THE DREAM: Going to the US Open Golf Championship has been on my "some day" list for a long time. If you have played the game of golf, you appreciate the importance of the US Open. It is our National Championship. Professionals who have won it say "their lives changed forever." I not only dreamed of being at the Open, I wanted to do it with my son, Nolan.
When I learned that this year's tournament was to be played at Bethpage State Park, on Long Island, New York, I said this is the year. From Nolan's home it is about a two hour drive to Bethpage. I was able to secure tickets for the first day of the tournament; then it was just a matter of Nolan arranging his schedule. When you are the creative director of entertainment for a major theme park you can set your own schedule, so it is all go for the two of us.
THE PLAN: Stay the night before somewhere on Long Island so we have a short distance to travel early Thursday morning. Leave the motel at 6:00 AM for a 30 minute drive to the designated parking lot at Jones State Beach. There go through security and get on a bus for a 35 minute ride to the golf course. (It is already raining.) Upon arrival the first priority is breakfast and coffee. Second, check out who is on the practice range. (Who do we find there? The Tiger himself!) The third part of our plan is to get two to three holes ahead of Tiger (his tee time is 8:05), observe the groups ahead of him and his group then jump ahead again. And continue this until Tiger finishes and then watch as many as we can of the players who are to tee off in the afternoon. On our way to the #3 green it is really raining, the very hilly walkways for fans are muddy and slippery. But our plan is working - we are seeing some of the best players and a lot of Tiger. After we see them through #6 we head to the #9 green. While we are cutting through the woods the weather horn to halt play sounds. It is 10:30 AM. We are in a holding pattern. Now, there is no plan. Let's eat. Okay. Sit under a tree and wait. How long? There are 38,000 fans looking for eats, open merchandise, a dry place, rest room, & etc. About 1:00 PM we decide to head back the 2 1/2 miles to the club house. Play for the day is called off at 2:00. On our way out of the grounds we have the above picture taken and head to the bus. I hear one guy say to his buddy "this sucks," the reply is "it beats working and we saw Tiger." For Nolan and me it is even better than that. We really had fun. Next time maybe the sun will shine.
MEMORABLE MOMENT: If you have played golf on a limited budget, you may relate. Ever been out of tees with more holes to play or on the practice range with more balls to hit? If so, and if you are like Nolan and me, you looked around and found one on the ground, right? Well, we saw the #1 player in the world who earns millions of dollars do just that on the practice range in the rain. Nolan and I looked at each other and had to laugh.
Thanks Nolan for making the day very special.
