The Boys Are Back in Town

They're baaaaaack. The pros are in town this week for the Wachovia Championship out at Quail Hollow. Went out for the Wednesday Pro-Am today. First time I'd gone out to a practice round. My impression: stick with the official tourney rounds. The place was deserted when we got there (10am). There were only 2 amateurs with one pro in a group. So it was only threesomes and there were no crowds, no real excitement. I saw Vijay's group and Goosen's group. Yawn.

I did miss Mickelson's group. That must have been who everyone was checking out. Still. For all I'd heard about how the practice rounds are laid back and fun, it was awfully quiet and quite boring. I'll take the money rounds, thank you.

The crowds will certainly be out tomorrow for Round 1. I'm going to play instead of spectate tomorrow (not that you can't do both). My tickets are for Friday and then I'll likely use Mulligan Tickets ($10 after 12:00) to also go Saturday and Sunday. So I'll get to see most of the big boys and definitely crunch time.

I am planning to play around town all 4 days -- local weather guys be darned. I should have plenty of updates on those courses. I'm likely going to hit Olde Sycamore, Charlotte National, The Divide and one other one (barring a change of mind or difficulty getting tee times). Those first 3 are less than 10 minutes from my house, but I haven't played any of them recently. Looking forward to it...

OK, as a local golf enthusiast, I should make a pick for the tourney. An odd mix of previous winners -- Toms, Joey Sindelar and Vijay -- so it's likely to be unpredictable. Nonetheless, I'll go with Goosen. It's his first time here, but I like his game on tough courses... and I saw him make an easy eagle today on #7. I'm looking for more of that when it counts. Go Goose go. :-P