Golf

Sunday at the US Women's Open

After having such a spectacular day on Saturday, I knew it was going to be tough for Sunday to live up to the expectations. Still, I loaded up my iPod and headed off to Pine Needles.

• I arrived at Pine Needles around 11:00. Figuring that I’d be near the time that Paula Creamer was going off, I made my way to the entrance and grabbed a pairings sheet.
• The pairings showed that I had about 20 minutes before Paul Creamer was set to tee off, so I made my way to the “18th Hole” bus and headed over to the corner by the 18th Hole & Hole #1.
• I walked over to the range to see if Brittany Lincicome was hitting, since she had been leading the tournament in driving distance, however she must have been doing something else to prepare for her round.
• I made it to the first tee just as Paula was giving her mother a quick hug and then walking over to the first tee, signing autographs along the way (something that you’d never see the pros on the men’s tour doing).

• The gallery following Paula was quite large, which was to be expected, and I made some idle chatter with the police officer following her, since the officer recognized me from the previous day.
• ‘I followed Paula through the first hole, but then secured a good spot on the second tee to watch Brittany hit her drive. It was a good decision on my part, as she absolutely crushed the ball.
• I walked ahead to watch Paula some, but found myself falling back to watch Brittany as she was having a tremendous round birdieing the first 3 holes and playing some excellent golf.
• I ended up floating between groups, spending more time following Brittany’s group as the time went on, since she was playing better and Paula’s gallery was three to four times larger.
• At the 15th hole, I decided I had enough golf for the day, and headed into the merchandise tent to pick up some gifts for my father and my sister (a hat and a t-shirt, respectively) and decided that my weekend at Pine Needles had come to an end.

Overall, I had a blast Pine Needles. It was a laid back yet energetic environment that was a great place to watch golf. Aside from the overt rudeness of the NBC television employees, my complaint list is pretty much empty. Thanks to the LPGA and the USGA for putting on such a quality event.

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