Two Beers and a Pretzel

I went to the Ryder Cup on Sunday.  I’ve always had a blast in Louisville and this time was definitely not a disappointment.

I bought the grounds tickets from my buddy Joe and took my bud Seann (yes, that’s the correct spelling) – whom I owed after he got me into the Memorial last year. Seann’s mom and step-dad were actually working at the tournament, so we got a parking pass to the volunteers lot. That was a massive score, as the volunteer lot was less crowded with lots of shuttles and not nearly as far from the course as the general parking. We also crashed at Seann’s sister’s very nice house.

Now for the Ryder Cup…

We arrived at Valhalla around 10 AM and walked around for a bit. We made it near the 1st tee for the first 4 tee-offs, then wandered over to the grandstands at the 13th green. Azinger jumped off his cart and fired up the crowd just before Kim and Garcia played the hole. From the grandstands, we could also see the action on the 14th green – watching Kim putt to win his match. We stayed there until Boo Weekley and Phil Wilson came thru.

Off to the main store… This was a massive tent. Similar to Octoberfest in Munich – only completely full of golf merchandise. Working in retail fulfillment myself, I was really impressed with the setup – especially since it was just a temporary one.

Finally, on to the 17th fairway and green to watch the approaching climax of the event. There must have been 40,000 people just around that hole. We squeezed thru the crowd to get a view of the green and watched Furyk and Jimenez putting (doesn’t Jimenez look like a Spanish Gene Hackman?). Actually being there while you’re listening to NBC and the BBC announcing it live was electric.