PGA Championships - Part 3

Saturday and Sunday were both great days at the course!  We figured out the whole parking situation - we parked at a nearby college and then took a shuttle to the main gate at the course - so getting in and out was much smoother (no more 45 minute lines).  The weather was great both days, and we saw LOTS of golf...too much to try to summarize, so I'll just show some of the random pictures I took around the course.

I mentioned in one of my posts about the Canadian Open, that no matter how many tournaments I go to, it is still such a thrill to walk through the main gate!  Walking through the main gate of the PGA Championships took that to a whole new level - it definitely had a special feel being a major and all!

Notice that large tent like building on the left side of the picture (you're only seeing half of it) - that is the merchandise tent!  It was HUGE, and had so many great souvenirs - much more than just the typical golf shirt or hat.

Another shot of the entrance...

I looked over at Curt at one point and laughed - I couldn't resist taking a picture of him with his binoculars and the PGA ear bud (American Express was giving these away, it played a live broadcast of the golf station on Sirius satellite radio - it was great being able to hear about play that was happening on other parts of the course), following the PGA leader board on his phone! 

While walking out one evening, we couldn't resist taking these pictures...

Turns out Rochester is a great city (actually, we only saw a small part of it, but it was great!).  As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, we had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory one night...dinner was great, but we didn't have room for cheesecake when we were done...so, the next night, we had Chipotle for dinner and then went back to the Cheesecake Factory for dessert - and we were so glad we did!

Just look at the size of those pieces!

Oh, and look who else was eating at the Cheesecake Factory...

It's Scott Piercy - he won the Canadian Open last year.  OK, so it's not a great picture - you have to be discreet when you're an adult taking pictures of a golfer while he's eating dinner...you don't want anyone thinking you're a creeper!

And as we got into the car, look who was loading his kids into his tournament vehicle...

It's Webb Simpson - he won the U.S. Open last year.  Another bad picture, and the fact that it's the second one like this means I probably am a creeper!

OK, back to the tournament...

We spent Sunday afternoon in the bleachers on the 17th hole - it wasn't as busy there as the 18th green, but still allowed us to watch all the groups as the finished. 

Here's the final group - Jason Dufner, who went on to win the tournament, and Jim Furyk...

And there you have it, three posts later, a summary of our weekend at the PGA Championships!  Curt and I both really enjoyed our time away, and are so thankful that we can take advantage of opportunities like this!

PGA Championships - Part 2

It was raining when we got up on Friday morning - if we had been in a hotel, we probably would have slept in...but, like I said, it was hard to sleep through the rain in our tent!  So, we got ready and then took our time getting to the course - stopping for breakfast and then doing a little shopping (we went to Target to get waterproof cases for our cell phones!).

We made our way back towards the course, and ended up parking at the same house and paying $20 again - but, we noticed that most of the other houses had increased their prices, so we were thinking we should look into other parking arrangements for Saturday and Sunday.  We knew for sure we had to find some where else to park when we ended up waiting in line, in the RAIN, for 45 minutes to get through the gate :(  Thankfully it wasn't raining too hard (golfers were still playing), we had umbrellas, and we had some friendly people around us to chat with (helped the time go by quicker).  

Once we made it in, we found Bubba's group so that we could walk with Amy and Ang again.  Unfortunately, when we said good-bye to them on Friday, we were saying good-bye for the tournament because Bubba didn't make the cut.        

And now for some pictures from throughout the day.  Spectators weren't supposed to take pictures...they even had volunteers, walking inside the ropes with each group, watching for people taking pictures - apparently the were confiscating phones (you were allowed to pick them up at guest services on your way out), but I only saw the volunteers tell people to put them away.  Anyway, I couldn't resist, so I discreetly took 64 pictures throughout the weekend!  :)

Rory McIlroy in the red shirt and white pants...

Phil Mickelson in the grey pants and Justin Rose in the khaki pants (with his arms folded across his chest)...

And, up close and personal with Adam Scott!!!

He went out of bounds and we were only a few feet away.  The same thing happened when we went to the 2007 President's Cup in Montreal - I was just getting into golf at that point, but Adam quickly became a favourite after that encounter (he's really good looking!).  When he won the Masters this year, I think a lot of women suddenly had a 'favourite golfer'!

There is no zoom on this picture!  I'm generally not a fan of the long putter, but I've made an exception for Adam.

I think this picture might be from Saturday...Keegan Bradley teeing off the 10th hole.  That's Tiger Woods behind him (leaning on his golf bag).  I zoomed in quite a bit, so the quality isn't great - we were actually watching groups tee off the first hole, the tenth hole uses the same tee deck, so we could see groups there too.

I'm NOT a Tiger fan (quite the opposite actually), and can't believe the number of people that follow his group, especially when he's not even doing that well!  I could not handle rushing around the course in a mob like that, you'd wouldn't even get to see much golf because of the people in the way?!?

So, Friday was a great day at the course - once the rain stopped, the sun came out and it was nice and warm.  We covered a lot of ground on the course - watching from various different spots, and making sure to see as many players as possible (especially the ones that looked like they may not make the cut).

We ended our day with dinner at The Cheesecake Factory - I can't believe we've never eaten there while in the States?!? - and a little more shopping.

PGA Championships - Part 1

Two weeks after the Canadian Open, the PGA Championships were being held in Rochester, New York.  Rochester is only about 3 hours away, so months ago, I mentioned it to Curt and suggested that we try to get tickets.  Well, time went by and we didn't act on it...so, the week before the tournament, Curt contacted our friends Henk and Amy to see if we could get tickets through them...we heard back from them on Tuesday and found out that they were able to get us passes for the week!

We knew we wanted to try to get there Thursday morning so we could see all four days of tournament play - so, we made arrangements for time off work, and then started looking into hotels. Trying to book a hotel just a few days before the event was NOT a good idea - even the low end hotels/motels were going for $300/night!  We really tried to get creative to get around paying that much - I looked at Bed & Breakfasts (still too expensive), called a local college to see about renting a residence unit (only thing available was a townhouse, again, too expensive) and looked at 'Vacation Rentals by Owner' (not very many options in the area).  In the end, we booked a camp site at a nearby KOA!!!  If you know me, you're thinking 'NO WAY'!!!!   Believe me, that was my original thought too - when Curt suggested it, I just laughed it off...but, in the end, $30/night sold me...Curt also pointed out that if we saved that much on our 'accommodations', I would have more money to spend when we were shopping!  It ended up working out great, and I even admitted that I would do it again - we didn't spend a lot of time there, so it wasn't really like we were 'camping'...all we did was set up a tent with a foam mattress and sleeping bag, no other camping supplies. We got up early in the morning and after getting ready, left for the course (picking up breakfast on our way)...we were at the course all day and then went out for dinner and usually did some shopping before going back to the KOA...so, when we got back, we were tired and just went straight to bed.  Surprisingly, there seemed to be a lot of other people at the campground that were going to the tournament during the day, so we weren't the only redneck camping golf fans :).

Our awesome accommodations...

It did rain on Thursday night, so we didn't sleep great (just because rain on a tent is kinda loud), but we stayed dry, so I guess that's what matters!

Enough about our tent...on to the golf...

We left home bright and early Thursday morning and got to Rochester around noon. We weren't exactly clear on parking arrangements, so we followed signs and ended up parking on the front lawn of one of the houses in the neighbourhood right by the golf course - it was only $20, and minutes from a gate, so it worked out well.

The entrance we used put us right near the fourth hole...we grabbed a pairings sheet to try to get an idea of where different groups were at that point, and realized that Bubba had literally just teed of the fourth hole...it was perfect, we managed to find Amy and Ang right away (thankfully, Amy's sister/Bubba's wife, Ang, is really tall, so she's easy to spot!) so we walked with them until the 9th hole (Bubba's final hole - he started on the 10th that day).

After we said good-bye to Amy and Ang, we walked around the course a bit, watching various groups and trying to get a feel for the layout and where the best viewing spots would be for the rest of the weekend...eventually we decided to go to the grand stands on the 18th to watch groups come in - it was really hot and humid, so we were ready to sit down.

Our view of the leader board on the 18th green...

Unfortunately, not long after we sat down, they blew the horn because of an approaching storm.  Of course at this point, no one has any idea how long the players will be off the course, so we decided to head out and find a place for dinner.  Although the delay didn't last long, we didn't go back to the course - instead, we did a little shopping and then made our way to the KOA so we could set our tent up before it got dark :).