TPC Weekend

Tim's parents arrived last Friday night to stay the weekend!

They had tickets for us all to go to The Players Championship at Sawgrass on Saturday! TPC Tournament has taken place in March for years. March happens to be the end of the rainy season around here... (if you live in Florida, March showers lead to April flowers). This year the tournament was moved to May in hopes of blue skies. This year was also the debut of a brand new clubhouse and a renovated course. Little tid-bits...the new clubhouse is 77,000 square feet. That's 40 percent larger than the White House at 55,000 square feet!! The course upgrades included a very exclusive piping system under the grass that actually sucks moisture out of the green!!

Saturday was a very nice day! It was hot outside, but it wasn't uncomfortably hot. There was a nice cool breeze and lots of trees for shade. They had the course nicely decorated with plants and flowers. I *wish* I could have taken the camera, but they had very strict rules about what was allowed in. NO bags larger than 6x6x6 (including the ones to carry the chairs as well as purses), NO cell phones, NO cameras, etc.

This was my first professional golf tournament and honestly I went knowing two things ~ there would be golfers and a lot of walking. I ended up learning a lot about golf and enjoying the day.

I discovered there are a couple different ways to approach a golf tournament ~

• Walk the holes and see each grouping play
  
• Follow your favorite group around
  
• Park at one hole and watch the groups go by

When we first got there, we walked the upper holes. I really only recognized a hand full of the players names, but it was neat to see big names doing in person what they are famous for.

Of course, his majesty, Tiger was one of those names. While walking the course we realized that Tiger's group would be coming to the hole we were at next. We parked along the edge of the green and waited. Popular golfers have throngs of people who follow them so it's harder to get a spot up front. But if you're already there... Tiger and his caddy (and two security guys) came swaggering by. He stopped just about 6 feet away from us to wait for his buddy to hit. He looked just as he does on TV...perfectly fitted clothes included. A few less smiles on this day though as he was not having his best game.

After that we let the guys loose to continue walking the holes. Tim's mom and I got a quick sandwich, found a shady spot to watch from, and then walked around a bit. We met up again for lunch at the Island Club. Sawgrass puts up *a lot* of temporary buildings around the course to house things like the Island Club, snack venues, the gift shop. Tim and I commented on how it felt a lot like an amusement park with all of the people and "attractions". Tim's dad (who played Sawgrass while in town for our wedding in 2005) said that during the rest of the year Sawgrass is just a big field of a golf course.

While waiting to regroup again later I had the chance to watch Phil Mickelson warming up. He was in first place Saturday morning so he had the luxury of sleeping and getting a little later start. He was much more happy-go-lucky than Tiger. Understandably so, Phil ended up finishing first in the Tournament.


After some more walking around we stopped by the gift shop and then headed out. On the way by the 17th green we noticed a big turtle crawling up near the hole. He continued trucking across as we were leaving. The 17th hole is the famous island one that you see all over TV. It's the only hole on the course that has two manned cameras. One is way up on a crane in the air and the other is marooned on the island. I hope one of the cameras caught the rouge turtle!

After we left we stopped by Dick's Sporting Goods for a few last minute things Tim needs for his trip rafting down the Grand Canyon. He leaves THIS WEEK!!