Teske paces Samsung World Championship: 6-under-par 66 good for lead entering last round
Samsung's field means good golf
This is probably going to get me in trouble, but the Asians are killing our tour. Their lack of emotion, their refusal to speak English when they can speak English. They rarely speak.... I used to get teased by the girls that I didn't need a woman problem because I always had a man problem. They never really bothered me, because they knew I was straight. Society is more open now about gay relationships, but it does hurt the tour. It hurts with sponsors. But if you had two gorgeous girls who were gay, I don't think that would hurt.
I went to my first professional golf tournament yesterday. Usually, I'm much more interested in playing than watching people play golf, but the tickets were free, and it's the Samsung World Championship. There are only 20 women in the field, so it was a cozy little gathering up in The Woodlands.
I love golf, but I'll own up to not being particularly good at it. On a good day, I can threaten, and perhaps even break 90. I'm generally a threat only to myself, but I do love to play the game. This was an opportunity for me to see 20 of the world's best female players and perhaps learn something that might help my game.
Like any sport, golf is much different in person than it is on television. What you don't really get a sense of on television is how truly and amazingly talented these women are. They make something I struggle to do look so effortless and easy- of course, golf is their job, and they play and practice much more than I will ever have the opportunity to.
My friend and I followed Annika Sorenstam and Grace Park for nine holes, and then we sat behind the 18th green and watched players finish their rounds. Sitting at the 18th turned into an interesting exercise in people watching. The LPGA has a large contingent of lesbian groupies that seem to follow the tour from stop to stop. Every sport has their dedicated fans, I suppose. In the final analysis, the orientation of the fans doesn't much matter, but it was pretty clear that I wasn't at a football game.
The one thing that I found truly impressive about tournament golf is what a retail proposition it is. All of the major sports- baseball, football, basketball, and hockey- all place significant barriers and distance between the athletes and their fans. Tournament golf is up close and personal; there were several times where (if I had been so inclined) I could have reached out and grabbed Annika Sorenstam or Grace Park. At one point, I stood about five feet from Park as she punched a wedge out of the rough and back into the fairway. You can't do that at a hockey game- not without taking a puck to the face.
I saw that Sorenstam is not the joyless automaton she has been made out to be. I also learned that Park, a slightly-built woman who looks like a Cover Girl model, can hit the ball a mile. Things like this are harder to pick up on television, where the coverage jumps from hole to hole and shot to shot. You see the shots, but you never really get a sense of the people hitting them.
Of course, we did make some rookie mistakes- he says as he savors the memory of his $14 lunch (The $4 soft drink, the $7 mini-sandwich, and the $3 pretzel) and the $4 12-oz. bottle of water. When we go to the PGA Tour Championship next month, here's a list of mistakes we won't be making again:
- Bring your own food- unless, of course, you LIKE paying beyond-ridiculous prices for food that is subpar at best.
- Bring your own water. There is no earthly reason to pay $4 for a 12-oz. bottle of water.
- Bring binoculars. It sure beats the hell out of trying to figure out who just nailed their 5-wood from 200 yards to within 6 feet of the pin.
- Wear shoes that you won't mind getting wet and quite possibly muddy. You never know what you'll be walking into.
- Bring a folding camp chair of some sort. It's nice to be able to take a load off every now and then.
- Bring more than $50. Tournament golf is NOT a cheap proposition.
Damn, those girls can PLAY....
