After picking up Preston's buddy, Mitch, the three of us joined more than 2,000 volunteers (myself included - I'm planning to help out in the media/player mixed zone on Saturday and Sunday), several thousand spectators and around 156 of the world's best golfers over 50 at a beautiful Pacific Northwest golf course.
Of all the sporting events I've attended over the years, golf is probably the most under-represented. I attended a Senior Tour event in Charlotte back in the mid-1990's. And, I was local media coordinator for a LPGA event when I worked at Raycom Sports around that same time. That's about it, other than a number of college golf tournaments over the years (which brings back memories of typing results, scorecards and pairing sheets on an IBM Selectric as an intern at Houston about 20-something years ago - ugh).
This morning, though, as soon as I made my way to the course I was impressed. The course was beautiful. The crowd was respectful (and large, I might add). And the golfers were entertaining. They engaged with the crowd, made a few jokes and surely made a few new fans along the way.
I spent some time following two specific and popular threesomes: 1) Tom Watson, Eduardo Romero and Fred Couples; and 2) Tom Kite, Loren Roberts and Ben Crenshaw. How about that for some of the greatest names in golf history? What a fun time watching those guys play.
I also got a kick out of seeing Hal Sutton, Joey Sindelar, Mark Calcavecchia, Corey Pavin, Bernhard Langer and several other greats. I also enjoyed exposing Preston and Mitch to some of the great golfers in the game's long history. Hopefully the experience will be memorable for them.
It was for me.
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