Tiger, Taylor, and those New York fans
This year’s US Open was unique to the last two I have attended. Long irons were spinning, fairways were soaked and the fans were the most unique that I have seen in all of golf.
Sean Foley is the coach of Stephen Ames, Sean O'Hair, Hunter Mahan and others. He is also the 2008 Ontario PGA Teacher of the Year.
They were funny, obnoxious, empathetic and absolute golf nuts. Every golfer on the course was fair game to the onslaught of the New York fan base who, with a little help from alcohol, were relentless in their praise or disinterest in all that was happening before their eyes.
The funniest thing I heard all week was on 17 when a gentleman walked up onto the grandstand with a Boston Red Sox hat on. Not a wise choice in front of 5000 plus Yankee diehards. I can not rewrite their words for obvious reasons but suffice to say they made Richard Pryor seem like a nun. The players on the green had to wait for them to stop carrying on.
The other interesting thing that happened was on Tuesday when a security guard asked Tiger to walk through the metal detector. The first thing that came to mind was, “does this guy live in the jungle or has somehow avoided a television his whole life.”
As Tiger graciously said no and continued to walk, tour veteran Kevin Sutherland said, “sir those are actually there to protect him,” which I thought was very funny.
It was a wonderful week despite the weather and early in the final round all of my players were in contention.
Oh and last thing watch out for Canadian amateur standout Nick Taylor. Nick is a total grinder with one of the best short games I have ever seen. Mentally he is a rock and a wonderful ambassador for Canadian golf.
About the Author
