Tiger watching
Last week I attended 6 of the 7 days of the Bay Hill Invitational tournament in Orlando, which was a practice round, a Pro-Am and the 4 tournament days. I had a BLAST! I am also VERY thankful that with a lot of stretching and Ibuprofin my knee held up to all the walking (maybe I'm on the road to recovery). While my favorite part of watching pro golf live is still walking with players in small galleries, I must admit that by Sunday I did get a little caught up in Tiger-mania.
On Thursday I walked with Corey Pavin (2010 Ryder Cup captain) in an early group. He was getting out-driven by 20 to 50 yards on each hole but he made the cut. I saw Woody Austin put a ball in the water from 100 yards out and I saw Richard Johnson sprint off the course to the bathrooms only to return to a 100 yard pitch and hit it 80 yards fat. When Mark Calcavecchia went in the water off the tee on 6 he muttered to Marc Turnesa (also in the water) "let me hit again now while I'm hot"...
But those were the exceptions. Mostly there was a lot of amazingly good golf. I saw John Senden hit a sprinkler head and bounce over the grandstands. He took a free drop in thick rough behind the hole, then with astounding touch found a place to land the ball and let it roll down a slope from the first cut to the hole. The margin for error was almost nil - really an all-star par.
For a second year in a row I was standing in the right place at the right time and met Arnold Palmer. This year I was in the Mastercard pavilion waiting in line to hit the newest Callaway driver when we were told that Arnold would be making an appearance in 10 minutes with Jimmy Roberts doing an informal interview to promote Jimmy's new book. They did a nice 20 minute chat with a group of 50 or so and I got to hear the story of how Jason Gore went to Latrobe Country Club one day to meet Mr. Palmer and ended up deciding to become a professional golfer.
Saturday I camped out on the 6th hole, 4 groups ahead of Tiger to see him hit the big ball over water. Tim Herron was on 6 when Tiger and his gallery came by 4, the adjacent tee box. Tim's caddie looked at me and quipped "I wonder who they all came to see?". Tim had been waiting for the fairway to clear and was just ready to hit when Tiger arrived, he called over "Hey Tiger -- MY turn" and hit first. I can see why, after Tiger hits his gallery immediately begins to swarm away and makes a lot of commotion. By the time Tiger got to 6 there was a mob standing behind me. Steve Williams went to get some water and in a very nice gesture pulled an extra water out of the players cooler and gave it to a young boy who had been waiting with me at the ropes. Instead of a 335 yard bomb, Tiger hit a safe 300 yard shot away from the edge of the water. I backtracked to find the leaders playing with essentially no gallery and walked along with Sean O'Hair and Roger Maltby in relative quiet for the rest of the day.
Sunday brought rain all morning, some heavy -- so when I arrived on the course at 2:30 Tiger had not even tee'd off. With a 5 shot deficit to Sean O'Hair I expected little excitement and planned my day around seeing Tiger up close a few times and then following smaller galleries, maybe even leaving early if Sean had increased his lead -- little did I know... After watching a few of the first groups hit off 7 I walked to 3 to stake out a place behind the tee. When Tiger walked up 2 it was clear that his gallery was HUGE. The extra people meant I could no longer see #2 green from the #3 tee box - but when the roar went up I could guess a Tiger birdie had cut the lead to 4 strokes. I was able to get a great look at Tiger drawing a three wood to the center of the fairway before O'Hair put his ball off to the right. Tiger's gallery now filled the entire 400+ yards of the 3rd hole at least 10 people deep in most places. I walked across the old railway bridge from 3 to 7 tee to wait for the group there, as O'Hair/Woods went Bogey/Birdie to cut the lead to 2, but by the time I saw a scoreboard Tiger had bogeyed 4, giving O'Hair back a margin of 3 shots.
When Tiger stepped onto 7, the lead was still 3 and I watched Tiger, O'Hair and Zach Johnson all hit the green. As I walked over to the 8th fairway I heard the roar as Tiger birdied and O'Hair bogeyed - a two shot swing, and the lead is now only 1 stroke! I had picked the right place on 8 and watched Tiger's ball land a few yards away, then watched Tiger and Zach miss the green with O'Hair making a nice approach. Tiger and Sean traded pars there and I headed for the back nine to find a new place to wait.
Walking up #1 I towards the clubhouse I struck up a conversation with a few other people who were also trying to see Tiger without battling his gallery. When I asked where they were heading one kid told me he knew a perfect place to watch on 18, did I want him to show me? I skeptically asked how that could be, since I was SURE all the good places around 18 were long gone at this point. He said his name was CJ and he LIVED in the house next to the 18th green - for $10 he'd SELL me a seat in his backyard! Still suspecting a scam I said OK, lets go see. He took me out the back gate, just down the road and we jumped a fence to get into a yard - right next to the VIP stands and shotlink tower at 18 green. Sure enough he had a row of 20 seats, at this point all empty. I gave him the $10 and claimed a seat greenside, directly behind the hole and barely 20 yards away. In the next 2 hours CJ sold a few hundred more passes to his backyard (later in the day he dropped the price to $5 but I didn't mind) and he began to sell drinks too. I'm sure he cleared several thousand in cash by the time he was done - he even had one guy insisting on getting a written promise for a seat there next year.
At this point all I could do was watch the groups play up, and watch the leader board. More than a few people were in the water or in the rocks and no one made a putt. O'Hair kept a one shot lead for a while, but then the board posted them tie and 15... then Tiger AHEAD at 16. I figured I'd just missed the come-back sitting on the 18th green (but at least I had a GOOD seat). But before we saw the final group coming up 18 and before the scores from 17 were posted a lady in the, now large, crowd standing behind me said "it's TIE, it's TIE, my son just texted me that Tiger bogeyed 17!"
WOW... so it was coming down to 18 and I was in the right place! Tiger comes up hole high and left with Sean right at the pin and long - both putting for makable birdies. Sean leaves his birdie putt well short and Tiger steps up to do what seems both improbable and inevitable... he sinks the putt, pumps his fist and hugs Steve with force as he wins again. I guess HIS knee is OK now.
This faked souvenir picture is oddly pretty close to where I was actually sitting. To give a little idea, this picture ALMOST shows me in frame. To the far right you can just make out three red shirts - those are the volunteers who snuck in below the shotlink tower. I am just to their right and out of the frame here.
FAIL
wow this is funny. find more like this at http://failblog.org/
Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill
For the third year in a row I've been able to go to Bay Hill in Orlando to see the Arnold Palmer invitational golf tournament. This year Tammy got me a full week grounds pass so I've been to a practice round and taken Kirsten to the Pro-Am tournament.
The practice round was harder to follow than a tournament because there's not much info about who is on the course or where they are, so it was a bit random following players. Most players I saw practice alone (with a caddie and a coach) but there were a few in groups of two or three with just caddies and no coaches. The most notable player I found on the course was Angel Cabrera. I spent most of my time on the practice tee being amazed at how effortless, how consistently, and how far those guys hit. I was able to stand at the fence just a few feet away from Ted Purdy as he hit wedges. I also sat for a while in a corner where FootJoy was taping endorsements and Golf Digest was shooting pictures. Billy Mayfair loves his FootJoys and Golf Digest has a ton of headshots of Rocco Mediate. Golf Digest also posed and shot pictures of Boo Weekly's golf bag. Halfway through, Boo came over and said "don't you want pictures of the clubs I'm actually playing?" They had to swap several clubs and start over - I'm guessing it's for the regular feature "What's in the bag?".
For the Pro-Am Kirsten came along so we did not stay so long. We got to see Charles Howell and Bubba Watson hit over the water on #6. We overheard Charles say that on a day with the wind dead behind them he had seen Hank Kuehne cut the whole lake and hit the green from the tee! That's a carry of 340 yards.
After watching a few groups tee off 6 we walked back towards 1 and saw Woody Austin, Stephen Ames, Ben Curtis and Padraig Harrington. After that we waited a little and saw a pro-am group made up of Arnold Palmer, Tom Ridge and Bobbie Orr. Ridge and Orr were both very good golfers. The gallery was interesting since Palmer was declining autographs until after the round but Orr and Ridge were both posing for pictures and signing autographs. After following two holes Kirsten ran out of steam so we headed home. On the way out I saw Harrington sign two autographs for small kids inside the ropes - nice of him.
Time of Knee'd
As with many things new to me, I quickly find out that others have
BTDT. Two weeks ago my chronic knee pain progressed from mild to acute
and after hobbling around for a while I went to a doctor. In the hope
of finding a fix for this, I've been talking to anyone who will listen
to me in an attempt to learnt how to address knee pain. Yesterday it
dawned on me that I've heard quite a lot of varied advice. It seems
almost every third person I meet has knee pain (or some kind of joint
pain)... I thought maybe I'd compile what I've heard so far and maybe
get some comments and new info.
To start... my symptoms were pain and stiffness on the inner part of my
right knee. Stiffness would occur after sitting at a desk or
driving,and the pain would happen the day after exercise - eg walking
several miles. Once the pain progressed to acute I could not walk at
all in the morning (until my knee stretched out) and I could not walk
more than 100 yards at one time without sharp pain starting again.
The anecdotal diagnosis from people I spoke to were: a medial ligament, or a tendon issue. And the first suggestions were:
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Ice after activity
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Ibuprofin before and after activity
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A knee brace during activity
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Strengthening exercises
The doctor took X-rays and examined the knee. His diagnosis was early
signs of osteo-arthritis (actually not unusual amounts for my age) and
a possible tear of the meniscus.
His suggestion was to reduce my activity level,and once the pain
diminishes to do stretching and strengthening exercises --then
gradually attempt to increase activity again. To help, he injected my
knee with something (a corticosteroid I believe). However, he warned me
the the shot was temporary.
Well, the shot worked wonders! The acute pain was gone within hours and
4 days later the knee is better than it's been in years. The stretching
exercises seem to help a lot, however the strengthening exercises seem
to be designed for someone about 80 years old - so it's unclear what
they are really strengthening. Today I find myself wondering what will
happen when the magic shot wears off and what I can do short term and
long term. Here's the rest of the advice I've gotten so far from all
sources...
Some experience of others...
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Give the knee rest for 6 months and it may heal by itself
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Have surgery to remove the damaged part of the meniscus
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Don't over-do it based on the shot, use moderation in activity or pain will return fast
And the advice...
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Get a brace with magnets
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Get a brace with lateral supports
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Make sure I walk correctly heal to toe, and symmetrically
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Don't walk on hard surfaces (eg grass, not concrete)
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Take glucosamin
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Find a doctor who will shoot me up again when it hurts
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Don't get shot up again it's bad for me
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Change my diet - the acid in citrus is bad for my joints
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Use heat after activity
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Lose weight to reduce load on the knee
Well... that's all I've got for now. Time to do my knee exercises! More
ideas are welcome (no guarantee I'll take the advice, but the more
ideas I get the better).
Muppet Presentation at Hollywood Studios
As Disney season passholders we got to attend (along with several hundred other passholders) a special presentation today at Hollywood Studios. The main speaker had compiled video clips documenting the history of the Muppets from Jim Henson's earliest TV projects in the 1950's up until the 1990's (shortly after Jim's death.) It was, as expected, very funny, informative and fascinating to see how a group of grown men and women took some Muppets (marionette-puppets) and fashioned a whole entertainment industry out of them.
Part of the presentation was given by David Goelz who is the puppeteer for Gonzo. He has been with the Muppet organization since the 1970's and has a long history with Jim Henson. Included in the audience was Jim's daughter, Heather, who gave a little insight as to what is was like growing up on the Muppets set (which I didn't know was in London.)
After the presentation there was a question and answer period and then a Muppet trivia contest. Some people in the audience were some real die-hard muppet fans asking detailed questions about the Muppets. I don't remember really watching the Muppets (the show started broadcasting on TV in 1976) and didn't even know if they were still around. (They are - not on TV, but in movies and merchandising.)
Through the majority of the trivia contest I sat there never raising my hand. Who knows all this stuff about the Muppets? Things like Gonzo's girlfriend's name, the names of the scientists in the lab, the first time the Muppets were on national TV, but I tell you - this audience knew it all. Then they asked the question, "Which guest actress that appeared on the Muppets had won a Tony and Oscar and an Emmy?" Would you believe I knew that one and nobody else did? Scored myself a limited edition Muppet 50th anniversary pin, which actually means something to me because we have become amateur pin traders since we have been frequenting Disney.
So now my visit was complete. But in true Disney fashion, they had one more surprise. As we left we got to take our picture with Gonzo and David Goelz. If I knew how to post that to our website I would, but I don't, so you'll just have to ask me to see it.
