Thursday at Saucon Valley CC

With the best of intentions, I woke up at 4:30am and was out the door by 5:30, but a navigational cock-up sent me east instead of west and what should have been a 90-minute trip to Bethlehem, PA took more like 120 minutes. So, I was a little late for Paula's 7:55 tee time. Thanks to my Garmin Nuvi, I was able to get help navigating through Allentown and around the Lehigh University campus where they had us park for the shuttle bus. I'd probably still be driving around looking for the golf course otherwise.

She started on the 10th hole, so I managed to pick her up at 14. She was playing with Lorena Ochoa, so the Mexican Army was out in force and the galleries were huge. Much larger than anything I'd seen at Bulle Rock. They figure to be as large tomorrow, when their tee time is 1:25pm. All that means is that I'll be there until at least 5:30 and it will be warmer. Such is life.

Saucon Valley is a nice place. Nestled in the Saucon Creek watershed, it's picturesque, but for spectators it leaves a little to be desired.

Almost all of the greens are elevated, so you have to find a prime spot to be able to see the hole location. Also, it isn't a tee-to-green-to-tee course. The tee's are all over the place, and often I had to hustle from one green to the next tee. At Bulle Rock, the next tee is always adjacent to the preceding green. Spoiled.

I'll go back on Friday, but I suspect I'd have a better view on TV. Today, I left after Paula was done and I made a quick stop at the souvenir tent. I was out of there by 2:00 and home in time for the Thursday night ride at the bike shop. I found that a brisk walk around 8,000 yards followed by a number 2 Value Meal (Quarter pounder, large fries, sweet tea and pie) makes for a nice pre-ride snack. Who'd a thunk? Suzann Pettersen has a 7:30am time on Friday and Morgan Pressel goes at 7:55, so there will be somebody to watch until Paula tees it up later.

In the meantime, I was interviewed by the local paper - again - when a reporter spotted me in my CREAMER 1 tee shirt. The same one that The Record felt compelled to add to the paper last month. This time, the reporter was doing a story on LPGA fans, and wanted to know the in's and out's of why we're fans. I gave her my two standard quotes: "Paula is my favorite professional athlete" and "She looks like a corporate secretary but has the heart of a competitor." She liked that one. I don't know how profound they are, but it's what I say.

She asked about how long I've followed the LPGA (more than 10 years, and especially since the tournaments are on The Golf Channel) and why I like Paula. I told her that when I started getting serious about following the LPGA I decided that I had to pick a favorite, rather than "wander aimlessly around the course." She liked that answer. I like everything about Paula, and I told her the story of the souvenir golf ball from last month. Generally, I'm uncomfortable talking about myself, and the reporter didn't seem to know much about golf, so I had to keep my answers generic. We'll see how much of it winds up in the newspaper.

I did get to see her mother Karen again, and I'm always surprised when she greets me by name. It's one of the cool things about going to the tournaments and something I couldn't explain properly to a reporter to condense into 100 words for the local paper.

As for Paula, she shot 1-over par, tied for twelfth. The leaders are in at 3-under, and Paula will have some work to do if she wants to play on Saturday.

And I'll have some work to do if I want to get to the course without making another wrong turn. Between the two of us, my money's on Paula.