Thursday, Oct. 31, 2002
Another early day. Up by 6, out before 7 and at the course by 7:30.
Play finally gets under way for the Championship today. The players are taking it very seriously with a $1 million prize, but they should also be in a giving mood, considering there's no cut of the 30-man field, meaning even the worst guy gets a $81,000 pay day. Not bad. Of course, after taxes, paying his caddy and agent, Hooter's waitress tips, etc., he'll only pull in some 35 grand. I feel sorry for them. Don't you?
I shall go on record as noting that after the cloudy and wet three days preceding the opening round, today was GORGEOUS. Blue skies (with high cirrus clouds streaking past), temps in the 50s most of the day, and a bright sun made it a lively day, with shadows creating some vibrant patterns along the fairways and greens in the morning. It's the kind of day that magazines take the promotional pics you see in Golf Digest. It's supposed to stay this way all weekend, if cooler, so I can't wait.
After getting the radios out and fixed with new batteries from 7:30-9, I had time to walk the course again before the first 10:50 tee time. So I headed to the back nine to inspect a few holes I had yet to see.
Something you may not notice on TV is that East Lake has some sizeable hills. The lake in the middle separates the front and back nines down in a valley, with each side of the course on the hills to the side. The back nine is a hard walk UPhill..and down...and UP...and down...and UP...and down. 10 and 11 are straight up, as are 13 and 15, while holes 12, 14 and 16 all slant severely downhill. Once you go up the hill, you best stay there, because you walk back down you're there for good. So I walked up to the top and sidways the fairways to the top to see the 16th tee. I wanted to take pics from the highest point on the course, and the most scenic view because over the treeline below you can see downtown Atlanta stretching to the sky several miles away.
[Reason 1,089 why I love golf: While walking to the First Aid tent, I passed the VIP parking lot, seeing Charles Howell III's very cute wife, and Howell carrying his own clubs to the clubhouse. Howell shot a 4-under par 66, one stroke off the lead Thursday. Steve Lowery and Vjay Singh both shot 5-under.]
So on the back nine I was all alone on the course, enjoying the cool weather and sunshine, the plush (yet still damp) fairways, sharing it only with the groundskeepers blowing leaves off the greens and finishing the mowing. I shouldn't have lingered. I ended up with my asthma acting up and wheezing. No problem, I'll just head to the First Aid tents and grab an inhaler. Oops. Nothing there. I ended up taking the shuttle back to my Jeep at Turner Field to get my inhaler, then hop back. It took a few minutes longer than planned, because as I ran the 50 feet to get my inhaler, telling the driver to hold on for 10 seconds, he pulled away! In a hilarious-yet-tiring "Crankshaft" cartoon moment I was running up beside trying to get him to notice me. Good thing I had my inhaler, since he drove off and left me to climb aboard the next one that left 15 minutes later.
By the time I got back (11:30), the first few groups were already on the course, so I headed back to the Communications trailer for my job and to watch the tournament via ESPN on our TV. That's how I watched all of it today, only getting out to the course for a few minutes to see live action. No complaints, really, since I was having fun, and ESPN is airing a lot of the tournament, which means I won't miss anything.
If you watched the tournament and saw the guys behind Tiger all day in khaki pants, green windjackets and white square badges, that wasn't me. But it is our uniform, so please, continue to look for me even though I'm watching the same video you are.
Besides, in the trailer is where it's at. The tournament is running smoothly, one of the best Super-Dana, king of Communications, has seen. As Dispatch, we get to pry into everyone's business, and help officials, vendors, etc. keep in touch using cool Dispatch words like "10/4" and "over". Yes, I was deprived of CB radios and 18-wheelers as a kid on trips. Most of the calls on Thursday were for ticky-tack things, such as corporate tents asking to have their TVs turned to ESPN, or the volume turned up, or water coolers needing filling.
The best example of the Fall weather is that at 8 a.m. most of the tents were asking for the heat to be turned on, by 11 a.m. as the sun warmed up the course they asked for the A/C to be turned on, then by 4 p.m. they called to say it was cool again and the patrons wanted the heat on. Maybe we should be teaching them how to push that little lever over and flip the button that says "cool" to "heat." Very complicated, you see.
By 5:30 things had deadened considerably, so I took off. Another long day done, and the rest of the weekend I'm taking the late shift, going in late morning so I don't have to fight rush-hour traffic. Yee-haw!
Friday, Nov. 1, 2002
Ah, the beauty of a crisp November day. Yesterday the thermostats were turned from heat to cool to heat in a span of six hours. Today no one asked for the A/C turned on. The heaters were buzzing, and we just had to open a window for the cool breeze. This wasn't good for the golfers, though. It was chilly largely due to the wind, which messed with the players' minds all day. The leaders started the round 5-under-par, and after today the leader (Charles Howell III) was at 5-under. This is actually a good thing, because it means the weekend will be tight and exciting. The players have been tested, and it's good for the fans and the players, even if it wears them out.
Of course, I wasn't as tired; I didn't get to East Lake until Noon today. This would have been 15 minutes earlier, but once again I notice a conspiracy against me. Yesterday the driver pulled away in the 30 seconds it took me to get my inhaler out of the car. Today, me and another volunteer were 10 feet from the doors when the driver closed them and pulled away. I shook my head and laughed. He threw an empty styrofoam cup at the bus and used colorful words.
Before you ask, yes, I did have my inhaler today. I even brought my cooler. This is important, since our trailer is next to Supply/Distribution, and they don't mind tossing a few beverages and ice our way. Nice blokes, really, as is everyone here. Golf fans are such a gentlemanly crowd.
The organization of the tournament is still running along smoothly, so our work day was easy again. These were the kind of piddling questions we handled:
"Do we sell cigars in the merchandise tent?" (No)
"The water smells bad in the portable bathrooms." What can you say about that? "Water smells bad? Copy." *flip to officials channel* "Uh, can someone put perfume in the water table?"
I fielded a call from the 18th hole's dining chalet, when a radio wasn't "working." I walk up to the chalet to figure it out, and it turns out Valet Gal had the headphones on but wasn't talking into the walkie-talkie (I guess she thought there was a microphone on the headset) and thus no one could hear her. Thirty minutes later, I was back. Valet Gal couldn't hear anything at all. Why? Because Valet Gal had taken off the headphones, but had the adapter still attached that enables someone to listen to an earpiece. I screwed it off, and the radio worked fine again. But her chairwoman wanted the headphones on. "But I look like a freak," said Valet Gal. "But you have to be able to hear me," countered the chairwoman. "Can't I just hold the radio up to my ear?" Valet Gal came back. The chairwoman laughed to me, "Yeah, she'll look like even more of a freak with a radio attached to her ear!" In the end, I returned with her headphones and Valet Gal kept her hair un-tussled (which was probably the reason all along).
Time for some random thoughts:
This tournament has the best smelling port-a-potties I've ever been in. Trust me, usually I hold my nose and inhale before entering, trying not to breathe while inside those disgusting little outhouses. But here, by mistake I had to take a whiff, and it was actually quite flowery. Bravo to the odor-eaters! Still, I'd rather use the portable bathrooms near the corporate tents, since they have urinals, toilets and sinks, like regular restrooms.
One of the hobbies for those of us in Communications during down time is to wander out of the volunteer trailer park and into the Tour Championship promotional walk, which all patrons must walk through after getting off the bus on the way to the course. There are plenty of goodies, such as free Therma Wraps (heating pads) that feel good in the cold air, not to mention soothe the lower back after a long hilly walk along the course. At the AT&T Wireless tent you sign up for their scam...er, I mean contest, and get three free golf balls with the PGA logo. Fellow Communications guy Jerry even signed up for a credit card to get a PGA Tour stool.
Five days down, but we're really working for the weekend, so things will pick up. Players buckle down to win the dough, and we get ready for the influx of fans. Good times.
Good on ya, Jeffro, let's see how the weekend plays out!