Day 2 - 2006 Target World Challenge

It was only 74 degrees with high clouds out on the course Friday at the Target World Challenge.

Hey, you know what? Tiger Woods is a REALLY good golfer!!! And you know what else??? Ladies and gentlemen, we have ourselves a GOLF TOURNAMENT on our hands here...almost half the 16 player field is within four strokes of guess who...

So is Padraig Harrington - today was Padraig's day as he was 5 under for the round, and Chris DiMarco and Tiger were 4 under for the day...

It was about 54 degrees when I got to the course at about 8:30 AM, and the amount of traffic was significantly higher than yesterday, which was surprising for a Friday. Many of the volunteers said that today FELT like a Saturday, but that was probably because there was so much movement on the board. What started as the Henrik Stenson show is now much more interesting, as Tiger currently holds the lead, and almost half the field of 16 is within striking distance of #1...

TODAY'S totally cool thing that happened to me was a couple of Tiger's inner circle sightings...

I was working the sixth hole crossover, which is a major shortcut from the major traffic pattern alongside #6. We allow the spectators to cut over the fairway on six to get to the middle of the fairway on seven, which is a HUGE timesaver, and allows them to see the approach into #6, the drive landing area on #7 and the approach into the green on 7, too.

Well, Tiger's pairing ALWAYS has a huge crowd, and it grows day by day...on Sunday it's literally about ten people deep...

I had put the rope back up and Tiger had put a three wood out about 310 yards, and Henrik Stenson had driven his about 300 yards. The two golfers passed below us, and I turned to make a comment to whoever was to my left on the other side of the ropes, and as I turned to see who was there, I first noticed a broad-brimmed visor.....

Then I looked more closely to see who was wearing the visor, because it looked familiar...

It was Tiger's MOM, Kultida Woods!!! I was in the midst of golf ROYALTY...

I hope I didn't actually make the recoiling sensation that I FELT, but I immediately forgot whatever stupid comment I was GOING to make, and instead greeted her warmly with something like "Mrs. Woods!!! How nice to see you!!! How are you today?"

Realizing that THIS probably was a once-in-a-lifetime moment, I reached for my black Sharpie pen that I keep clipped to my button placket and asked, "Mrs. Woods, would you please autograph the back of my volunteer badge?"

Her response was precious - she replied "I'll go one BETTER - I'll give you one of these - I'll give you a Tiger Woods PIN!" and she proceeded to reach into her handbag and procure a small, gold lapel pin. It has an image of a Tiger's eye and stripes on the left side, and the interlocked "TW" logo like on the Nike golf apparel on the right side in a tiny little Ziploc bag.

I thanked her profusely, and by that time the guys had hit their approach shots into #6, and it was OK to take down the ropes and open up the crossover to #7. Mrs. Woods and her entourage made their way down the slope and across the fairway and up the hill on the other side to #7 along with about 150 other spectators...it was probably 30 seconds, but it was a MEMORABLE 30 seconds...

THANK YOU again, Mrs. Woods! The pin is a keeper!!!

After we finish up crowd management on six, we cross over to the street behind the #7 green, and grab a Chevy Yukon SUV for a ride over to #15, which is probably close to a mile away...today we had to wait for the rest of the crew, so our shuttle driver (Andrew) and I went through the concession line and grabbed a hotdog and a Diet Coke for the ride over...since I'm one of the more LIMBER team members, I usually grab the spot in the very back of the Yukon...and while I'm back there applying my relish to the hotdog, who ELSE should happen by???

The OTHER woman in Tiger's life, ELIN!!! HOLY SMOKES - in the span of five minutes, I talked to Tiger's Mom, and had Tiger's WIFE walk right past where I was having my lunch!!! How cool is THAT???

I saw the younger Mrs. Woods AGAIN, with her entourage as they bypassed #15 to go on ahead to #16 - that's twice in one day...I've worked this event for at least the last seven years, and this is the first day that I've actually seen Elin in person....Tiger IS a lucky man...

Since I worked the green yesterday, today I was assigned to work the player chute, which is a special roped off area that leads to the teebox on #15...it wasn't as much fun as yesterday, because I only got to see a couple of shots land, and no putts, so I didn't get as involved who did what at the hole...

The weather's supposed to deteriorate Saturday afternoon, so I'm going to try to get assigned down to the green for the weekend, because the wind's supposed to be running 15-25 mph on Saturday afternoon, and it swirls alongside the canyon walls that delineate the hole, frequently altering the flight of the ball and making for some interesting shot outcomes...

The GOOD news is that Weather.com says that the rain is supposed to hold off until 3PM, and we've been wrapping up our days about 2-2:15PM, so we might avoid getting damp tomorrow...I hope so...I've done it before, and it's not much fun to get soaked out on the course...

We get our "play dates" signups tomorrow...the volunteers get to PLAY a free round at Sherwood in January, and we get to request our dates tomorrow...I'm probably going to request the first available date, because the second date is late in the month, and I don't want to be rained out...I'm gonna play the odds and hope that the nice weather that we usually get right around New Years will go on for about ten days...it's a gamble either way, but remembering all the rainy days at the Nissan Open in late Jan/early Feb, I'm thinking that early Jan. is the way to go...