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It would not be exaggeration (as the writer is prone to do) to pronounce Wednesday night in Pittsburgh a "big night." We awoke, quite groggily, at around 9am - just in time to vacate the stadium parking lot and head north up I-79.
About halfway through the 250 mile trip, we turned on the satellite tracker and found the golf tournament on television. The next couple of hours went by in a flash - the open road (with occasional annoying toll stops on I-90), the golf tournament, and work on our website.
Not knowing what lay in store in Rochester as far as parking goes, we decided to stop in a little RV park about 20 miles west of the city. It was quite a rural setting, and the neighbors, several of whom were permanent residents, were very anxious to check out the rig when we pulled up. A 5 year old kid insisted that everyone in his family come over to "play in the blue bus." We gave them UltimateBet.com Frisbees (yes, we know we gave a gambling Frisbee to a 5 year old... we'll rot in hell) and settled in for the end of the round on TV and some online poker at UltimateBet.com.
At 6pm, it was evident that we were staying in for the evening. We had 5 loads of laundry to do, and impressing upon Rafe the urgency that the golf writeups needed, somehow Phil convinced him to do the laundry. Rafe dutifully did it all, earning him the dreaded "B" nickname for the rest of the evening. (BTW, Phil finished one golf writeup in the two hours - the golf tournament was quite compelling and he was completely exhausted from the Pittsburgh tour stop.)
Friday, August 15th, 2003 Rochester, NY
Our plan was to awake at 9am, head down to the course for a full day of golf action. That, sports fans, did not happen. Somehow, 9 turned into 11, and by then, we didn't have the energy or time to get the rig ready to take downtown, so we simply took the car.
Rafe had to get a FedEx from his accountant, so we stopped in downtown. Then, we returned a replacement camera we purchased a few days before we were absolutely certain we had lost our tour camera. (Thanks, Ritz.)
Finally, we were on the drive into Oak Hills, site of the 2003 PGA Championship, being touted on TV as "the Last Chance for Glory." Up and down the road, residents were advertising parking, with prices ranging from $20 to $50 with seemingly no real correlation between distance from the gates and price. Not being suckers, we picked the lot closest to the gate, paid our $25, and headed straight in.
Our passes, generously donated by the PGA of America, were barely inspected at the entry, and within seconds, we were standing on the #3 fairway watching Vijay walk by. We were standing in the rough and realized we couldn't see our toes. That rough was THICK and dense, and as any golfer who found it during the week would attest, deadly.
After grabbing a beer, we headed to the 18th green to meet up with our publicist and friend. Randall, who flew up to the PGA to meet us and attend his friend's wedding. We took a seat in the grandstand and noticed a group of New Yorkers handing money back and forth between each other after each approach shot. Of course, we wanted in, and soon, we were gambling it up and getting a little bit the best of it. With a little more time, we could have done more damage. As it was, Randall showed up and saved those NY boys quite a bit of dough.
Randall had somehow secured two passes to the Wannamaker tent, a luxury facility down the 10th fairway. Unfortunately, he only had two passes, one for him, another for his significant other, the very cute Nicole. No problem, we'll just employ a little trick we learned at the Masters: the Walk-In. Randall and Nicole walked in, he took her pass, came out, Phil and Randall walked in, Phil got the passes and went out to get Rafe, and soon all four of us were partying in the Wannamaker tent.
Quite pleased with our ingenuity, we ordered a few rounds, got some food, and watched some of the tournament on the tent TV's while discussing Ultimate Sports Adventure media strategy and scheduling.
With the cute couple departing for the wedding festivities, we decided to call it an early day and head back to the RV. On the walk back, we came across a guy we'd never seen or heard of, Micheel or something or other. There were, including us, 3 people watching him tee off the 6th hole. This, despite the fact that he was one of 4 players under par. "Wanna watch this guy for a few holes?" Rafe asked. "No, no way he'll be there on the weekend... who's ever heard of this guy?" And so, after his tee shot, we watched him and his wife wander down the fairway while we headed for the exit.
At the very end of the day, just as we were leaving, "Matadorr", who posts frequently on the USA Message Boards, spotted us in our USA Divots Sportswear shirts! Nice spot, Matadorr! He introduced himself and then we departed - we love running into fans at sports events!
Back at the RV, we struggled to find some energy to move the rig to downtown. It just wasn't going to happen - we were drained from the afternoon in the sun, big nights in Pitt and KC earlier in the week, and nearly a month of non-stop action and driving. We decided, believe it or not, to stay in on a Friday night.
Now, before you all boycott the tour and call us pussies, we will point out that this is only the second or third Friday night on tour we have been out of commission.
Phil noticed a poker tournament on UltimateBet.com and we decided to enter. Three hours later, Phil made the final table. The top 5 places would get $6000 or a trip to Aruba for the World Poker Tour event, the 6th place to receive $900. Alas, a little bit of bad luck at the end, and Phil busted out 6th and on tilt. Phil's online fan club, which follows him and watches almost every time he logs in to play, were not at all happy.
Saturday, August 16th, 2003 Rochester, NY
Woke up, packed up the rig, and headed into downtown Rochester. We found an ideal parking lot on Rochester's main drag, East Rd. Then, took the car into the tournament, found our reserved parking spot, and headed to the entrance slightly after 2pm, but well before the leaders were to tee off.
There were two guys high-fiving and as they passed by, Phil heard them saying something like, "Yeah, we've got golf all day tomorrow." They were leaving for the day, and definitely wouldn't need their Clubhouse passes. Phil, subscribing to the theory that it never hurts to ask, did just that. Seconds later, we exchanged badges with the guys and had ALL ACCESS badges instead of general admission! Score!
We spent most of the afternoon hanging out and following Weir. Of course, we took full advantage of the Club House passes and the decent food they had there. One of the most annoying things about the Club House, though, was that you had to purchase punch cards in order to buy beer - and only in increments of $25. Not knowing if we'd be able to score access on Sunday, we had to spend $25 each - beer and food and beer and beer.
Eventually, we stumbled back out to the course and watched on 17 for a bit before heading back to the car and then to the rig. We showered, cleaned up, and set out for a big night in Rochester. About 5 blocks from the RV, we found Rochester's night life zone. The bars were a bit slow, even though it was nearly 9:30 and bars close at 2. So, we found a bar called "Tonic" and ordered a few Appleton Jamaican Rum drinks and played some Chinese Poker while waiting for the vibe to pick up.
Eventually, it did. Rafe made a big play on two hot little 23 year olds, but was quickly shut down when we determined that 23 was their age and their IQ. We turned our attention to the next bar: BarFly.
BarFly was a bit better, but still not anywhere near rockstar land. The crowd was mixed, but leaning a bit on the heavy side. Our guess is that the really good looking girls bail on Rochester as soon as possible and head for NYC or Chicago. We had a few beers and went upstairs to play darts. There we met a guy whose name we can't possibly remember that had a beautiful Peruvian girl in tow, his, and we quote, "Mail order bride." Rafe practiced some Spanish and she confirmed the story...
So, it's 1:30, we're a little tanked, and the talent level does not at all justify staying out any later - we headed back to the RV for a fitful sleep.
Sunday, August 17th, 2003 Rochester, NY
Shortly after noon, Randall and Nicole showed up at the RV. We gave the obligatory tour, took some pictures, and then led them into our now well-known parking spot. "Parking is on me, boys," the proprietor said. Turns out he is a cancer survivor and looked us up on the web - we donated the $25 parking fee to the Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation and thanked him profusely.
When we arrived at the gate, Randall and Nicole found out that will call, where their tickets were waiting, was about 1.5 miles away. This was not good. Fortunately, Nicole is, um, a very good looking woman. In minutes, a cop on horseback gave her two "spare tickets" and spared them a long walk. Nice work! And for the record, she says she never gets speeding tickets.
We were all famished, so despite the 20 minute line, we waited to get some food. At the front of the line, we were dismayed to find out that they were out of EVERYTHING except hotdogs. No sandwiches, no chips, no nothing except hotdogs. Well, PGA, that is entirely unacceptable. But, you gotta do what you gotta do, so we reluctantly ordered the crappy hotdogs, got a few beers for Randall and Nicole, and went to the #4 and #5 holes.
We quickly indoctrinated them into the world of betting on approach shots, putts, up&down, and just about everything else under the sun. Nicole was quite adept, Randall not so much. After the first nine bets, Randall had spewed $50, with Nicole winning $40, Phil stuck $20, Rafe up $30. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to get our money back - the lovely couple had a plane to catch and abandoned us just after the leaders passed.
We decided to head up to #13, a par 5 that seemed very challenging to the players. We watched nearly every leading group come through, playing Chinese Poker in between the action. There were quite a few great shots. Eventually, the last group came through, including that schmo that we saw on Friday - Shaun Micheel. He was sporting a 3 shot lead, with Chad Campbell right on his heels. What a difference two days make! Micheel, followed by 3 people on Friday, now held 20,000 people completely breathless as he snaked in a downhill four footer for par.
Not wanting to battle the crowds, we decided to head straight to 17 and watch the leaders come through again, though really Micheel and Campbell were the only two in contention. We watched the nearby scoreboard intently, the crowd moaning and cheering as the scores were posted. Micheel birdied 14, Campbell bogied - a 5 stroke lead. The opposite happened on 15, and 16 Campbell birdied bring the lead down to 2 strokes!
Nothing much happened on 17, so the boys went to 18 needing a birdie/bogey swing. Micheel looked in total control. He smashed his drive down the left side of the fairway and it looked certain to end up in the unmanageable rough. At the last second, it took a hard bounce to the right and ended up in the first cut - very lucky. Campbell's drive was down the middle. We were standing a couple hundred feet from Micheel, anticipating the biggest shot of the year. We were not disappointed.
175 yards to the flag, Micheel, cool as a cucumber, stepped up, chose a 7 iron. There are few moments in sports that can match a clutch, money approach shot on 18 in a major. This shot, we believe, defines sport. Micheel's 7 iron sailed high, he leaned a bit to the left willing the ball closer to the hole, he yelled, "Be the right club!" As the ball landed on the green, it took one hop and ended up no more than 6 inches from the cup. The crowd on 18, nearly 40,000 strong, went crazy. "Last Chance For Glory" was a very appropriate moniker for the tournament - Shaun Micheel grabbed that chance and all the glory of a PGA Championship and the Wannamaker trophy.
We stayed for the trophy presentation and then headed back to the RV, golf's last major and the best pressure shot we've ever seen etched forever in our minds.
We would like to thank the PGA of America for their generous support. They gave us 2 tickets to every single day of the championship, and we are very grateful. Next year's PGA Championship is in Kohler, Wisconsin at Whistling Straits, one of the Top 25 Public Courses we played earlier this year. That is going to be one hell of a tournament site - we hope to see you there.
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