My Final Round

There aren't too many people that I would (a) Drive 60 miles to see (b) walk for 4 hours through the hot sun for and (c) walk 6,596 yards for 4 hours through the hot sun after driving 60 miles to hang with. One of them was playing golf at Bulle Rock today, and even though Paula Creamer couldn't find her putter, it was still a great day for golf.

It started early. I watched a few of the Plus three's tee off - Michelle Wie, Lorie Kane and Brittany Lang, then I headed for the best spot on the golf course; the hill that overlooks the 4th hole, 5th tee, 6th green, 7th and 8th holes. It's a great spot that fills up quickly. I sat up there in one of the few shady spots on the course for about 3 hours, until Christie Kerr's group came by, and I followed them back to the ninth hole. Paula Creamer was set to tee off at 2:22.

It isn't a lot of fun watching the low end of the leaderboard play through. It reminded me of those NASCAR races where cars that crash early come out of the garage with 75 laps to go and run around collecting points while the leaders whiz by. Maybe they should do another cut-down on Saturday? Although, I have to admit to an evil gratification as I watched the standard bearer with WIE 8 walking by. Before she was out of hill-view range, it was WIE 11, and she finished the day 14 over par. Tee hee. She attracted a huge crowd, following her like puppies. I can only imagine that people are fascinated by bad golf. My guess is that she will withdraw from the tournament before Sunday's play begins.

I followed Paula through the course again, and once again encountered her mom, Karen, who amazingly called me by name when she saw me on the second green. Paula was having trouble with the putter, and missed several easy birdie putts. She finished the day 4 under, but could just as easily been 7 under. She also lost a club cover on the 6th tee. It was returned to her on the 15th tee, and she looked like she found a lost puppy. It was a teddy bear that was dressed up like an English Bobby. Colin, her caddy, is British, and she said that he is allowed to have "one thing from England on the bag," and that was it. She patted it on it's furry head and said, "Welcome back." It was the only time she smiled all day. She finished the day tied for 13th, 6 shots off the lead.

The day's booty came at the end of the round. Paula was finishing up while Annika Sorenstam and Morgan Pressel were signing their scorecards. There is an area outside the scorer's trailer that is designated for players to sign autographs after their round. With Annika hanging around, I couldn't resist. All I had with me was my souvenir McDonald's Championship golf ball, which, as you can see, now bears her signature.

Paula's tee time on Sunday is 1:22, but she may be going without me on the cartpath. I'm a little burned out - literally and figuratively. Even with the sunscreen, I'm not sure if my calves can take another day in the sun, my feet hurt and I'm a little tired of driving a groove between here and Havre de Grace. Sunday night's traffic going north toward home might be enough to keep me here. It was balls of fun, though, and I'll go back next year for sure.
I picked up a lot of interesting things about the tour and what an interesting game golf is, especially to see it in person. It is difficult, though, to decide whether to watch one player or one hole. It's interesting to see how different players play the same hole, but also interesting to watch one player through a round and see how she adjusts to the game. I suppose if one doesn't have a favorite player, it doesn't matter, but I couldn't stay at one hole while Paula played through.

If you watched the TV coverage, I'm on it a bunch of times. I'm the little white speck on those aerial shots, standing along the fairway, the tee or the green waiting for Paula Creamer to hit a shot. You probably need hi-def to sort out the details.

There are still a couple of interesting sidelights that I may decide to post, but they can wait until my sunburn heals.