Tuesday, July 27th
Same schedule as Monday with a similar tee time for a practice round, this time nine holes off the front. Pick up caddie at 9am and once again drive around the road closed signs and the state troopers and into player parking next to the clubhouse. I don't think that would ever get old!
Walk into player dining and 90 seconds later we are chowing down on an excellent breakfast. Such a great time saver. Another range session followed by time on the putting green with my Eyeline putting mirror. This $35 training aid has been instrumental in me finally becoming a good putter.
I then make the 10 minute drive back to the hotel to pick up my parents. They had their own car and could have driven but it's just so much easier to haul them right to the clubhouse instead of parking miles away and having to take a shuttle. Meet my caddie for a light lunch before we play and watch my parents eat more food for lunch than they do over a 3 day span.
Before heading out on the course stop by my locker for some more pellets. Titleist hooked me up for the week with 3 dozen balls, 4 gloves, and 2 hats. Standard for a tour event but still nice.
Walk on the first tee just after 1 looking forward to playing with Fred Funk and Marco Dawson, but they are nowhere to be found. USGA official says they already teed off and I am now currently a single. Just fine by me, can spend the nine just doing whatever needs to be done and since I've already seen this side I can study all the minute details.
Then I hear a voice from behind inquiring about getting out for nine holes. Turn around I find myself a couple of feet from Colin Montgomerie. Official tells him than I'm just a single and that it's OK if he joins me. Monty looks at the official and says that he's heard the rumors about me but he'll still give it a go. Hilarious.
At tee time the USGA official announces my name and hometown and the spectators applaud politely. I manage to find the fairway. Then the official announces Monty and the spectators applaud significantly louder. He finds the fairway and next thing I know I'm strolling down #1 chatting it up with an 8-time Ryder Cupper.
There are a surprising amount of people following our group, especially for a Tuesday practice round. And cell phones were constantly raised from them taking pics or videos, mostly of Monty. But he couldn't have been nicer to me, my caddie, or the fans. On #2, a lake to the right of the fairways squeezes off where spectators can walk and so the marshals rope it off while we are playing our second shots.
While waiting for the group in front, Monty notices the fans are a good 50 yards farther back than they would like to be. So he tells the marshal that it's OK to let them through and come up farther so they can see. The marshal is dubious but Monty says, "don't worry, we won't hit them". Just a simple, nice gesture that didn't bother us in the least.
Monty's home course is Royal Troon in Scotland, a course that I've played, so we talked about that in detail for a while. He asked about other Scottish courses I played so we had some good common ground there.
Nine holes lasted at least 2.5 hours and good work was accomplished. We shook hands at the end, wished each other good luck this week, and went on our separate ways. Of course we paid attention to how he was playing throughout the week and rooted for him.
Parents got a few pics of the two of us walking and talking and discussed things in detail while cooling down in player hospitality. Left the course a little earlier than the day before and we were able to clean up before dinner. We are certainly not pushing the envelope in terms of work, but are still at the course for at least 8 hours a day. Make no mistake, this is certainly a ton of fun, but we are also working very, very hard. It's not easy both physically or mentally. But very rewarding.
Cliffs, played a leisurely nine holes.