Well hello there. It was another long day for yours truly, as we continue to move that much closer to the first round of the best tournament in the world. Today, it was all about practice. Yes, PRACTICE.
Most of the field came to the course today to head to the driving range and then, to the course, teeing off from the 1st or 10th tees. For me, the day started at 7:30 a.m. when we parked at the National. At the time, it was just a steady rain. But boy, did that change. As we were inside the security checkpoint, the steady rain turned into a full-on downpour. Oh, and winds that about had the checkpoint tent fly off the ground! What a way to start huh?
Thankfully, the rain subsided quickly and by 8:30am when the gates were set to open, the umbrellas were put away. Right at 8:30am, the gates opened and the "running of the bulls" began. It was pretty cool to see that many people rush into what had been a quiet scene and fill it up like little ants.
After watching the morning rush, it was off to the driving range. The range was fairly quiet early because of the rain probably scaring some away. But by about 10am, things really picked up. Among the early arrivals were D.J. Trahan, Bubba Watson, and Billy Mayfair. Around 11am though, things really got going. That's because the sun had peeked from behind the clouds and the golfers that had played in Houston on Sunday were making their way to the course. That meant Padraig Harrington, Rory McIlroy, Stuart Appleby, Anthony Kim and Greg Norman.
I only conducted interviews during the day. Today, those golfers included Oliver Wilson, Rory McIlroy, Zach Johnson, Ken Duke, Danny Lee, D.J. Trahan, Jack Newman, and Steve Wilson. By far, Zach was the friendliest, willing to let me ask question after question and you could tell, he was truly sincere with his answers. Danny wasn't bad either and is great about signing every Masters flag possible when walking from the range. Oliver was cool too, considering we'll be talking to him all week, since he graduated from Augusta State University.
After a wonderful lunch break in the amazing press cafeteria, it was off to the course to get some shots of people finishing their practice rounds. My photog and I began on the 18th tower but that didn't last long. That's because the winds today were just ridiculous. I mean, 25-30 mph with gusts around 40mph (those are guesstimates). So we came down and did the rest of our work from the ground.
From the tower though, I could see some great views of the course, specifically holes #1, #9, #10 and #18. I have put those pictures at the bottom in a Flickr slideshow for you to look at. Cameras are allowed Monday-Wednesday but not during the tournament so this is the best I can do so far. At least, until I play the course in May.
Anyways, I had two live shots. One at 5pm and another at 6pm in the chilly, windy weather. Both went well and after some cleanup, we left the National around 7pm. Just like that, one more day closer until someone puts on the green jacket as 2009 Masters Champion!
(NOTE: Pictures best seen in fullscreen. That way, you get the full essence of them and click on info for what each picture is)
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