LG brought up a good point that those Pro Am scores were probably Pro Am team scores aided by the amateur handicaps. I think that's probably the case. The pros were still playiing from the tips so even with the generous pin positions, I couldn't imagine scores like that. The course is running fast with all of the great weather the past few days. Ernie says it's quicker than last year so I couldn't believe those scores.
Hey Vic, once again nice pics. What brand of digi. are you using if I may ask. If not it's cool. It was nice while it lasted.
You mentioned that you were dissapointed about Dean Wilson not playing, I just saw his name on the leaderboard at 3 under on the 7th. I could be wrong, but his name is on the board, due to error perhaps?
He is right behind Jonathan Kaye who is showing that he has game and has what it takes to stay up. I have not heard or seen too much about Kaye until the middle of last year, but the young buck is showing his impressive skills and making a name for himself. He also played well on the Mercedes.
Shank1, I was notified that he was in the field by a friend a while ago, and I didn't know he was in either. Good to see that he did get in at the last moment and he's making the most of it.
Well, I went back to the Sony Open today, this time without a camera in hand. It's a Canon Powershot Elph S400 BTW. It has 3X optical zoom so that helped make it look like I was closer than I actually was. There's also digital zoom but I don't like to use it.
I had places to be in the morning and ate lunch at 11:30. At around 1, I headed to the course. I knew Michelle was teeing off on #10 so she would be on #7 or so when I got there. There's a side entrance around there so I walked right in and Michelle was teeing off on #6 so it was perfect timing. I knew it wasn't looking good when she was last to hit.
It's been reported there were around 3,000 people following her today. I can tell you this. You could cut the tension with a knife. I heard people murmuring, "if she makes a birdie, remember to cheer as loud as you can." I asked someone what she was at and he told me... "5 over." At that point, I started to join in with the sentiment thinking, "come on, you better hit this green... come on, you have to make this putt." I knew she could still bring it back since #9 is a good birdie hole. If she could just birdie 6, 7 or 8, she could get it back to 3 over. She had good chances on 6, 7 and 9 but couldn't convert and parred her last 4 holes. I guess she had about a 5 hole stretch where she shot 5 over.
On #8 (her 17th hole), I was standing behind the green and David Leadbetter came up right next to me. He asked me, "how is she doing?" I told him, "she's in the left side rough." Her tee shot drawed too much. She hit her tee shot in the greenside rough and hit her second shot in a greenside bunker. She hit a great sand shot and Michelle's mom ran up to Leadbetter and let out a sigh of relief as he patted her on the back.
The winds were strong today with some even stronger gusts. It looks like if the cut line was today, it would be around +1 or +2. At the same time, strong winds aren't uncommon here in Hawaii so I would think Michelle would have practiced in those conditions. In any case, I'll probably follow her for much of her 18 holes tomorrow just to cheer her on. I suspected she wouldn't make the cut and now it's clear she probably won't.
After I followed her, I moved to the par 3 8th hole and watched the action there. I saw a few groups pass through. Tom Lehman hit his tee shot up against the skybox. It was funny hearing their reactions as they saw the ball coming. Nothing really spectacular to report as hitting the green on a 188 yard par 3 is pretty routine for these guys. Then I noticed Dean Wilson's name on the scoreboard so I tried to track him down.
It was great seeing him play and great seeing Mark caddy for him. He was at -3 when I saw his name on the leaderboard but I guess he double bogeyed to get to -1. It was a pretty uneventful day since I wasn't on any type of "mission" but it was nice getting to sit back and take all of the action in for a change.
Wow, great report Victory, as usual. Leadbetter asking you how she was doing had to be the highlight to me. Sounded like you were a real genuine reporter there. Tomorrow you should wear an "I Love Golf Rewind" shirt or something so we can pick you out of the crowd, and maybe even give us a little pub while doing so.
Wow, great report Victory, as usual. Leadbetter asking you how she was doing had to be the highlight to me. Sounded like you were a real genuine reporter there. Tomorrow you should wear an "I Love Golf Rewind" shirt or something so we can pick you out of the crowd, and maybe even give us a little pub while doing so.
I should have tried to barter free golf lessons for my "assessment" on Michelle's game.
victory: what kind of ball trajectory does she normally hit with the driver and irons? thanks
She usually hits a pretty low trajectory. This is the case with her tee shots. I've seen her play with Cink, Els and Rose and her tee shots were lower than all of theirs. There was some wind and she was trying to keep it down so that might be the case but in general, her trajectory is lower than the other guys on Tour.
January 13th, 2005, 01:51 PM
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