Went to Futures Tour at Syracuse (July 31- August 2, 2009)

[Carl Spackler]

Went to the Futures Tour at Syracuse (Alliance Bank Classic, July 31- August 2, 2009), Saturday and Sunday.

Sunday until about 1PM had a fairly steady rain, with a few torrential downpours thrown in. No lightening, though, so there were no delays after I arrived around 11 AM.

On Sunday during the rain Onnarin “Moo” Sattayabanphot was pissed after she was the only player in her group (the others being Christine Song and Nicole Jeray) to hit the 6th green (par 3), positioning herself with a very makeable birdie putt, but 3 putted instead in the slop. As she walked to the 7th tee, with a voice louder than conversational she forcefully stated to a course official that “the greens are unplayable!”.

He ignored her, but as she stalked off (the two extra strokes ultimately moved her from a possible T-13 to T-22) he roused the two slacker groundskeepers who were stretched out sleeping on the benches of the lean-to rain shelter immediately adjacent to the green. They grabbed their squeegee rollers (?) and waited for the next group (the 5th-to-last) to tee off. I didn’t stick around to see what the groundskeepers did, but I did return for the final group and the two former slackers spent several minutes vigorously squeegeeing the water off the putting lines of the three players. (I was told by a local that the 6th green retains significantly more water than the rest of the greens.) It appears that winning the pole position confers privileges not available to other golfers...

(Moo is what Onnarin was called by Nicole Jeray, and is a self-identified nickname, from here:
LPGA.com )

Followed the final group (Jenny Suh/Seo-Jae Lee/Angela Buzminski) for the last five holes of the tournament, and I was amused by the casualness of the proceedings. Most groups had very few spectators that followed them (several times I was the only one, and several other times the only others were 1-2 family members). In those situations we spectators often walked down the fairway close to the players (there were no ropes on the course other than around the 1st and 10th tees, and the 18th green), although we would always watch the shots from the rough. I assumed this would NOT be the case for the final group since there were 20+ people following it when I caught up with it.

I was wrong. By the time Jenny and Seo-Jae, tied for the lead, were ready to tee off 18 the crowd had swelled to 50+. After the group teed off, the crowd streamed down the fairway ahead of, beside, and behind the three players and their caddies. At one point I looked back and it took me several seconds to pick out the players. Also, as the players were teeing off 18 a mother on the other side of an adjacent set of bushes and trees (presumably the course’s property line) was having a very audible argument with her children, and as they were putting on 18 children were loudly splashing and screaming in the club’s pool, maybe 30 yards away. (I think I’m going to petition the Futures Tour to allow cheering during a golfer’s stroke...)

To hit at the right/middle pin, Jenny and Seo-Jae had to go directly over the middle of a right/front bunker protecting the green. Both did so and landed their shots in the rough between the bunker and the green, with the shots ending up 15-20 feet below the hole (on either side of it, so Seo-Jae, hitting second, couldn’t get a good read on her break from Jenny’s putt). Jenny left her putt about five feet short (as most of the players were doing on the slow greens). Seo-Jae went for it and sent her birdie try two feet past. They putted out (both were impressive, given the pressure each faced), headed to the scorer’s table, and I headed back to the 18th tee for the playoff.

When I got there the mother/children argument had escalated and was now loud. (It was also sporadic though, so I wondered whether the players would try to time it like they do with wind gusts.) Neither seemed fazed by the noise, and both hit excellent tee shots. Jenny’s approach was very similar to her earlier one, over the middle of the trap, and she left herself in a similar position, about 15 feet below the hole. Seo-Jae hit a better tee shot, about 20 yards longer and to the left so a mistake short/left wouldn’t catch the trap. Unfortunately with her approach she didn’t get under the ball, so it didn’t stick on the green but went 20 feet off the back edge. (She also hit a mild hook, but I think if she had ended up on the green she would’ve had a good shot at two-putting.) Her pitch onto the green was down slope and went past the hole 15 feet. Jenny’s birdie putt for the win was long enough but wide by an inch, and she tapped in for par. Seo-Jae’s par save was also long enough but wide by two inches, and she tapped in for a bogey (why the tap in?).

Other anecdotes:

-I watched Esther Choe a few times both Saturday and Sunday.

Her caddie wore blue leather Van’s, a nice look that differentiated him from the many (players and caddies) on the course even though he was wearing similar clothing to the many.

(I’ve read her caddie is her older brother Ben, from here:
LPGA Tour | Notes: Choe sighting at Futures Q-School

Her caddie was Asian-American (from the American spoken) and of the right age to be him...)

-I picked up a chunk of rough turf Taylor Leon sent with her ball, and when she saw me do that she made a 90 degree turn and offered to replace it. Thanks Taylor!

-On Saturday I looked for Christine Song and instead found Tiffany Joh (in Christine’s group). On Sunday, in the rain, I met up with Tiffany’s group a few holes before their turn. She played well when I saw her (saving a par after a bad tee shot on 15, making a birdie on 16 as one of the few players I saw to make the distance to the green). Her mother was the only spectator (other than me) both times.

[Buzzer]

Nice report, Carl....thanx. We could use a few more like this from the Futures Tour.

Viva Annika