As mentioned in previous posts, I am volunteering again this year at the Valero Texas Open. It’s the second year I have done this job and I have to admit it’s quite fun. I am on the NBC/Golf Channel broadcast team, which means I get to wear a TV sticker and walk inside the ropes with an assigned group. It’s pretty cool. What I like most is just being so up and close to the players and watching how they play golf.
Today there was a 2 1/2 hour fog delay, so play didn’t kick off until closer to 10:00 versus the 7:30 time it was suppose to go off. This weather has been quite sucky here the last few days but all forecasts point to a gorgeous weekend with sun and low-80’s the remaining three days.
Golf Channel is live with coverage from 2:00-5:00 PM Thursday and Friday, which means I am on the course walking with a group during this time.
I was paired with the 10:40 group off #10, which includes a couple major winners and a recent PGA Tour winner – Jim Furyk, Zach Johnson and John Senden. I picked them up on #17 at TPC San Antonio with Furyk at 1-under, Johnson at Even, and John Senden at Even as well.
Throughout the remaining 11 holes I walked with this group, they actually played some really good golf. Jim Furyk carded a couple birdies on his back 9 at #5 and #8 but ended up bogeying #7 to get him to 2-under for the day. Zach Johnson picked up four birdies on his back 9 but also found two bogeys on his card to get him to 2-under as well. John Senden actually hit some wayward shots throughout his back 9 but was able to get up and down nicely to post an even par 72.
These guys got done around 3:40 PM, yes that is a five hour round, and we still had an hour and 20 minutes on air, so I was told to go pick up another group, and this group was hilarious to follow.
I picked up Brian Gay, Jhonattan Vegas and Kevin Na. The reason this grouping was hilarious was because you couldn’t have three totally different players. Vegas was hitting bombs off the tees, which ended up at least 30-40 yards further than Kevin Na and Brian Gay. Then you had Kevin Na taking forever to hit a shot and on top of that you had Brian Gay looking like he was annoyed as hell with the slow play.
I was able to follow these guys from #11-15 and then 5-o’clock hit so it was time to head to the house. These guys didn’t even finish their round, and have to go out early tomorrow to finish. Vegas currently sits a 5-over par through 16 and Brian Gay is just 1-over par. Kevin Na was the only under par player in this group and sits a 1-under.
Tomorrow I will be back out at TPC San Antonio walking with another group, which could quite possibly be Phil Mickelson and Jordan Spieth. They have afternoon tee times tomorrow which means they will surely be the feature group on Golf Channel tomorrow. We’ll just have to wait and see which group I get, but that would be cool.
[…] mentioned yesterday, I am volunteering at the Valero Texas Open this week at TPC San Antonio. It’s my second year working the tournament and it’s […]