Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Behind the Scenes at the Turning Stone PGA Event

If you want to know where I get my love of golf from, consider the fact that my mom and dad attended the PGA Tour event at the Turning Stone complex this weekend--in the typically terrible early fall weather in their backyard in central NY--and that my mom called me yesterday morning to tell me about their experiences and to give me an update on the playoff that Matt Kuchar had just won, which she saw live and in person. She had 3 great stories for me to share with you, about seeing Kuchar's kid, meeting Ryan Moore, and talking with Robert Allenby and Adam Scott.

During the awards ceremony, Kuchar's wife was holding their infant child and trying to keep their boy, Cameron, who looked and acted about 2, from running onto the green while his dad was being interviewed for television. Eventually she hit on the idea of having Cameron treat a greenside sand trap as a sand box, so Kuchar's caddy was hanging out with him there for awhile until Cameron found a rake and started raking the trap. Pretty soon, Cameron's dad joined in and a good time was had by all, but especially by Cameron, who was pretty surprised when some in the stands started clapping for him!

The next 2 stories are about my mom's ease with golf's celebrities. Whereas my dad tends to hang back like me, my mom jumps right in. For instance, when she saw someone she thought was Ryan Moore, she went right up to him and confirmed her suspicions. Moore's buddy Stephanie Wei will love what she told him next: "I could tell it was you because of your scruffy beard." I'd love to hear Moore's side of the story; my mom simply noted that his girlfriend cracked up.

I was cracking up when my mom told me what she told Robert Allenby after dinner one evening when she noticed that he and Adam Scott were sitting at a nearby table: "Golf Channel said that you were one of the notable players in the field to miss the cut." I don't know how Allenby and Scott reacted to the comment, but I do know that I am going to try to get my parents to guest-blog at Mostly Harmless whenever they attend a professional golf event.

[Update 1 (7:44 pm): OK, it's offical. My mom understands the PGA's Fall Series better than 90% of the SI guys. Time to put a fork in that little web experiment. It's done.]

[Update 2 (10/7/09, 5:04 am): With all due respect to the PGA, it's total b.s. that their contract with Golf Channel required the LPGA event to be tape delayed. Can't wait for 2010 when this can no longer happen!]

3 comments:

Average Golfer said...

Your Mom sounds like a gem. Loved the post.

Anonymous said...

lol - your mom sounds like a hoot ! I wish I could have seen Allenby's face when your mom said that. Adam Scott had to be cracking up on the inside.

I'm sure your mom meant it in the nicest possible way, but how do you react to that kind of statement ? I guess you say thanks and hope it was meant as a "go get 'em next week" thing.

The guy really is a good guy who has earned the reputation of being a little crusty. The truth is that he is extremely funny and outgoing, but he just seems to prefer to talk about anything but golf when he's done on the course...especially if he's not playing well.

I interviewed him 3 times during the first Fed Ex Cup week and got the usual honest, but cliche answers to golf questions, but the suggestion of having a beer and getting away to do something else really perked him up.

The Constructivist said...

My mom was pretty impressed at how gracious and approachable all pros she recognized and talked with were at Turning Stone. And don't tell anyone, but she thought Adam Scott was cute. She said he looked about 12 with his golf cap off.