Doral Diary: Thursday

Doral Diary: Thursday

Due to some “real life” circumstances, I only managed nine holes of the first round at the WGC-CA Championship. I saw five or six groups tee off before following one of my “usual suspects”, Graeme McDowell, and playing partners Anthony Kim and Angel Cabrera for their second nine (holes 1-9, after the group started on #10). Some observations:

* The crowds were pretty sparse. Thursday usually is the low day for attendance, but this seemed to be lower than it was the previous year. Even the galleries following Phil Mickelson/Rory McIlroy/Retief Goosen and Camilo Villegas/Lee Westwood/Martin Kaymer were pretty small. I’m not sure if it was the “no-Tiger factor”, the threat of rain and thunderstorms in the weather forecast, or some other reason or combination of reasons.

* Speaking of weather, it was very windy out there. Out of the eight tournaments I’ve been to in the last couple of years, this was by far the windiest. Fortunately, the wind kept the temperatures from getting too hot. I felt a few raindrops from time to time, but serious rain and storms didn’t materialize. However, with a Friday forecast that looks more than a little ominous, tee times have been pushed up over three hours for the second round.

* There were only a handful of people walking with the group I followed this afternoon, and most of those were family members or media. Of the three players, Cabrera had the most spectator interest. I was surprised that Kim didn’t have a large following, as he’s a big TV draw.

* It wasn’t a beautiful nine holes of golf, and for long periods of time it was very, very quiet. When one or more players in a group are on an “off” streak, and when no one is making any spectacular moves, it can become almost eerily silent. The relative lack of spectators amplified that silence.

Hopefully, the energy level on the course, both from players and fans, will be higher tomorrow, and the weather will cooperate until the last putt drops!