LeMasters in London: British Open #2

Nicole and Jeremy are in town on their way to Warsaw, and we were taking the once in a lifetime opportunity to go to the British Open. Well, let me start by saying that our day did not go as planned. Not sure that if given the chance I would do it again, at least not with yesterday's conditions. Friday was 75 and sunny so we were hopeful of a glorious day of golf on Saturday, but were hugely disappointed.

Our day started by hearing raindrops on the roof of the conservatory, and a frantic dash to make our train to Sandwich. Disaster #1 averted, we made the train, only to find that it was standing room only. No problem though, we were still filled with excitement for the day to come. We arrived in Sandwich at 10 AM, right on time, and just as we got off of the train walked past what seemed to be a normal house with a normal car backing out of the driveway, only to find out that it had something very special inside. Apparently Rickie Fowler was staying in host housing right next to the course, and he was on his way to warm up as we passed by. Window down, his hair as large and in charge as ever, I gave him a go pokes and we showed him our guns, he flashed em' back, and was off down the road. I can only imagine that the positive vibes from Oklahoma put his mind at ease, and was the key to his fantastic round later in the day. This was the one and just about only highlight in our day, and it had just begun. We turned around after watching Rickie's car drive down the road, to see a huge back-up of people, thus beginning our comedy of errors.

Straight away it became very clear that the infrastructure of Sandwich was not going to be able to accommodate the influx of people which the British Open was bringing to the city, or as I think may be more appropriately termed a town, hamlet or village. What had been described as a '15 minute' walk from the station to the course, was clearly going to take much longer than that.

The first traffic jam, which I just mentioned was due to the fact that we were required to all funnel from a closed street full from curb to curb, into a single file walkway between two hedges. Didn't seem the best route, but who was I to say...laughed it off, and moved on, excited to see Cowboys tee off at 10:30.

Shortly there after it started to mist on us, no problem, put on the rain coat, and continued on down the road. Stop and go walking now, and can't seem to understand why. Turns out we were taking turns with cars to cross the road. Gave up on the 10:30 tee times at this point, but soldiered on, a bit upset now.

By now we had been walking and stopping for a good 30 min, and were in the middle of a wheat field with no indication of anything which looked like a golf course in sight. Finally at about 10:45, we reached a opening and could see the entrance to the course and tournament. Unfortunately, we were at the back of a line which went all the way round this field, and were stopped dead in our tracks. Now I was in full on road rage mode, cussing anything and everything that was keeping us from getting in. Turned out that the biggest slow down was the result of a set of zig zagged barriers which they had so graciously placed right in front of the entrance.

They must have hired Stephen Hawking or some other genius to help at this point, because they realized there was no purpose for everyone to have to walk through the barriers, and we finally got moving. Smooth sailing straight through 'security', which if you could see me I am writing with finger quotes, because they didn't instill much confidence. 1. The cell phones which the security guard had spent the previous 30 minutes saying he would find and confiscate, went undetected, and 2. My lunch which was wrapped in aluminum foil didn't raise any suspicion. Didn't feel any more secure, but was now inside the tournament, so I couldn't care less. Well our 15 minute walk ended up taking nearly 2 hours, all the people we were looking to see tee off were already gone, and did I mention it was raining?

It rained/misted/drizzled on and off (more on than off) for the next 7 hours, and we gradually descended into hypothermia. Jeremy could see his breath, and prayed for the 107 degrees in Tulsa. Funny what a little perspective can do. I was so cold that I was willing to try anything to warm up, including putting every piece of clothes that we brought, even Nicole's extra jacket. Next I tried to eat every piece of food we brought, sorry Jeremy the cookies were good, but just ended up cold and a bit sick.

We eventually ended up sitting at the 9th green to watch all the leaders pass through, and then called it a day. Got to see Hansen hole out for eagle, but other than that there wasn't much to see. It was clear to see that the weather had sapped the energy out of anything and everything.

Couple of covert pics from the camera phone, not the best, but since both phones and cameras were not allowed, they aren't too bad.