This is taken from the Yahoo board, recap of the Honda Classic, worth reading
I'm 42 years old and have been golfing for about 35 of those years. I consider myself a fan of the professional game but today was
the first day I ever attended a pro event.
I took my wife and 10 year old son to the Honda Classic in Coral Springs, Florida. About a 15 minute drive from my house.
We had to park in an off-site lot and were bussed to the tourney.
Obviously, Honda was the primary sponsor. They had a huge tent loaded with their product. All 1999 models of automobiles and
motorcycles. Not much different than going to a mall with various dealerships hawking their wares but if you're going to roll out the
huge bucks to put something like this on, you better be able to show why you have the cash to put it on.
After strolling thru the Honda area, we went outdoors and passed thru an area which contained large booths of local sponsors: the
local hospital, newspaper and investment firm. Also, Bell South, a website company (golf, I think), insurance company and about a
dozen others. Now I don't know what they had to pay to get this kind of exposure but I'm sure it didn't come cheap. Many of them
offered putting contests or drawings to get your name on their mailing lists. One could've spent a lot of time here filling out entry
forms.
Next were the various food concessions. It was interesting how it was organized. No one food booth could offer a wide variety of
food. For the most part, each booth could sell a limited amount of product. What I mean is, the food area only had one or two places
to get a hot dog. One place to get cold sandwiches. Another place to buy a steak sandwich...etc. You get the idea. The prices were
just as bad as the ballpark. Maybe a tad worse. But it was expected so we ate before arriving.
After all this, we made our way to the first tee. We arrived at Heron Bay at about 10:15am. The first pair teed off at 8:45am.
On the way to the tee, we passed practice sand bunkers, the practice range and practice green. All places had players hitting balls,
loosening up for their day's round. We stood along the roped-off areas and watched the players practice. Many I recognized.
It was great because when a player would go from area to area, he had no problem walking out among the fans to get to his
destination. Along the way, some were kind enough to sign autographs. Large portable bleachers were set up in the practice area as
well as on some par threes and the first and 18th holes.
We decided to follow John Huston & Woody Austin from the first tee for awhile. After getting a listing of the pairings, we eventually
walked ahead and caught up to the twosome of Tom Lehman and Mark Brooks. Later that morning, Brooks' caddy threw my kid one
of Mark's golf balls. All the players changed balls after each hole. Usually, the player or caddy chucked the old ones to fans on the
way to the next tee.
As I walked around the course, I made it a point to spend time watching players who are pencilled in at our CSGC tourney this
September.
Lehman qualified for weekend play but did not make a move in the standings Saturday. Michael Bradley was in the hunt but was
eight strokes back with a lot of golfers in front of him. The one player that impressed me the most was John Daly.
I had pointed out in a previous post that John Daly did not have the fan clout he used to have. I think I was wrong. Granted, he was
paired with Mark O'Meara but most of the fans came to see Daly. And there were hundreds of them lining the fairways and 4-6 deep
around the greens. By far the most watched player in the Honda.
We made sure we got to the first tee to see him begin at 1:12pm. The hole was playing 391 yards with a strong breeze at the players
backs. Other players we saw were hitting their tee shots about 270-300 yards leaving some kind of wedge to the green. When John
Daly swung the club, it was obvious why the people love to follow him around. He nailed it straight as an arrow within 40 yards of
the flag. Coming pretty close to reaching the greenside bunker. The fans went nuts.
Later, we hung out at the back of the ninth green watching the twosomes play in. The 9th is a 566 yd par 5 playing into the stiff
breeze. When Daly was preparing to hit his second shot, I heard some guy near us say ' he's pulled out a wood'. We saw about a
dozen pairs play onto this green before Daly. The only golfer who came even close to reaching this green in two was (and quite
happily to me, I might add) Michael Bradley. Anyway, Daly DID have a wood and was going for the green....remember, into a stiff
breeze and probably about 260-275 away. It hit on the green right in front of us and stuck. The fans went wild again. Daly missed
the eagle putt by inches and tapped in for birdie.
Other players of note because of popularity (judging from the number of fans following) were: Payne Stewart & Ernie Els.
Honda Classic, The Final Chapter
by: Jjurgy
5851 of 5872
2 players I wanted to see but missed were Vijay Singh & Colin Montgomerie. Both would make fine additions to a CSGC event.
Notes: NBC covered the Honda Classic. They had towers from the 10th hole on. Also roving camera men and 'on-the-course'
announcers. The Met Life blimp hung over the course the entire time. Tickets were $35 for the weekend which included
Wednesday's practice rounds. I think most of this money went to local & PGA/TPC charities. Everything was extremely well
organized. We had free run of the course within the physical guidelines set by Heron Bay. Plenty of portable rest rooms. Beer was
sold and allowed throughout the course.
We stayed 6 hours. Next year, I plan on returning.
Next, I'm looking forward to actually being a part-owner in a tournament this September. I hope to see you all there.
Jim Jurgensen
other tidbits....statistics before Honda Classic
Taken from the 'Pairings List' program:
(after Thursday & Friday rounds in Honda Classic)
Driving Distance Leaders in Yards:
1) John Daly 311.2
7) Michael Bradley 298.5
Jim J. |
