I'm on the road again, which is nothing new, but it's not all about basketball this time. Yes, I'm on the West Coast but this is a different kind of trip. The initial stop is San Diego for the 108th U.S. Open Golf Championship before heading up the coast to see what might be the last game in the 2008 finals between the Lakers and the Celtics.
The travel gods have enacted their annual revenge as my wife and I sat in the very last row of the plane on the four-and-a-half-hour flight from Chicago to San Diego. The seats didn't recline and while I kept my mouth shut hearing the flush of the toilet every time a passenger used the facilities, it just reminded me of what a charmed existence it is flying with a professional team on a charter flight. With that, my regular tip of the cap to people who cover pro sports flying commercially.
And while I'm at it, a tip of the cap to my wife who did all the planning for this trip and sprung it on me as a surprise for my birthday. Hey fellas, if you're a sports guy and you're planning on finding a wife and walking down the aisle, make sure your bride understands that you love sports from the opening jump of your marriage. As I said to her after she said "yes", I didn't become a basketball/sports loving guy yesterday and I don't plan on going cold turkey and giving it up tomorrow, so as long as you understand, we're good. All I can say is -- She gets it!
Tickets for the Open are hard to get. It's like the NCAA tournament or the Super Bowl where you have to either know someone or in this case "win" them in a lottery. So after all the planning we were still working on tickets or some way of getting inside the front gates of Torrey Pines. Well we finally called in a favour and found some tickets. But when we went to pick up the tickets at the hotel where they were supposed to be left, they hadn't been dropped off as yet. We decided to sit and chat with the lady at the concierge desk. The world really is a small place as we found out she was from Toronto and connected to one of the owners of the Toronto Argonauts.
It might be easier to play at Torrey Pines than get a ticket. That's right, the cost is $170 for a round but if you are a San Diego resident and buy a $25 card for a number of municipal courses, like Torrey Pines, you can play for only $42. Think golfers in Toronto would go for that system. And come to think of it why not?
Today, we hit Torrey Pines and joined the crowd following Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Adam Scott. It's amazing who you run into on the golf course. As we stood watching the crowd swell and waiting for the tee shots on the 11th hole, I heard my name called out from over my left shoulder and turned around to see one of the golf-crazed Raptors, Jason Kapono, taking up a spot to watch the same tee shots. I mean, what are the chances that with a reported 42,500 people out to watch we would actually run into one another. There wasn't much basketball talk, just golf and questions about the weather in Toronto.
So how does one "stalk" the Tiger at a major tournament?
I did some research before I came to find out what the best plan of attack would be to see a group that featured the top three players in the world with Tiger Woods as the centre-piece. I got so much advice, my head was spinning. Do you sit in the grandstand, find a spot where you can catch a glimpse, or follow Tiger and risk being six- or seven- deep all day? Well we did a little of each and had a great view of Woods on most of the back nine. All that being said, the best advice was try to get a look at a TV set. Well we found one but it was too late in the day to actually get our hands on one. Seems American Express has a deal where you can swipe your card (membership has its privileges) and then borrow a portable TV with the feed on it. Great way to see Tiger hit a shot and then with all the spectators rubber necking to see where it landed, all you have to do is check the TV in your hands and you'll be good to go as you walk toward the next shot.
The good thing is we returned to the hotel in time to catch the Lakers- Celtics game. Now I can say that as a true sports fan, another of the "must attend" big-ticket items has been punched as attending a major golf tournament can be scratched off my list.
