Sunday at The Players Championship
Yesterday, I attended my first professional golf tournament -- The Players Championship. For a good, comprehensive recap you would do well to review the material from The PGA Tour. The hometown paper covered it nicely, too. The grounds were beautiful, the winds were incredible, the threat of rain never really materialized, and the Sun finally splashed all over creation and it was Florida hot, baby bubba! Sergio Garcia was a very deserving champion.
A write-up in the Orlando Sentinel seemed quite accurate to me:
With scary-fast winds that reached 40 mph or higher, Garcia's win came on a par-72 TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course that played at the caliber of a major.
Garcia confronted the weather and anyone in his way, finally crumbling to emotion and tears after he left the 17th green on his way to pick up his crystal.
Sergio!
The personal story of this tournament for me, however, will be the frustration of not being able to experience the event how I would like to have been able to experience it. My wife secured the tickets through an acquaintance. She wasn't sure she wanted to attend but saw how excited I was at the prospect and that clinched it for her. We invited another couple. And . . . the two wives entered the Benefactor Pavilion overlooking the 17th tee and never left it.
Not once.
They saw nothing of the course except what could be observed from the pavilion. We two men did get around a bit and watched some of the action, up close and personal. At the 18th green sometime in the afternoon, a young female excitedly announced that Tim Tebow had arrived (that guy is an absolute rock star in Jacksonville!) and sure enough, there he was being escorted by some Sheriff's deputies through the crowd.
I began the day desiring to follow Anthony Kim, but then was advised that he had crashed on Saturday and was not in contention. I quickly switched my intended focus to Sergio Garcia. I saw none of him, however. Once it became clear the women weren't overly impressed with the prospect of walking around in the Sun and would not leave the pavilion under any circumstances, it became crystal clear I would also need to leave before the tournament concluded just to avoid the crowds and the wrath of a non-sports fan who couldn't easily and quickly get back on the road home to Tallahassee.
The upshot? Yes, I missed all of the concluding drama at the 17th!
And we had an absolutely perfect spot to view all of the action, too. If you're supposing I'm very frustrated over this outcome you're right. Somehow I knew that would happen, though, so I can't complain. I also won't complain over the fact that I have no pictures. They (the PGA Tour folks) disallowed all cell phones from the grounds and cameras as well. So it goes, I guess. I am convinced, however, that I'll have to return sometime during the year to TPC Sawgrass and have a meal along with the tour they offer of the 16th, 17th, and 18th holes. The clubhouse looked magnificent from afar and I'd like to see how they present their tour material.
It was great to be back in Jacksonville and interesting to see all of the growth around the University of North Florida.
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