Ugueth Will Shiv You wrote:
Just got home from the opening ceremonies, and I have to admit, I was pretty underwhelmed.
Today's action was pretty lackluster, even for a practice round. Most players only played 9 holes, and many of the Americans started on the 15th(?!) hole and played through to hole no. 7. Fans were not aware of this going in, so many of us sat on the first hole hoping players would come through. We got to the course at about 8:30am and didn't see a single golfer until 10:30am.
What should be obvious but makes for poor course viewing is the fact that groups were going off 4 players at a time. Since there were only 24 players competing, most of the course had no action at any given point while other holes were 10-18 people deep. Unless you planned accordingly, there was no chance you could get a close look at your favorite players.
We were positioned at most teeboxes to snap a few photos, but Tiger didn't even tee-off most of his holes, choosing instead to simply walk to the fairway and hit two or three approach shots. Many fans were upset, especially those of us who could only attend one day of the event.
The biggest clusterfuck of the day, however, was right before the opening ceremonies. A massive crowd was attempting to walk to the left of the stage toward the main exit while more people who had arrived to watch the ceremony were walking back toward us. To beer cart girls were parked in a walkway about 30 yards wide where thousands of people were trying to walk, which created an awful bottle-neck for fans. It literally took us 30 mins to walk 200 yards.
The one positive I will say, however, was that parking was flawless. We took advantage of free parking at the Forest Preserve just off of Glen Ellen and North Ave. They had about 10 Greyhound buses running non-stop, so we had no trouble getting in and out of the lot.
I cannot imagine how the crowds will be this weekend, and while I would love to see something special in-person at Medinah, sitting on my couch with a few Heinekens sounds much more appealing.
I was stuck in that cluster F. The worst was 3-4 beer carts have to back up through that entire bottle neck. I'm glad I went. Spent way too much in the merch shop, but it's not like I will be attending a Ryder Cup anytime soon. Plus I was able to pick up some early X-mas presents for my golf-loving mom. I can't imagine how crowded it will be today.
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