Just a few notes after witnessing Tiger make history at Southern Hills….
Trying to watch Tiger Woods, you take your chances with regard to those enormous galleries. During his tournament-changing Friday round of 63, my wife and I got close-up views on No. 8 and No. 13, with no interest in being trampled by the hole-by-hole sprinters. We camped on our spots for nearly an hour to see him on those occasions so we wouldn’t be five or six people deep.
We found galleries full of polite folks as threesomes played through. Until Tiger arrived, that is, and then newcomers thought little of trying to wiggle directly in front of those already in place. A few found my sharp elbows. Oops.
Someone asked me before the tournament if I was considering writing a short story about great golf movies. Yes, it would have to be short. There’s “Tin Cup,” and how about “Caddyshack,” and some would say “Happy Gilmore,” and, well, once you realize you’ve begun considering “The Legend of Bagger Vance,” you start thinking there’s no story worth writing on this subject.
The pros as I saw them: great traffic control, the air-conditioned bus on the way into the course, water seeming like a bargain at $2.75, the absolute challenge of the Perry Maxwell course design – no tricks needed to make grown men cringe.
The bogeys: the bus with no air conditioning on the way out of the course, concession sandwiches and burgers that could kindly be described as lousy and cold at $6.75, the continued rudeness of course marshals to open the ropes and allow foot traffic between holes No. 9 and No. 18 while players were putting out not far away, caddies fruitlessly flailing their arms as if to say, “Hey, we’re working here!”
A final note: Tired and overheated, I got a good laugh for the drive home. Consider the irony of parking at Oral Roberts University, then returning to the car to find business cards, each advertising one free beer redeemable at a local strip joint, stuffed under the windshield wiper.
At least they didn’t advertise themselves as being the official gentleman’s club of ORU or the PGA.
