Ten Comments on the 2012 US Golf Open

We were able to attend Saturday and today and had a great time.  Several thoughts:

1) Olympic is a beautiful course, immaculate and well-maintained. The weather is fickle though.  Saturday was a sunny 70, Sunday, foggy & cold.

2)  Tiger looks much thinner in person

3) Golf fans drink a lot but are well-behaved. And well dressed (for the most part).

4) The tournament was well organized. We were driven from Candlestick Park, passed through security, and were on the course in about an hour.

5) No one knew what time it was. No cell phone were allowed and many people have stopped wearing watches.

6) The concessions were reasonably priced. Only sign of gouging was for water.  Bottles and liquids weren't allowed through security and there were no water fountains.  Result: If wanted a drink of water it cost you $2.50 for some sorta of  'gourmet' bottled water - that surprisingly tasted like tap water.

7)  TV doesn't adequately show how crowded the golf course is.  There are thousands of people everywhere, sitting in grandstands, endlessly marching from one hole to another, lining fairways, getting concessions.

8) TV doesn't show how noisy it can be.  Everything is much closer than you think and the yells of the crowd  after a great shot can be heard all over the course.  Further, fans were constantly yelling encouragement at the top golfers (particularly for Tiger) as they walk by

9)  On Saturday, Tiger was accompanied by at least a 20 person entourage that you rarely see on TV.  Six TV reporters, 8 Photographers, a SF policeman,  3 US PGA officials and 2 others - probably plain cloth security. The better your standing, the more security/media people you had.  The top ten golfers were accompanied by Cops.  With Golfers below 40th place it was just themselves and their Caddy.

10)  The pros really are pros. Its only in person that you  can only appreciate how good they really are and how tough the course is. Their "Bad shots" bemoaned by TV announcers are usually just narrow misses that would be fine on less demanding courses.