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Day 1 – Tuesday March 24th. – “Prep for the Tournament” - I arrived in Orlando from Philly and picked up my rental car at Hertz and immediately headed for the golf course. I arrived at the course at about 5:30 pm and walked around and picked up a course layout and bought some souvenirs, a flag and a straw hat to wear the rest of the week and got ready to return early on Wednesday morning to see Tiger play in the Pro Am.
Day 2 – Wednesday March 25th - “The first Tiger encounter” I arrived at the course at 6:45 am because Tiger teed off in the Pro am at 7:30am. There were only about a dozen fans waiting with me at the 6th hole entrance when they opened the gate at 7:00 am. I watched Tiger warm up and then followed him out to the first tee. I followed Tiger for the entire 18 holes and talked to Tiger and his caddy Steve Williams several times as they went from the green to the next tee. I told Tiger that Sunday March 29th was my birthday and if he won the Tournament it would be a great birthday present. Tiger said that sounded like a good idea and he would see if he could do it. I talked to Steve about getting Tiger to sign the flag I had gotten at the 2008 US Open in San Diego last June. Steve said to see hin after the round and he would get Tiger to sign the flag. After the round was over, they took Tiger away to the press center and I was not able to see him. However, I saw Steve in the player’s parking lot – I had a special ticket that got me into the Clubhouse and other restricted areas and I walked over and talked to him. He said come back tomorrow before the round started and Tiger would sign my flag. I was close to getting a very special souvenir from the greatest golfer of all time.
Day 3 – Thursday March 26th - “ Tiger signs the flag and I get in trouble !!!” Tiger had a tee time of 12:55 pm on Thursday, so I arrived at the course in plenty of time to get to the parking lot and waited at space 75 for Tiger to arrive. Around 11:30 am I saw Tiger and Steve pull up in a black SUV – Tiger was driving. I waited patiently a few feet away from the SUV and Steve got out first and got the clubs out. A couple of minutes later Tiger got out and I said hi to him and could he sign my US Open flag. He said sure – What’s your name. I said Jerry and he asked is that with a J or a G ? I said J and he signed the flag “To Jerry – Best Wishes. – Tiger Woods. I thanked him and wished him good luck as he walked toward the Clubhouse. I had it !!! The signed US Open flag was in my hand and I was so happy I didn’t care what happened the rest of the week. I was really psyched up as I went out on the course and waited to see Tiger play the first hole. I was right next to the green and Tiger was off the green and pitched his 3rd shot in the hole for a BIRDIE – what a start to the tournament. Everything was fabulous or at least I thought so. When Tiger got off the green I said to him excitedly – great birdie !! A guy in a white shirt came over to me and said – You’ll have to hold it down – Tiger is busy playing and he doesn’t need any distractions. I felt like I had been hit by a brick – I couldn’t believe this guy was telling me to be quiet when I had done nothing out of the ordinary in congratulating Tiger on a great shot. We got into an exchange of words as I tried to tell him I had just talked to Tiger and he had signed my flag etc, etc. But he was very firm and said – keep quiet from here on out. I was so mad I almost punched him in the mouth, but I walked away and went on to the next hole. I followed Tiger from hole to hole but did not say anything else to him foe several holes. Around the 7th hole I saw the guy in the white shirt again – this time he was outside the ropes and I approached him. I said – sorry about what happened on the first hole and shook his hand and I introduced myself to him. We began to talk and I found out he was a former FBI agent and he now worked in PGA security. Just by chance he knew a couple of people from Delaware and we ended up on a very friendly basis. His name was Tom and he told me the reason he approached me on the first hole was that I had been seen in the Player’s Parking Lot two days in a row – Wednesday and this morning and spectators are not permitted in that area. I told him Steve Williams Tiger’s caddy had told me to meet him there. Tom said – Steve doesn’t always know all the rules that security has in place – I apologized and he said that’s okay. From that point on I saw Tom many ,many times over the next 4 days and we chatted on several occasions as he and I both followed Tiger around the course hole by hole. Tom kept Tiger safe from crazy fans like me and I encouraged Tiger on as he tried to win the Tournament. Tiger sot a 68 and was 3 shots behind the leader Jason Gore at the end of the first round.
Day 4 – Friday March 27th – “Tiger hang in there !!!” - Friday’s round was kinda up and down – some good holes, some bad, but Tiger managed to climb to 5th place 5 shots behind Sean O’Hair. I followed Tiger for the entire 18 holes again and saw my security friend Tom on several holes. I even showed Tom my Tiger Wood’s Rio slot card and he thought it was neat.
Day 5 – Saturday March 28th – “Tiger makes the final group !!” – Saturday was once again a very windy day and several golfers had a hard time dealing with the wind including Tiger. At the end of the day on the 18th hole Tiger hit his 2nd shot into the water and had to make a 25 foot to save a bogey. After making the putt, Tiger gave his biggest reaction of the tournament a series of fist pumps. The “great” bogey save put him into the final group on Sunday in 2nd place behind leader Sean O’Hair. Going into the final round on Sunday, Tiger was still 5 shots behind the leader and it did not look like I was going to get my birthday present of a Tiger win on Sunday.
Day 6 – Sunday March 29th – “Will I get my birthday present ??” - Around 6:30 am on Sunday morning I was woken up by thunder and lightening. I wondered how bad the weather was going to be and if they would be able to finish the tournament. I got to the course around 9:00 am and it was raining really hard. I stayed in the car until things settled down a little. The tournament was supposed to start around 11:00 am but because of the on and off rain the start was pushed back to 1:00 pm and Tiger Woods would not start play until 3:00 pm. I went into the Clubhouse, ate breakfast and then went back to the car and took a nap for about 2 hours. I woke up and got to the first green just in time to see Tiger. I followed Tiger on every hole as he got closer and closer to the lead. Finally on the 16th hole he made a birdie and took the lead for the first time. What a comeback!!! Could I get my birthday present of a Tiger victory?? Tiger’s lead was short lived as he made a bogey on the 17th hole. He came into the 18th hole tied for the lead with O’Hair and it was getting very dark. Tiger hit two really good shots and he had a 15 foot putt to win the tournament. It looked like there was going to have to be a playoff on Monday morning to decide the winner. But wait – Tiger had not putted yet. In the near dark he lined up his putt – he hit it and it dropped into the cup. Tiger had won and I got my birthday present – what a perfect week. Boy was it great – this was the first time I had seen Tiger play since the 2008 US Open win and he had won again !!! The comeback from 5 shots behind had also tied his biggest comeback ever – something really special and I had seen every hole, including the Wednesday ProAm. Ninety holes was a lot of walking over 6 days but it really was certainly worth it.
Day 7 – Monday March 30th – “8th Anniversary of my retirement – another good day”
I retired from work on March 30, 2001 and have had lots of fun and many adventures since that day. This day would be just more of the same. I had driven to Osprey, Florida about 30 miles South of Tampa on Sunday night after the tournament ended. I spent the night at a chip buddy Tom Hitselberger’s home. After having breakfast with Tom, I went about a half mile down the road and spent some time with my former boss who also lived in Osprey – I had not seen him for about 15 years. After lunch, I headed for Tampa and a meeting with fellow chipper Fred Hempel. Fred and I hung out at his home and looked thru his chips for a few hours, then we headed for Hard Rock Tampa Casino for some gambling and dinner. The lines at the Buffet and another restaurant were Fred had comped meals were unbelievably long. There most have been 200 people in the buffet line. We played some slot machines for about an hour and a half, then we went back to the buffet. The line still was out of sight, so Fred went up to the counter and slipped the girl a $5.00 bill – amazingly we were seated right away !!! Nice move Fred !! We had a nice dinner and then went back to the machines. We played for a while longer without any success and Fred went home – he had to play golf on Tuesday morning. I continued to play and actually got all my money back. On the way to cash out I passed a $25 Blackjack table with no one playing. I decided to try a little one on one BJ. I bought in for $200 and about 15 minutes later I cashed out with $600. I had made a quick $400 and it was time to head back to Orlando.
Day 8 – Tuesday March 31st – “Time to head home” - I got back to Orlando around 2:00 am. Just about the time I got to sleep it was time to get up and catch the 10:00 am flight back to Philly. My wife Nancy met me at the Philly airport around 1:00 pm and we headed home, going thru South Jersey. We stopped and had a nice lunch and did a little antiquing before we got on the 6:00 pm Cape May Ferry for our cruise back to Lewes, Delaware. We arrived home around 8:00 pm. What a great week this had been – everything turned out better than I had hoped it would – What a Great Country !!!
Take care,
Jerry
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