the caa final. i smell a foul smelling thing.

TR said...

The fat guy Baptiste killed us in the first half of that game. If Shaver wanted to guard the 6-9 dude in the paint at all in the first half, it would've been a different game.

Clarence said...

Rob, who won the prize?

Mr KQ said...

Rob, Morrissey just announced at The Lincoln on the 25th, any interest? It ain't cheap, and may already be sold out. I'd look but am bellied up.

Clarence said...

Saw Morrissey 6 or 7 years ago. Pretty damn good, whatever people's opinion of his personality.

rob said...

tr, nobody here is interested in facts.

and i won, clarence.

Clarence said...

Ok. I thought I was the only one actually playing by your rules.

rob said...

on vacation that day, or i'd be all over that, mr kq.

Clarence said...

Truckers tonight, Z. Bellying up in a few. Lookout, mountain.

zman said...

It's like the dragon's side of the story isn't tols

zman said...

Or told.

zman said...

I totally played by the rules. I even cited the spread.

zman said...

Sorry Dave. I told my boss how to install an EZPass and he asked questions about the process for five minutes.

Mark said...

Cantor lost the primary in VA? Anybody check on Geoff?

rob said...

wife sent me this text a few hours ago:

They're doing a mock cannon fire at the fair, and a kid just gave the order: "Thrust home your wad"

zman said...

Well did she?

rob said...

so, um, miami?

zman said...

So Miami?

Shlara said...

Between this game and the VA primaries my twitter feed sounds like the three faces of eve

Shlara said...

oh, and this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w59e20ijOpE#t=328

Marls said...

I don't know anybody from Miami, but I hate everybody from Miami. Fuck you you white out mo fo's.

Go chicken fat go.