APRIL 29, 2008
As our weekend loomed closer last week, we commenced pondering our options for another Shanghai pursuit. The previous weekend had been jam packed and full of adventure, and the prevailing sentiment was that something a bit more sedate was in order. Randy commented that this weekend was the BMW Asian Open golf tournament here in Shanghai at Tomson Golf and Country Club (Pudong side). We'd made plans last year to attend as admission is free (which we discovered after a long and laborious trek to the other side of the city via a combination of subway, taxi, and a long hike to a not-quite-completed clubhouse to purchase unnecessary tickets) and we already knew the drill. Alan seemed interested as well, so we made a plan for Saturday morning.
Saturday dawned sunny and warm with light breezes. A temperature of mid-70's was predicted ... in general, a perfect day to witness (or even play) a round of golf. We met Alan at the Loushanguan subway station and boarded line 2 to the Longyang station, then fetched a taxi to Tomson. The trip seemed much simpler this time (as we knew vaguely where we were headed), and the driver took us right to the door of the clubhouse where an official tent was erected for the purpose of funneling the spectators onto the golf course in an orderly manner.
Tomson is a beautiful course with a lovely compound of (primarily expat) deluxe homes surrounding it. The course has a rolling terrain with a lot of sand traps (prompting me to remark to Randy at one point that this should be called "Tomson Desert") and an abundance of trees. The air held the usual Shanghai haze partially obstructing what would have been a perfect view of the Pudong Financial District including the Pearl Tower and the almost-complete Shanghai World Financial Building from the higher elevations of the course. The buildings were shadows in the distant mist rather than the picturesque features they should have been. It was just bordering on hot which prompted us to find shade among the trees quite often, but between the shade trees and the lovely breeze, we were quite comfortable.
As we approached the first tee, we had just missed the opening drives of Marcus Frazer and Greg Norman, who was billed as the "star" of the tournament. They were just walking down the first fairway with their caddies, and the three of us decided that we were old enough to appreciate the celebrity of Greg Norman as we could remember his "Hay Days" of the 80's, and we opted to follow that group. They were among the last 4 or 5 couples of the day in the standings. I wasn't familiar with many of the other players except for Retief Goosen who was a couple of pairings behind the Norman/Frazer crowd. There were probably 50 or so spectators in this particular group, not that many as professional tournaments go, but enough to make it seem like a true gallery for a professional tour.
At the start, the golfers seemed calm and casual, even interacting a bit with the crowd. As it was a small-ish group, Norman called a few times for the viewers to cross the fairway in front of the golfers which is sort of unusual. Protocol is to wait for the golfers and their caddies to head on down the fairway before allowing the gallery to cross. As a spectator, we were probably walking twice as far as the golfers, wending our way up and down hills, between links and hazards, jousting for the best position to witness the action. As play progressed though, the golfers grew more serious in their attitude and concentrated more on the course than the crowd.
Somewhere around the 2nd or 3rd hole, we noticed a small blond woman who was being escorted by a tournament official in our group and wondered aloud if this was Greg Norman's wife. She seemed to make eye contact with him quite often. As it was a small following, she sat down on the lawn very near us several times, and we often walked along with her to the next hole, although she never said a word to us. We didn't feel it was appropriate to start a conversation, but were surprised when a handful of spectators asked for her autograph. We speculated that maybe she was a minor celebrity in Australia, Norman's home country. She was very tan and very thin. I remember thinking that she either works out a lot or is some kind of athlete.
After the 4th hole, Randy noticed on the course map that the 7th putting green was right behind us. He suggested that we find a shady spot near there and watch the two or three pairings in front of Frazer and Norman putt through, then continue on with Frazer and Norman when they caught up. I was ready for a break. The pace was quite fast and, as I'd mentioned, we were hiking a lot up and down some hills around the links (reminiscent of last week's adventure .... my legs are getting a good workout these days!). We found a grassy knoll just above the 7th putting green and watched the action from there.
We were a bit like school children in awe of Greg Norman who passed by within a few feet of us several times. He is still very handsome and in excellent shape. Both he and Frazer flirted with birdies several times, but neither could get themselves much below par most of the day. Frazer, in particular, seemed to miss many putts by just a hair's breath prompting much groaning in sympathy from the crowd.
Randy was great with the course map and several times we did that same routine ... followed Frazer and Norman, and then settled at a point ahead of them to watch other golfers and let them catch up to us. At the turn, we visited a few of the sponsor's tents and purchased some caps thinking that we might have an opportunity for an autograph.
Coming into the 18th, both golfers were even, but had shot well enough to give themselves a chance at birdie. Frazer had gotten into a rut by now, and couldn't seem to find a way out of it ... missed again by not much!! Norman seemed to have taken a card from Frazer's book, and fell to 1 under at the finish. He was NOT a happy camper, and shunned attempts for autographs, so we thought better of bothering him at that point.
We decided to take a taxi home to light a grill as Randy had steaks marinating for dinner. The breeze felt good coming in through the open taxi windows, and the combination of hiking the course and the heat had fatigued me, and I drifted off for a bit of a nap on the way home. OK, not as sedate as we'd imagine, but definitely worth the energy.
Once home, Randy lit the grill while I started cleaning vegetables for salads and a side dish. Randy then went online to check the standings of the tournament. After a few minutes, he came out and said, "You'll never guess who the blond woman was with Norman." "No?" I replied, "Who is she?" He answered, "His fiance .... Chris Evert!!!" Oh my gosh!!! We'd been walking around all day with Chris Evert and didn't even know it!! Well, no wonder I thought she was some kind of athlete .... DUH!!! And no wonder there were folks asking for her autograph. We wished at that point we'd have simply asked for an autograph and of course, we'd then have KNOWN who she was. Oh well. She was probably glad to have a day relatively free of paparazzi and hangers-on.
Randy and Alan had to work on Sunday as this is a holiday week and, as is often the case in China, workers are expected to work some or all the weekend prior to a holiday to make up for the time taken for the holiday. Randy suggested I go back out to Tomson for the final day, but it didn't seem like it would be as much fun by myself. We heard later that Darren Clarke won the tournament by 8 under, and I think Norman ended up at around 10th at 1 under. Frazer self-destructed and came in at 4 over.
Golf is coming on as a big hobby for those that can afford it here in China (and that the group of those that can afford it is growing every day). Randy and I have taken advantage of the relative inexpensive price of clubs and have each purchased a set of Calloways which included a nice bag with wheels, head covers, balls, and a travel bag. Our neighbors across the hall are golfers and have expressed interest in golfing with us. To be more exact, Andreas is a golfer. Claire has taken lessons and has agreed to include me when she starts lessons again this spring.
We have a long weekend coming up for the previously mentioned holiday. I went online to check some packages yesterday, and we have decided upon a weekend at Sentosa beach just outside of Singapore at the Shangri-La Rasa Sentosa Resort. Since we had to cancel our Thailand trip planned for last October, we decided that it might be a good time to try again for a long weekend. My head is filled with dreams of warm, sunny skies, and some time to relax on the beach with a tall, frozen pina colada. So, hopefully, I will have another adventure on which to report this time next week.
Saturday dawned sunny and warm with light breezes. A temperature of mid-70's was predicted ... in general, a perfect day to witness (or even play) a round of golf. We met Alan at the Loushanguan subway station and boarded line 2 to the Longyang station, then fetched a taxi to Tomson. The trip seemed much simpler this time (as we knew vaguely where we were headed), and the driver took us right to the door of the clubhouse where an official tent was erected for the purpose of funneling the spectators onto the golf course in an orderly manner.
Tomson is a beautiful course with a lovely compound of (primarily expat) deluxe homes surrounding it. The course has a rolling terrain with a lot of sand traps (prompting me to remark to Randy at one point that this should be called "Tomson Desert") and an abundance of trees. The air held the usual Shanghai haze partially obstructing what would have been a perfect view of the Pudong Financial District including the Pearl Tower and the almost-complete Shanghai World Financial Building from the higher elevations of the course. The buildings were shadows in the distant mist rather than the picturesque features they should have been. It was just bordering on hot which prompted us to find shade among the trees quite often, but between the shade trees and the lovely breeze, we were quite comfortable.
As we approached the first tee, we had just missed the opening drives of Marcus Frazer and Greg Norman, who was billed as the "star" of the tournament. They were just walking down the first fairway with their caddies, and the three of us decided that we were old enough to appreciate the celebrity of Greg Norman as we could remember his "Hay Days" of the 80's, and we opted to follow that group. They were among the last 4 or 5 couples of the day in the standings. I wasn't familiar with many of the other players except for Retief Goosen who was a couple of pairings behind the Norman/Frazer crowd. There were probably 50 or so spectators in this particular group, not that many as professional tournaments go, but enough to make it seem like a true gallery for a professional tour.
At the start, the golfers seemed calm and casual, even interacting a bit with the crowd. As it was a small-ish group, Norman called a few times for the viewers to cross the fairway in front of the golfers which is sort of unusual. Protocol is to wait for the golfers and their caddies to head on down the fairway before allowing the gallery to cross. As a spectator, we were probably walking twice as far as the golfers, wending our way up and down hills, between links and hazards, jousting for the best position to witness the action. As play progressed though, the golfers grew more serious in their attitude and concentrated more on the course than the crowd.
Somewhere around the 2nd or 3rd hole, we noticed a small blond woman who was being escorted by a tournament official in our group and wondered aloud if this was Greg Norman's wife. She seemed to make eye contact with him quite often. As it was a small following, she sat down on the lawn very near us several times, and we often walked along with her to the next hole, although she never said a word to us. We didn't feel it was appropriate to start a conversation, but were surprised when a handful of spectators asked for her autograph. We speculated that maybe she was a minor celebrity in Australia, Norman's home country. She was very tan and very thin. I remember thinking that she either works out a lot or is some kind of athlete.
After the 4th hole, Randy noticed on the course map that the 7th putting green was right behind us. He suggested that we find a shady spot near there and watch the two or three pairings in front of Frazer and Norman putt through, then continue on with Frazer and Norman when they caught up. I was ready for a break. The pace was quite fast and, as I'd mentioned, we were hiking a lot up and down some hills around the links (reminiscent of last week's adventure .... my legs are getting a good workout these days!). We found a grassy knoll just above the 7th putting green and watched the action from there.
We were a bit like school children in awe of Greg Norman who passed by within a few feet of us several times. He is still very handsome and in excellent shape. Both he and Frazer flirted with birdies several times, but neither could get themselves much below par most of the day. Frazer, in particular, seemed to miss many putts by just a hair's breath prompting much groaning in sympathy from the crowd.
Randy was great with the course map and several times we did that same routine ... followed Frazer and Norman, and then settled at a point ahead of them to watch other golfers and let them catch up to us. At the turn, we visited a few of the sponsor's tents and purchased some caps thinking that we might have an opportunity for an autograph.
Coming into the 18th, both golfers were even, but had shot well enough to give themselves a chance at birdie. Frazer had gotten into a rut by now, and couldn't seem to find a way out of it ... missed again by not much!! Norman seemed to have taken a card from Frazer's book, and fell to 1 under at the finish. He was NOT a happy camper, and shunned attempts for autographs, so we thought better of bothering him at that point.
We decided to take a taxi home to light a grill as Randy had steaks marinating for dinner. The breeze felt good coming in through the open taxi windows, and the combination of hiking the course and the heat had fatigued me, and I drifted off for a bit of a nap on the way home. OK, not as sedate as we'd imagine, but definitely worth the energy.
Once home, Randy lit the grill while I started cleaning vegetables for salads and a side dish. Randy then went online to check the standings of the tournament. After a few minutes, he came out and said, "You'll never guess who the blond woman was with Norman." "No?" I replied, "Who is she?" He answered, "His fiance .... Chris Evert!!!" Oh my gosh!!! We'd been walking around all day with Chris Evert and didn't even know it!! Well, no wonder I thought she was some kind of athlete .... DUH!!! And no wonder there were folks asking for her autograph. We wished at that point we'd have simply asked for an autograph and of course, we'd then have KNOWN who she was. Oh well. She was probably glad to have a day relatively free of paparazzi and hangers-on.
Randy and Alan had to work on Sunday as this is a holiday week and, as is often the case in China, workers are expected to work some or all the weekend prior to a holiday to make up for the time taken for the holiday. Randy suggested I go back out to Tomson for the final day, but it didn't seem like it would be as much fun by myself. We heard later that Darren Clarke won the tournament by 8 under, and I think Norman ended up at around 10th at 1 under. Frazer self-destructed and came in at 4 over.
Golf is coming on as a big hobby for those that can afford it here in China (and that the group of those that can afford it is growing every day). Randy and I have taken advantage of the relative inexpensive price of clubs and have each purchased a set of Calloways which included a nice bag with wheels, head covers, balls, and a travel bag. Our neighbors across the hall are golfers and have expressed interest in golfing with us. To be more exact, Andreas is a golfer. Claire has taken lessons and has agreed to include me when she starts lessons again this spring.
We have a long weekend coming up for the previously mentioned holiday. I went online to check some packages yesterday, and we have decided upon a weekend at Sentosa beach just outside of Singapore at the Shangri-La Rasa Sentosa Resort. Since we had to cancel our Thailand trip planned for last October, we decided that it might be a good time to try again for a long weekend. My head is filled with dreams of warm, sunny skies, and some time to relax on the beach with a tall, frozen pina colada. So, hopefully, I will have another adventure on which to report this time next week.
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5:51 PM
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