Final results
Ryan settled down in his final round and wound up with a four-over 74. Not quite enough, however, to pull him out of 71st. He finished one stroke behind Mike Small, the other PGA pro to make the cut.
Saturday's report (as told by Brad Rickel)
Well today wasn't Ryan's day. We got to the course and it was easy to see the difference between Friday to Saturday. The locker room is quiet and there just aren't as many people around the club house. They now play in twosomes off only the first tee, so there are just not many golfers around. When we are warming up there are two or three guys on the putting green and two or three guys on the driving range. The crowds have doubled or tripled and it is certainly a different feel. The golf course is now brown and the greens are on the verge of being completely dead. Jim Huber of TNT does a live interview with Ryan and his dad on the driving range during the middle of his warmup. This also makes things much different, instead of concentrating on a warmup, you have live TV in your face. This definitely changes the feel of the warmup and I am sure this is something the players ho play the tour full time are used to, but not Ryan.
One thing funny happened on the driving range. The wind blows left to right from the upper tee of the driving range and it is not that good of conditions for a guy who hits it right to left like Ryan does because you can't tell if you are hitting your normal ball flight. So Ryan has been hitting it from the right side of the tee box and aiming to the left side of the range to kind of hit into the wind and take away that effect of not seeing your normal ball flight. He pulled a three wood and it landed in one of the local TV booths and bounced around. If they would have been doing a broadcast at the time it would have been even worse. The crowd had a good laugh and Ryan, his dad, and I also had a good laugh.
Ryan hit it at 11:10 with Mike Small. Small is the only other club-pro to make the cut. Mike played on the tour for a while, but is now the Head Men's coach at the University of Illinois.
Ryan hit his drive on number one in the bunker and had to lay-up. He missed his 12 foot par putt after a good approach. He missed the green a bit right on number two and again bogeyed after a missed 10 footer. He followed that with good pars on number three and four and then got on the board with a solid birdie on the par 5 #5. One over through five and all looks good. A bogey on 6 and pars on 7 & 8 get him to the ninth hole at 2 over. He then made his first double bogey of the week and also his first three putt of the week and turns at four over.
The golf course is definitely getting much harder, faster and it is getting harder to make pars if you are not in the right place. Pars at 10, 11, bogey at 12, and a birdie at 13 has him 4 over with five to play. Then it didn't go very well. I think the long week and the course becoming more unforgivable just got the best of Ryan. Ryan went 6 over for the last six holes. I think being in bad places just probably wore him out and on the weekend at a major it just becomes so unbelievably hard, emotionally, mentally and physically.
Sunday Ryan will be the first one on the course. We had a good talk about this being a four round tournament and one good round on Sunday will pull him back up the board. I reminded him that if on Monday I would have told him he would still be playing on Sunday and only be two shots behind the low club pro he would have been ecstatic. My hope is that he relaxes and just “smells the roses” as he is walking the fairways on Sunday. He has already accomplished so much; his last goal is in sight still, to be the low club pro. The low club pro gets to be out at the winner's presentation and gets an award, which would be icing on the cake!
Friday's report (as told by Brad Rickel)
Wow!!! What a day. Ryan made the cut at his first major. Not only his first major, but the strongest field golf tournament in the world. Ninety-eight of the top 100 ranked players in the world are here. To be in 31st place after two rounds is unbelievable.
We got to the golf course at about 10 a.m. and went out for a little short game practice. After Ryan felt good about the speed of the greens we headed in for lunch. The greens are definitely showing signs of the heat. They watered them enough to stay green for the practice rounds, but they will start letting them die now. Just from the time we left the golf course on Thursday at 3:30 until we got back this morning you can already tell the difference. Brown is taking place of green as the dominate color. In majors they believe making the course harder and faster as the week goes by and it is easy to see it happening. The fairways and greens get just a little harder to hit each day.
Ryan had an OK warm-up. I didn't feel quite as good about it as I did on Thursday. He was next to one of the club pros on the range tee and the guy just kept talking to him and I just never felt like he was able to get into complete focus on his warm-up. The hard part today is going to be to have patience and not start worrying about what the cut number will be. The last thing you want to do on this course is to press. I am not sure I have explained the make up of the course. Most of the long hitters will struggle on a course like this if they do not adjust their strategy away from the driver some of the time. With the exception of the par threes, there is ONE, count it with me.....ONE straight hole on the golf course. 4 Par threes, 1 straight hole (#2), and 13 doglegs. This suits Ryan well as he can still hit many drivers and not go through the dogleg. The problems with the bombers is that they have to take crazy lines to hit driver. They have to hit over trees and bunkers and then their ball still hits the fairway going sideways to the hole and with the hard fairways it just runs out into the rough. I haven't been able to watch Tiger play much so far but I bet he is hitting only 5 or 6 drivers. You can tell by the guys who didn't make the cut that if you wouldn't back off and play strategically off the tee you would be in trouble. Daly is the one exception so far, but I bet it will catch up to him by the end.
Ryan started on #10 and hit a good tee shot. We had figured that the pin placements on #10 and #11 were going to be two of the hardest all day. It would be hard to believe that if you saw Tiger's shots on these holes, but I can tell you he hit unbelievable shots to these holes. Ryan left his second shot in the bunker short of the 10th green. It needed to fly 6 inches more and it would have been perfect. The pin was only three paces on the green and really hard to putt to from behind. Ryan started with a bogey, but followed it up with a good solid par on #11. The pin here looked like it wasn't even on the green. It was cut two paces from the shave collection area and a sure bogey if you missed it left. The long #12 caused another bogey for Ryan and his tee shot found the bunker, he almost made his long par putt. Two over through three holes and I was definitely getting anxious. He seems to be living and dying with each shot and this is not normal Ryan behavior on the golf course. #13 is the shortest par 5 at about 540 yards and Ryan hit a good drive. He then hit three wood in the front bunker. When he hit this, I think all of us, including Ryan, were very anxious. He hit it low and I think it probably carried the water by a few feet. He was 225 to carry the water and it is a shot he can hit. My only worry at the time is that if he hit it in the water he would really start pressing and feel the pressures of the cut lie immediately. He made a great sand shot and had a tap in birdie and it was easy to see him relax some. 2 over through three had become 1 over through 4 and he was in a better frame of mind. He stopped living and dying with each shot after that.
He made a good solid par on the par three #14 and just missed birdie after two great shots on #15. #16 I believe was one of the best pars I have ever seen him make and it was clear he was going to fight hard for every stroke this day. #16 is the 507 yard par four. Ryan hit his drive short and right with really no play but to lay up. The problem is that laying up out of this rough is very hard. You just don't know what way your ball will come off the club. His second shot tree limbs right of where he meant to hit it and he still had around 170 to the green and still in the rough. This was the start of some miraculous shots Ryan made this day. He it to 5 feet out of the rough from 170 and then drained the putt! When he was sitting in the rough before his third shot I was seriously worried about double bogey. I knew it was going to be hard just to get the ball on or near the green, so this felt like stealing when he made a par. He made an easy par on number 17 and then nothing was easy for a long time.
He missed the 18th green in the front right bunker and had a long blind uphill difficult bunker shot which he hit beautifully and drained the five footer for another hard fought par. Number one saw all three of the guys in the group miss putts from inside five feet and must have been very hard to read. Ryan missed his four footer after playing the hole fairly well and he was now 3 over. Ryan's wife is given a little hand held computer to monitor the live scoring and I can tell you the family was wearing it out. It was clear that the cut line was going to be around 5, but you never know. I sure didn't want to get to four over and have to worry about being on the cut line for the last eight holes. I had told Ryan's dad Bruce that I thought it would be best to not tell Ryan about the cut line, but I felt I would probably tell Bruce if I thought Ryan needed to know. As long as he was under the number I was going to keep my mouth closed. It turns out that Ryan did ask his dad to come ask me what the cut line was and he said that I had told him to not worry about it and stay focused on what you are doing. Great Job Dad!! Golf is best played without emotion or added pressure and I think Ryan's dad did him a huge favor. Even if he would have known he was well under the cut line it could have been bad information to have in your head.
Ryan then played #2 great and made an easy par, and then the fun really started. I can tell you that Ryan's whole tournament was saved by how hard he fought over the next four holes. On number three he hit he first really wild shot of the tournament. I happened to be standing short and left on the hole. I knew by his impact position that he had hit a snap hook and I told everyone to look out. The two ladies in front of me turned their backs to the tee and one of them was holding an umbrella which Ryan's ball one hopped off of and it stopped his ball from going further into the junk. It probably would have been in a worse place if not for hitting the umbrella, but as it was he still had to punch out to about 120 from the green, due to the dog leg and a creek going through the fairway. He hit a great shot to about 8 feet and then made a downhill right to left breaking putt for his third unbelievable par of the day. He was scrambling and making pars after being in bad places and that's the name of the game at a major. The next three holes were ridiculous. Ryan had clearly lost his swing by this time and was struggling to hit anything straight or even very solid. He was in three straight greenside bunkers. The greenside bunkers are very deep and you better hit very good shots to even think about an up and down. Well, Ryan did it three times in a row. He made a five foot downhiller on #4, a 15 foot downhiller on #5 and a 12 foot uphiller on #6. He just played four holes at even par and did not hit one good drive or second shot. His swing looked labored. To me he looked tired and his lower body was not a good solid base for his swing. When you get tired your lower body will start to give out first and your swing plane will change and it is very hard to hit the ball straight. He said later that he didn't feel like he was overly tired and that he started to try and make a good shoulder turn and hit it much better on the last three holes. I can tell you that I have never been more proud of one of my players, former or current, in their tenacity and gutting it out when he was in trouble. He hit good bunker shots during that stretch, but his putter was the MVP. He made four straight putts ranging from 5-15 feet. By all rights he probably should have been two or three over in the four hole stretch and he would have been on or outside the cut line. When he stood on the 7th tee box he was three shots under the projected cut line with three holes to play.
He finally made a bogey on the 7th hole and then came to the 245 yard par three 8th with 2 shots to spare. This made me very anxious as this is such a long par 3 and a bogey here would put him dangerously close to the number. He hit the best shot he had hit in 2 hours and put it up into the middle of the green for and easy two putt par. One to go, two shots to work with. I was fighting the urge to call Bruce over so he could tell Ryan to relax, but I fought it off and kept me mouth shut. The ninth hole is a tough driving hole with a bunker right and the dogleg turning right, so you run out of fairway if you hit it straight. Ryan hit, what I think was his best drive of the day, perfect. It is at this time when I knew he was going to make the cut and I think his family all realized it to. We all had a lot of wide eye'd looks at each other and said a few can you believe this?? I stood up behind the green on the up hill shot into the last hole. I wanted to get to see the shot come in. The pin was down front and the green is ridiculously fast if you are behind it. The correct play is to throw the ball past the pin and bring it back. This avoids the front bunkers and is really the only way to get it below the hole. Ryan hit his shot and I could tell it was going to be really close to staying up on the top. His ball hit right exactly at the crest of the hill and it slowly started back and ended up 10 feet below the hill and it was a done deal. Ryan said he felt like he might have hit it too hard and was going to be up on the top tier with a brutal putt, but he knew he was going to be good after he saw me “freaking out” behind the green. I don't know if it was “freaking out”, I just had both fists in the air, pumping them up and down, doing a little dance, howling at the moon.......
Ryan did some interviews with Golfweek, Sports Illustrated, and a few various newspapers after the round and it was up to the family dining area. As Ryan and I headed up to the clubhouse we just looked at each other and started laughing, no words were necessary. What else could you do? He had just made the cut a major championship! He just beat 120 of the best players in the world for two days on a brutally hard golf course. I think Ryan is probably the least surprised of all of his family and friends. I have always felt that if Ryan could get himself out here on a regular basis and then choose the right golf courses and tournaments to play he could stay out here forever.
He hits it at 11 a.m. tomorrow with Mike Small, the only other club ? pro to make the cut. Crowds will double, the course will be tougher. It will be a good test. One I know Ryan is looking forward to.
Thursday's report (as told by Brad Rickel)
Well it finally started. All the anticipation and hard work are over and it is time to hit it. We left the hotel at 5:45 a.m. to head for the course. I thought things were maybe a little too quiet in the car, so I tried to make a little small talk to lighten the mood. I think all three of us were a little tight and I think it is probably my job, if I have one, to take the edge off when possible. When we arrived at the course we dropped Ryan's bag off in the locker room and headed for the free foo ...... ahhhhhh ..... I mean the breakfast area. Did I mention that instructors aren't supposed to go in the competitor dining area? Whoops, turns out only immediately family and the players can go in there. But, hey, I'm family and they're used to me by now so I'm good to go. Hey I figure I pay my PGA dues for something.
After breakfast we headed to the putting green. Now since the tournament has started Ryan has to tell the guards that he wants me with him when he practices, otherwise instructors are not allowed behind the ropes. Ryan has said he wants me to come with him during his putting and while he hits balls and I am honored to be there with him. I thought Ryan had an excellent warm-up, very concentrated and just working on slowly getting ready to play. After his warm-up I said my “go get ?em” and Ryan and his dad headed to the first tee and I must admit I was a little choked up. I was so happy for Ryan to get to experience this, and that it is a realization of his life-long dream. It is not everyday that someone gets this far towards their dreams and I am thrilled for him. He has such passion for this game that he deserves this.
On the first tee I stood with Ryan's wife, Stacey, just few feet behind the tee box, basically by ourselves. I think that Ryan's gallery may in fact have been more nervous than him. At least Ryan has control of what is happening, but the rest of us have a helpless feeling and nervousness that comes with wishing great things for a loved one and not having any control of actually doing anything about it. Ryan's Dad, who is caddying, Mom, wife, sister and brother in-law, his wife's parents, a golf buddy, and three of his fraternity brothers are all on hand to cheer him on.
Ryan hit a great drive, right down the middle and longer than his playing partners. A photographer took a picture of Ryan in the middle of his swing and could have caused him to flinch. He gave the photographer a look of death and Steve Flesch's caddie went right to the photographer and told him how he felt in no uncertain terms. Ryan went on to make an easy par, no problem. Bradley Dredge made a great par after chipping out and Steve Flesch had a good look at birdie slip by. The second hole is a good hole and I told his dad if he gets by this hole OK he will have a good day and settle down. He played a great hole, right down the middle, then hit it to 20 feet and two putts for par and he is off at even par through two holes. I thought this would settle him down, I know it settled me down. When he hit that great shot into #2 green I felt he was going to have a great day. Talking to Ryan later he said it took him all the way till the second shot on #7 until he actually felt normal. He did a great job dealing with those emotions, that is much harder that the physical part of the game. He played better that then guys he played with, who are full time tour pros.
After another good par on three, Ryan missed a five-footer down the hill on four, although he hit a good bunker shot and he was now one over. The fifth hole is a 650-yard par five and Ryan missed the fairway a little left, but punched out the middle of the fairway to 143 yards. He hit a great shot and drained the putt for a big ovation his first birdie. He bogeyed #6 and then went on a good par run. He was playing the steadiest of anyone in the group and it was very fun to watch. He missed the fairway on the long dogleg left #12 and needed to punch out due to the lie and the fact that water runs in front of the green. This led to his third bogey. After a couple pars he then made a birdie on #15 after paying a great drive and approach shot to 12 feet. The putt just hung on and dropped in the low side and he was back to one over. #16 is a 507-yard par four. He hit an unbelievable chip shot after taking a drop from the cart path to the right of the hole and made the five-footer for a great par. On #17 he missed his drive to the right. He was blocked out from the green and had a bad lie in the rough. He made a great decision not to go for the green. The tree that he would have to go under also sits over a creek and it could have been disastrous if he got too aggressive. This paid off in a big way when he dropped a 25-footer down the hill for another great par. On #18 he hit it to the right side of the fairway and had to hit a three iron under some tree limbs and once again he was up to the task. After a good two putt he was in with a fantastic score of 71.
This puts Ryan in a tie for 23rd and also in a tie with some guy named Tiger Woods. He also beat 125 other guys. It was great round of golf. Very steady, very few physical mistakes and I think flawless in his course management. If he does this again tomorrow he will get to play the weekend. If the cut would have been today, the number would have been 3 over, so he is in good shape. My guess, and it is only a guess, is that the number will stay close to 3 over maybe 4 over at worse.
After the round Ryan was in good spirits and he knew he had done exactly what he needed to do to put himself in position to play on the weekend. We met in the......family dining area and had lunch...anyone surprised by this at this point?? After a short, but good practice session we headed for the hotel. The temperature is 104- 107 depending on what you see, but I can tell you with the heat and the humidity Ryan needs his rest. Ryan's dad calls the driving range “the furnace” and I can tell you it is an accurate description. You sweat through all of your clothes immediately and just stay wet the rest of the day.
Ryan hits it at 12:45 off #10 tomorrow and we know that hydration and food will be a key element of success. He plays with the same guys tomorrow and I can't wait to watch!!
Wednesday's report (as told by Brad Rickel)
Today is Wednesday, the last practice before the PGA Championship starts. We arrived at Southern Hills at 6 a.m. and had some breakfast in the player and family area. You can feel the difference today, people are getting more serious and fewer family members are around. This is the day that we are supposed to play with Davis Love and you can feel a difference in Ryan's mood as well. I'd say he is a somewhere between very nervous and very excited. Both emotions are hard to play golf with and it is clear this will be a good feeling for him to get through today, so he can handle it better tomorrow. As Ryan was getting close to warmed up, he went over to introduce himself to Davis Love. When he came back he had startling news. We were not only going to play with Davis Love, but Darren Clarke and Sean O'Hare were going to make it a foursome. I see this as great news and I am pretty psyched to get to be around these guys, but I think it immediately added a little more pressure on Ryan's shoulders.
The group was going to just play nine holes and they have decided to go off the back nine. On the 10th everyone introduced one other and Davis made a point of coming to us. I think Ryan was a little pumped up and hit his hybrid 30 yards past the dog leg. We had hit this club the first two days and it seemed about right. Today we learned it wasn't. The other three all hit 4- and 5-irons and left it short of the dogleg and gave themselves a much better chance of hitting from the short grass. This was a good lesson to learn and I think it will be crucial to the playing of this hole.
The group seemed enormous and was quite intimidating for a hole or two. Each player had a caddy and teacher, which made 12. Dr. Bob Rotella, the world's foremost teacher of the emotional and mental side of the game, was also with us, as well as two CBS TV. guys. This meant when we arrived at the 10th green we had 15 people on the green. There wasn't even room to move around and we outnumbered the gallery by double. We hit it at 7 .m. and the crowds were just coming in. One of the marshalls next to the green said he had never seen that many people on a green before and he was right.
I could see Ryan's swing remained a little fast for the first 2½ holes, but we talked about it and he started to relax some. By the time we arrived at the 12th hole, (the hole is one of the best holes I have ever seen by the way) the group had settled in and the CBS guys were gone. The 12th is also the first time anyone hit driver and man oh man Davis hit a balls that was a rocket. This was the start of a few bombs he hit today. On one hole Darren just smoked his drive and was far behind Davis and he looked at Dr. Bob Rotella and said, “Don't worry Bob, I don't have a feelings of inferiority.” Probably making sure Dr. Rotella wasn't going to start billing him right away. Davis made a point of talking with Ryan and finding out about him. Davis' father was a PGA Club pro and Davis respects the profession, so it is clear he will be treating Ryan with respect. Davis' father was killed in a plane crash many years ago and when he won the PGA Championship it meant even more to him because of his father's membership in the PGA.
Darren Clarke is a character, always talking, joking, giving guys a hard time. He was very fun to play with because it is clear he is having fun. He also spent good amounts of time with Ryan, talking and joking. I'm sure these guys understand the position Ryan is in and it makes me happy to know these guys really are good guys. They go out of their way to make Ryan feel comfortable, when they don't need to and many people would just ignore the Club Pro. The feeling I have is that the older, more mature guys who have already “made” it are more relaxed and easier to talk to. Sean O'Hare was real quiet. I get the sense he is just a quiet kid anyway, but I did feel he was even intimidated by the likes of Davis and Darren.
One of my favorite parts of the day is when Darren was hitting little bump, skip, and spin shots. He was doing it with an open club face which seems just about impossible. Sean asked him, “Where did you learn that?” Darren then gave Sean and everyone a 10-minute lesson on how to hit the shot. Talking to his teacher, it is a shot you have to learn in England, Scotland and Ireland because of the conditions of the weather and courses. Sean then tried to hit some and the crowd cheered when he was able to do it well. Darren's teacher told me that Darren is really good about helping younger guys and I can see it is true. What other sport has one competitor trying to help his competition get better. That's why they call golf the ?Gentleman's' game!
The weather is still ridiculous here, but playing at 7 a.m. helped a bunch. The rest of the nine was pretty uneventful and was very enjoyable. Getting at taste of this for Ryan is going to make everything else taste pretty bland and I know his desire to get to this level is going to skyrocket. After we finished the 18th hole we said our thank yous and went back for more free food.....wouldn't you?
We headed down to hit balls and couple of cool things happened. Rich Beem was hitting behind us and I went over and asked if his dad was around. We talked to Rich a bit and Ryan and I got to reminisce about winning the Big West Conference Championship in a playoff. Rich Beem's father was the head coach at New Mexico State and it was his team we beat in the playoff to win. Rich also asked Ryan if he could come out and play the Seattle Golf Club and Ryan gave him his card and said just call and I'll take care of it. Feels pretty cool when a major champion asked you if you can help him. Then Todd Hamilton started hitting right behind us and kept looking over. Eventually he came over to us and said, is one of you guys the Head Golf Coach at the University of Idaho. This caught me a little off guard, but I shook his hand and introduced myself. I guess he was looking at my hat or Ryan's head cover. It turns out that his son caddied for one of our players this year in Dallas at the US Amateur qualifier. Todd has won twice on tour and his second win was a doozy. He won the British Open. You can tell he is a good guy as well. He earned his spot out by playing for over a decade on mini tours and in Asia. Those guys always seem to be good guys. The guys who had to work really hard and appreciate what they have. He was joking and having a good time hitting balls, not like some of the robots on the range.
After some short game we headed in for ... free lunch. Yes, our third stop for food and it was now 12:30 ... what? I told you it was free didn't I?? After relaxing for awhile we headed out for some putting and a stop at the merchandise tent for some gift buying.
Well, after the wait, it is time. Ryan hits it at 7:30 with Steve Flesch, who just won the Reno-Tahoe Open last week and Bradley Dredge of Wales. I think Ryan has done all he can do to be ready. I think we figured everything you can figure about the course and he has practiced hard. I also believe playing with Furyk, Austin, Love, Clarke, and O'Hare has helped him get past some of the nervousness that has to be part of this. I know he will take awhile to settle in tomorrow, but he has done all he can do to be ready, that's for sure.
Tuesday's blog (as told by Brad Rickel)
Today we headed to the course at 6:45 a.m. It was definitely Tuesday not Monday. By the time we got to the course it was packed with players. Many of the players don't play on Monday because they were arriving from the prior PGA tournaments. Every big name you could think of was hitting balls, putting or teeing off. Ryan had a quick warm up and we headed to the tee. On the tee he joined up with another club pro, Don Yrene. Don will be on the PGA Cup team with Ryan in a month in Georgia. The USA PGA professionals play the PGA professionals from England. Kind of like the Ryder Cup for club professionals, Ryan is really excited to be a part of it and it is a huge honor. The third member of the group was Jeff Quinney, from Eugene, Ore. Jeff played at ASU and won the US Amateur while in college. He has also won on the PGA tour.
I would guess the crowds have now doubled in size already from Monday. Tiger once again was out early so you could see a massive crowd out on the course. Jeff had to bail out of the practice round after six holes to get some treatments on his wrist. As we were finishing our ninth hole, Tiger's group (he was playing with Bubba Watson and Corey Pavin) was on the 18th green. The two greens are adjacent to each other and we were about 20-30 feet from Tiger. The crowd was ridiculous and this is only Tuesday! As Tiger started to leave for the clubhouse, he had to walk through a small walkway between the crowd. As he got closer, the crowd pushed forward so hard that the metal fence broke free and sent 20 people to the crowd right at his feet. Unbelievable!! His people grabbed him and whisked him around the melee and it took a few minutes to get the fencing back up and restore order. I can not imagine his life, what he must have to go through on a daily basis.
When we got to the 10th tee Woody Austin joined our group. Woody is a regular guy and really has a fun personality. He was fun to talk to and was very gracious to us. He told Ryan on the 12th tee box to let his wife inside the ropes so she didn't have to fight the crowds and could be more part of the show. Ryan's wife, Stacy, then got to spend the rest of the round inside the ropes and I know it made it easier for her. It also let her feel the complete difference in being inside and outside of the ropes. It doesn't seem like a big deal, but it sure feels different. This was a very nice gesture on Woody's part and tells you what kind of guy he is. He also signed about a million autographs during the round. Twice as many as anyone else I have seen.
In the middle of the 18th fairway a little 4-year-old boy yelled out to Ryan for an autograph. He then ran out to the fairway much to the crowd's delight. Ryan signed his hat and then Woody took the boy's hat and put it on, acting like he thought the boy had given him his hat. The boy keep trying to jump and get his hat back and Woody played a little game of keep-away ? even stealing the boy's Sharpie. This created a lot of laughter from the crowd and big cheers when Woody finally signed the hat. What a thrill for the little boy to be in the middle of the fairway getting autographs. Woody Austin is definitely one of my favorite golfers from now on.
After another exhausting round we settled in for some lunch in the players-only lunch area and it was a who's who of golf. Pretty neat looking around at the best players in the world when they are just being themselves. After lunch Ryan and his wife went with a friend to look at the TV compound and got to see inside one of the trailers for CBS.
We then went to hit a few balls, next to Stewart Cink, who was getting a lesson from Butch Harmon. On the other side of Ryan was Jeff Sluman and next was Ernie Els. How cool is that! We were all shocked at how big Ernie is. Six-foot-three or -four and very broad shoulders. He is by far the biggest guy here. Many of the players nowadays are big guys, but no one compared to Ernie. We hit a few putts on the way out and ended another great day at the PGA Championship. Tomorrow we play a practice round with Davis Love at 7 a.m.
Monday's blog (as told by Brad Rickel)
Today was our first practice-round day. We arrived at the course at 8:30 a.m. Ryan got his locker all squared away and we headed out to the putting green. It was pretty slow still and most of the people were out watching Tiger, who started his practice round at 6:20 a.m. It is surreal to be inside the ropes. People were scrambling to get Ryan's autograph and he started to sign some right away. He putted for a short time and we went to hit balls. At the range they find out what kind of balls he hits and that is what they give him to hit on the range. Just in case you are wondering, this is not how we do it in college golf! Big grandstands surround the range tee and it was Ryan's first experience hitting balls with hundreds of people watching.
After hitting balls we headed to the short game facility for some chipping out of the 4- 5 inch Bermuda rough. We went into the Titleist tour van and they were building a new driver for Ryan that he had asked a rep about on the range. These guys get service!!
Ryan then had to go to the media tent to do an interview, and then had some lunch with his family in the player and family food area.
After lunch we had a short warm up session. Luke Donald settled in behind us on the range. Ryan introduced himself and Luke was nice, but it was clear he was there to get some practice in. When Ryan was warmed up we headed for the first tee. You don't make practice round tee times. Players just make there way to the tee and first come first serve.
As luck would have it, Jim Furyk had just hit his drive and said Ryan could join him. This was a great thing for a couple of reasons. Jim's father is a life long PGA pro and Jim would be very accepting of Ryan. It was also great because a huge gallery formed to follow Jim Furyk. Ryan got to feel what it was going to be like this week right away. We feel like getting to play with that many people watching you is one of the hurdles we need to jump over right away and this was great experience. Jim, his dad, and his caddy Mike (Fluff as he is known) were great. Jim talked to Ryan and made him feel very at ease. It is amazing what these guys go through on a daily basis. Furyk played nine holes and called it a day because he is nursing a back injury that forced him to withdraw from the tour event last week.
The back nine had much smaller crowds and offered us a chance to relax some. As the back nine went along we all started to feel the effects of the heat. It is 100 degrees with 70% humidity and it wears you out. Ryan's dad is caddying for him and carrying that heavy staff bag around in this heat is a chore.
It is clear that picking a good line off the tee is a big deal here. The rough is long and penalizing and most of the holes turn slightly off the tee. The more fairways you find the better off you will be, that's for sure. The greens are fast and sloped and will be a challenge if you are on the wrong side of the pin. Ryan's strengths have always been driving straight and he is a great putter, so this suits him just fine.
Today was exhausting and a good barometer of what to expect the next few days. Tomorrow we will play early and beat the heat.
Sunday's blog (as told by Brad Rickel)
Ryan and I both arrived today and went directly to Southern Hills to get our credentials. What a place! Basically no one is around yet and it is still awesome. I have an instructor credential, which basically lets me be inside the ropes for all practice round days. Once the tourney starts, Ryan has to tell the PGA when he is on the range or putting green that he wants me with him. I went with Ryan to get his Player credentials and it was pretty cool. They have the PGA of America Championship Trophy (the Wanamaker Trophy) in the room where he checked in and we got to look at it up close and examine all the legendary names engraved on it. We also took some time to look out at the course from the clubhouse and it is truly beautiful. The reason we looked out at it is because it is about a million degrees here. I am guessing 95 degrees with 80% humidity. I realized that this was an endurance test as well as a golf tourney. It is also pretty easy to see that keeping hydrated will be a critical component of success at this tournament.
After Ryan got his credentials, we went to find his locker. This was fun! His locker was full of goodies from Titleist, Ryan is sponsored by Titleist. We spent some time looking at the names on the lockers around him. I think Ryan was proud to have his name up next to these people, definitely a moment of realization of where he is and what he has already accomplished. It is possible that Ryan and I found Tiger's locker.....and peeked inside.....but no one will be able to confirm that. After the locker room, we went to get Ryan's Courtesy Car. Buick sponsors the PGA and the players all get a Buick to drive for the week. Nice perk!
Monday we will head to the golf course at around 8:30. Ryan wants to get his stuff put away in the locker room and then get some short-game practice in before an interview with a Seattle radio station at 11 a.m.. After the interview, we will head out for his first practice round.
Ryan had a friend set him up a practice round with Davis Love on Wednesday. This is great, because he has been Ryan's favorite player growing up.
Ryan is in the first group on Thursday morning. 7:30 a.m. His first start in a Major Championship! WOW.
Ryan's story
The best golfers in the world will tee up at the PGA Championship Aug. 9-12 at the Southern Hills Country Club at Tulsa, Okla. For Ryan Benzel '01, it will be his first chance to play in the rarified environment with the professional golfers from the PGA Tour.
"This is huge," said Ryan. "I'm competing in the same tournament as Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Zach Johnson."
Ryan isn't a stranger to professional golf. He's been the assistant golf professional at the Seattle Golf Club since 2002. He also competes in Pacific Northwest PGA Section Professional tournaments for golf course professionals, and tied for second at this year's PGA Professional National Championship at Sunriver, Ore. Ryan and the top 20 finishers were invited to play at this year's PGA Championship, which features the best golf course professionals competing with the PGA Tour professionals.
"This is one of the four major tournaments in professional golf," said Ryan. "I think I'll need to allow myself to be 'the kid in the candy store' and get it out of my system, and then be as focused as I can be as a competitor."
Ryan already has experienced some of the media attention that comes with professional sports. The Golf Channel has produced a special called "The
Road to the PGA Championship," and Ryan is one of the golfers profiled.
"I had a camera crew come to Seattle to interview, film and highlight what I do each day as a PGA professional," said Ryan. They also interviewed my wife and me down by the Space Needle."
The special aired on CBS last weekend, and will run on the Golf Channel at the following times:
Aug. 6, 5 p.m.
Aug. 7, midnight, 3 a.m., 1 p.m.
Aug. 8, 8:30 a.m.
Aug. 9, 7 a.m.
Ryan will have some support at the PGA Championship. His dad, Bruce, will be his caddy, and former Idaho golf coach Brad Rickel also will be there and plans to post a blog from the tournament on the Idaho Athletics Web site, www.govandals.com.
Ryan graduated from the University of Idaho in 2001 with a degree in sports science. He was a member of the Idaho golf team for four years, including the 2000 team that won the Big West Conference Men's Golf Championship. He was first-team all-conference in 2000 and second-team all-conference in 2001.
