It's late and we're tired, but boy, what a day...........

So, the Open Championship started for real today. The opening ceremonies were at about 6:15am and the first tee times were at 6:30am. I didn't get to the course until 7:00am, however, just wanting to get organized in time for the first golfer I wanted to follow, which was John Daly. His tee time was 7:25am. My intention was to follow Daly for a few holes, then drop back and watch David Duval for a few holes, and then pick up Tiger on the 4th or 5th hole and watch him on in. But Daly was amazing. He started out birdie-birdie and eventually was 7 under after 11 holes. But the story is that he could have and maybe should have been 10 under by then. His drives were exploding off the tee and his short game was spectacular. His putting was just ok which was the only thing keeping him from having a round for the ages. So I stayed with him for 13 holes because, how could I not? But at this point he was still 7 under and I realized that it wasn't going to get any better for him. So I decided it was time to drop back and pick up Tiger. When I picked him up on the 7th hole he was 1 under through 6 holes. I watched him sink a lengthy putt for a birdie on 7, and he proceeded to birdie 5 of the first 8 holes that I watched. He 3 putted 17 for a bogey and ended up 5 under for the round. But I watched Daly for 13 holes and he was 7 under (he finished at 6 under), and I watched Tiger for 12 holes and he was 4 under (he finished at 5 under). So for the morning I was 11 under in 25 holes of watching, with 12 birdies and one bogey. These guys should hire me as their own personal watcher because when I was watching they were cranking out birdies like crazy. But it was a perfect day for weather and watching Daly and Tiger was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I was close enough to both of them to talk to them with encouragement and have them acknowledge me, and I witnessed the most amazing golf I have ever seen in person. Unbelievable.
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After lunch I went out and found Tom Lehman and followed him in for his last 7 holes. It was the perfect way to cap an amazing day. After battling the crazy crowds around Tiger, there were about 10 of us following Lehman and it was so relaxed that we got to have alot of give and take with him and he seemed to enjoy interacting with the fans. I was wearing my Minnesota Gopher outfit today and he showed his appreciation of it with an, "All right. Go Gophers!" It was the perfect way to cap an amazing day of 10 1/2 hours on the Old Course.
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As I mentioned yesterday, there were no cameras allowed on the course during competition so I expected that we would have no pictures of this experience. But leave it to Kim to be amazingly resourceful, so I will now turn it over to her to SHOW you her day.........




I really just wanted ONE Tiger sighting this week, and I wasn't sure it was going to happen. George and I decided as we were talking about this trip that I wouldn't go to all of the days of golf. My plan today was to walk around St. Andrews, maybe sit and read a book somewhere, and take more pictures of doors! I knew when Tiger teed off and had a general idea as to when he'd be close enough for me to see even though I didn't have a ticket. I got back to the course after some shopping and looking and luckily enough he was coming up to the 18th hole.









After Tiger finished the round I went to the back side of the clubhouse. Earlier today I had watched golfers come and go in cars provided by the tournament. After about 15 minutes, Tiger's caddie, Steve Williams showed up so I thought Tiger might not be far behind.
















Sure enough, Tiger showed up--you can see him right by the open trunk.

When I wasn't at the course I walked around town. These were the only people in kilts I saw today. I told them I needed a picture and they obliged. There were many people playing instruments on the streets for spare change. These guys were good!

Some of the scenes from the movie, Chariots of Fire were shot on the beach at St. Andrews. I decided to walk down to the beach and take a few pictures. Some people were making sand sculptures to advertise a brewery. They had made this keg out of sand.

I had to add at least one more picture of a blue door! This was on a church that we walked past to get to the course.

Here is George waiting for the train to Aberdeen. He's content--he had an amazing day. I had a great day too.

Here we are in Aberdeen. We are staying in a real hotel! I am totally appreciating having our own bathroom and not sleeping on the top bunk! Thanks for reading...Kim :)
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So that's it for today. We will be in Aberdeen for a couple of days, seeing some of my old hangout places from 37 years ago but also doing some resting and relaxing after some crazy-active days in St. Andrews. So we will enjoy our hotel room, we will sleep in and not worry about being anywhere at a particular time, we will get hot showers every morning, and we will refresh and regenerate for the rest of our trip, which still has 2 weeks to go!

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George