Night Putting

Tiger Woods on the practice range at Medinah Country Club

during the PGA Championship.

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

I was considering it. . . until I saw this sign on a TV tower.

John Daly signing autographs between holes.

Sergio Garcia on the Par 3 second hole at Medinah.

The clubhouse at Medinah.

Corporate tents on the 18th hole.

I used to play a lot of golf. Was pretty good for a while. Was consistently shooting low to mid 80s and broke 80 once. Can't really drive the ball worth a damn but my short game kept me competitive. Would routinely get outdriven by 30 or 40 yards by some of my friends and still end up beating them by five or 10 strokes.

Two kids later, golf seems a million miles away. It's interesting to me how golf, and the time it takes to play it, don't really appear on my radar screen anymore. While playing golf is not on the radar, following the sport at the professional level still is.

Was reminded of the allure of the game last Wednesday as I attended the final practice round of the PGA Championship at Medinah Country Club in the Chicago suburbs. This was my first time at a PGA event and it definitely lived up to the hype.

Attended it thanks to my friend Paul Arco, who had gotten some passes through his job at the Rockford Park District. In addition to his day job, and multiple freelance writing assignments, he also hosts a Saturday morning golf show on WROK-AM. I'm not sure that Paul ever sleeps and, with apologies to Howard Stern, he is truly the King of All Media.

The passes into the practice round included access to the PGA's corporate tent. I use the term "tent" loosely, in that this was a nicer room than you'd find in most two-story homes. Wood-lined walls. A/C. Food. Drink. Dove Bars. You get the picture. And, lest I forget them, the trailer bathrooms were nicer than the bathrooms in my home. The smell of money wafting around the corporate tents was nearly as powerful as the potpourri in the bathrooms.

We saw a number of the big names. Sergio Garcia. Vijay Singh. John Daly. Then, late in the day, word spread that "he" was on the practice range. Tiger Woods was on the prowl and we closed out the experience watching him pound ball after ball straight down the range. By now, you probably know that he cruised to victory on Sunday, taking home his 12th major title and putting him only six majors away from Jack Nicklaus's record of 18 professional majors.

Golf is a funny sport. It's one of the few sports that the average person can honestly compare themselves to the professionals and see how they measure up. We can play the same courses, use the same equipment, take lessons from the same teachers, all in the hopes of mastering the game.

Watching these pros hit, however, even during a practice round, really shows the mere mortal that these guys are playing a game with which few are familiar. The level of pressure, the competition, the sheer grind of being out on tour week after week is something few can handle and in which fewer actually find success.

Fore!