I was lucky to enough to win tickets last week to watch yesterday's practice round of the US Senior Open. The Open is taking place this week at
Sahalee Country Club in
Sammamish. I would have taken some pictures, but cell phones were not allowed. I was able to get yesterday afternoon off, so I took my 11 year old nephew.
We parked at
Marymoore, a big park in Redmond, where shuttle buses where running. The bus took us directly to the entrance of the course. Since the tickets allowed us entrance to the "Trophy Club" we stopped there to have lunch. We had heard that
Fred Couples, a golfing sensation who grew up in the area, would be holding a
youth clinic at the practice range. As soon as we finished our lunch, we headed out to find the range. There was plenty of signage to make finding it easy, so we watched players warm up both on the range and the putting green until it was time for the Couples thing.
King 5 Sports announcer Paul
Silvi interviewed Couples who spoke about his background in the area and how he picked Golf over other sports. Couples has a very relaxed demeanor that played very well with the young spectators. He spoke of liking golf because it is more individually oriented rather than team oriented. He answered questions from the children such as whether he has ever hit a hole in one (he has hit three) and how he keeps his cool on the course. Then he hit some shots and had two of his students hit a few shots. Although a golf pro was also present, it did not look they needed any advise. My nephew was able to get a few autographs and then it was time to head back.
