The Greatest Show On Grass

No, this post is not about a Willie Nelson concert...

But it is about one ridiculous golf tournament in a place where the beer flows like wine, and the women flock like the salmon(/cougars) of Capistrano. Yeah, I'm talking about little place called Scottsdale, AZ, during Waste Management Phoenix Open week. Despite being sponsored by trash, this weekend was far from it!

As you can probably guess, we had another round of awesome company for the weekend! Jen and Holt flew in from Delaware to spend a few days away from the winter's chill and boo Boo Weekley around the short grass with us. We got caught up on what's been happening in each other's neck of the woods over some freshly marinated carne asada and chicken tacos complete with margaritas and beer and formulated our plan of attack for the next day's festivities.

It was an unusually cold weekend in the desert and TPC Scottsdale was plagued with freezing overnight temperatures which resulted in lengthy frost delays pushing back the morning tee times. This threw a bit of a curve ball on our plans as we were expecting to see the 3rd round of the tournament. However, we got to see a good portion of the second round and the very beginnings of the third after the cut was made. We likely got to see more golfers than we would have otherwise. So I guess it all works out.

Of course, we spent some time soaking in the atmosphere of the loudest place in golf, the stadium hole - # 16. We must have slipped in right in time to get good seats, because soon after Holt and I passed the point of no re-entry, heading for more beverages, we spotted a line of people snaking around practically half the hole waiting to get to the grandstands... No problem, we just got an extra one for our wait to get back in to meet the girls. Didn't want to stand there with an empty hand!

After spending some time at the 16th, we headed off to see a little more of the course. Since everyone seemed to be around the stadium hole, we were able to pretty much walk right up to the ropes to get a great view anywhere we went around the course. We watched a few holes of the usual characters: Freddy, Phil, Singh, Lehman, etc. and caught up with some of the younger guys: Alex Prugh (fellow Husky; Go Dawgs!), Dufner, JB Holmes, Fowler, Johnson, etc. I am always in awe of their swing tempo (well, most of them...) so solid, controlled, smooth... There is something to be said about seeing it in person. I would have loved to have spent some time just watching on the range (one of my favorite things to see), but with the tee times all messed up we never had a great opportunity to do so. Still, we had an absolute blast! The sun was out and things warmed up pretty quickly after the chilly start to the morning. We spent a little time checking out the vendors and things that were set up in the main pavilion areas as they prepared to start the 3rd round, then decided to call it a day and head into Scottsdale for dinner.

We stopped into the R&R in Old Town to have a cocktail and decide on where to go for dinner. Although we haven't spent a great deal of time in Scottsdale, we have been to this place a few times. A great place to grab a drink in the early evening as they have a nice, big patio with couches, flat screens, and a decent look west into the setting sun. We made the call to head to Humble Pie next, not too far from there, to mow down some 'za before we headed home for the night.

We hit the games pretty hard late into the evening and woke up bright and early (maybe...) the next morning for egg and chorizo tacos; just wanted to make sure that Jen got her Mexican food fix before she left.

After some good Sunday relaxing, we took our friends back to the airport for their flight home. Although we did get a pretty good golf fix, Holt and I were unfortunately not able to fit 18 in before they left. He'll just have to make it back out soon. There are many Top 100 YCP courses to cross off the list so come back soon you two!

I wish I had more pictures to share but during some late night droid-ing I managed to format my internal phone memory instead of the memory card... so my phone is about 250 photos lighter now... including those we snuck when the PGA volunteers weren't looking. Back up your files regularly people... I guess nowadays that includes your smart phone...

Another great weekend in the books!
Laura is up next to see if she can finally get us caught up to present day...

Thanks for stopping by,

-CDK