February 2015 – SoCal Bill McDonald

Downtown stroll

US Naval Institute sponsored a members event last night, coinciding with a three-day conference for military tech types. It was held at a place with the awesome view above. More about that follows, but first I took a stroll. After browsing the conference’s exhibits, I had some time before the USNI event so I decided to walk through a little of downtown San Diego — the Gaslight Quarter (called historic, but seems more nuevo tourista), Petco Park neighborhood, and the new county library (remember, I have librarians among family and friends).

Here’s San Diego’s ball field.

Actually, as I’m sure you have surmised, this is not the home of the Padres. This is a kids’ field in Park in the Park, which is a three-acre open area beyond the bleachers of Petco Park, which is accessible each day, though you need a ticket if it’s game time. Here’s Petco Park. (Petco is based in San Diego, FYI.)

Not quite the green swath, but they’re working on it. It is February, after all.

The library is just a block from Petco Park. This is a relatively new central library, opening in September 2013. In the tradition of cash-strapped California, no expense spared! $185 million, and it looks it. It’s like San Diego’s version of London’s pickle, on a reduced scale.

For those interested, such as the aforementioned librarians, here’s a gallery of images from the library.

Looking east from that reading room, toward the mountains

View of Coronado Bay Bridge from the open deck near the top

The USNI event was at “The Ultimate Skybox,” a unit on the 15th (top) floor of the “Dreamview Tower.” Nothing like overstatement, but it is nice, and this view is worthy of another look.

At lower right in the picture above is Petco Park and in the distance is the Coronado Bay Bridge. Temps were still in the 70s by sundown so it was very comfortable outside. Below is a more direct view of Petco Park, with Coronado and Naval Air Station North Island on the other side of the harbor and Point Loma in the distance at upper right. Thanks, sun, for making a nice sky.

A slightly more northerly view below. I took some panorama shots as well, but haven’t figured out yet how to retrieve them.

Very pleasant evening. Met some new people, including Christine (last name forgotten), who is lead veterinarian for the Navy’s marine mammal program out on Point Loma. She went to Tufts, of course, and we reminisced about snow. Well, actually, we talked about how much both of us did not miss it. She indicated interest in speaking before the Navy League (and perhaps the BC alumni chapter) about the marine mammal program.

And seeing Petco Park close up convinced me to consider going to a few games this season. The Padres are reportedly considered to be more competitive this season with some recent trades and acquisitions, and there is a Stone Brewery outpost right in the Park in the Park.

Torrey Pines wrapup

The weekend at Torrey Pines was very nice and the tournament, for me, went well. By well, I mean the fog was generally light when it came and I was able to get home in the daytime.

Below are some screen captures, in this case photos of my TV screen. Still trying to figure out how to move what’s on my DVR to my computer. Anybody done that?

Jason Day, eventual winner of the tournament, tees off Sunday on the 11th, my hole. The vertical red line marks my location. I spent the day on the right side of the green.

Day, following his putt for a par, with me at left.

In 2013, the first year I worked at the tournament, I also was at 11 on the weekend, also on the right side of the green. Got to watch Tiger make a great shot out of the trap. I have a wide-brimmed hat on in this pic, kneeling behind him, as he picked up his par.

Here’s an overhead of Torrey Pines, showing both courses, North and South. The vertical red lines show my locations — upper left on 11 North and lower right on 11 South.

Similar view is obscured below, as is occasional and typical this time of year.

On Wednesday, during the pro-am, I was able to get a picture of Phil Mickelson. He’s on the 18th with his caddy.

The LPGA tournament is March 25-29, so look for more, and better-looking, pics late next month.

Days 2 & 3 — Inside the Ropes

Can't really complain about my "work space" — Can’t really complain about my “work space”

The tournament began Thursday, Feb. 5, and before the end of his round Tiger withdrew. That wasn’t the big news, though. Bigger was the row between me and Billy Horschel, defending FedEx Cup champion. (In a similar vein, a woman attending the tournament called me a “smart-ass” today. Wonder if this role is right for me.)

See, Horschel was playing with Tiger and Rickie Fowler, one of the mega-groups the PGA likes to put together. The 11th hole, on which I was a marshal, was the second hole in their round, having teed off at the 10th. I was in the landing area on the left side of the hole, to help locate balls in the rough and to show, as best I could, where balls might have crossed the hazard marker near the huge and deep ravine just a few yards from my position. I was immediately behind a tree trunk and below the crown of a pine tree (at far right in picture above).

When Horschel hit, the marshal behind him swung the paddle to the left, indicating the flight of the ball. I then heard a sound above, a rustle, and waited to hear the sound of the ball hitting the ground. I never did. As the golfers started coming down the fairway, I went out from the tree and started looking around in the rough. One of the PGA officials (among those who accompany Tiger on his rounds) was first out to me and asked if I had seen the ball. I told him I had not seen the ball, but had heard what I assumed to be the ball hit the tree above me and had seen or heard nothing else. We both looked around in the rough.

Horschel, coming up the fairway, saw us looking around in the rough and then asked me the same question, “Did you see the ball?” I repeated the answer I gave the official. Horschel seemed peeved. “You mean, you were right here under this tree, and you didn’t see the ball?” I gave my answer the third time. He asserted he thought the ball hit the trunk of the tree, 3-4 feet above the ground. I said I had heard no such sound. With a mild harrumph, he joined the larger group now looking for the ball.

As Golf Channel was recording me, head down, scouring the area for the missing ball (below), this guy came along and just “took my space.” What some people will do to get in the limelight!

Actually, as a bunch of us were looking into the ravine, I happened to glance up to check the guy next to me. Oh . . . Tiger. He found a ball, and pointed to it several yards away in the bramble. Horschel came to look, peered down, and, seemingly with disdain, said, “Nah, that’s a Topflite.” As there was no determination as to what happened to the ball, he had to return to the tee and hit again. I believe he ended the hole with a triple bogey 7.

At one point, someone looked up at the tree crown and said something like, You know, it looks thick enough up there that maybe it stayed there. What do you think?

One of the other marshals in our group plays this course regularly and said later he’d seen balls numerous times go into trees and never come out. (Wish I had known that earlier.) I’m pretty sure Horschel’s ball (Titleist, I’m guessing) remains among the foliage. Even Tiger seemed to think it might be up there.

Had to put all this excitement aside, of course, and get back to my marshaling duties. Fog had delayed the tournament start for 90 minutes and pushed back our finishing time until about 4:30, which meant terrible traffic coming home. Left the house at 6:45 am, returned at 6:30 pm. After taking care of the dog, fixing dinner, having a beer, I caught some Larry-itis and fell asleep in my chair.

Today went much better, in terms of both weather and timing. I spent all day behind the tee, signaling the direction of each drive. Today, we had Phil Mickelson play the North Course. No problems with his threesome. He missed the cut, so the tournament will be missing its two biggest names over the weekend. (Tournament officials and concession folks are totally crying.)

Okay, so why did this woman get fresh with me? I had a little bit of double duty, monitoring a rope line between the 10th green and 11th tee. People could come up a certain point and no further. She, a woman of a certain age 🙂 and not unattractive, came up to the rope and asked me, “So, can I go beyond here . . . ever?” “Ever?”, I responded. “Not until the tournament’s over.” She took a few steps, turned around, and said, “Smart-ass.” Smiling.

Torrey Pines is under a flight path from Marine Corps Air Station Miramar (as a Naval Air Station, it was the location of “Top Gun.”) The Marines do not take notice of the tournament, nor do they employ noise abatement techniques. It has always struck me as a bit ridiculous to hold up my hands, asking for silence as a golfer putts, for example, as jets scream overhead. Depending on the time of day, they may come, in pairs or one following soon after another, in bunches of three or four flights, separated by a couple of minutes. A day may see 15-20 flyovers. Here’s one, which gives you only a sense of the noise, etc. This is using a wide-angle lens, so the planes appear closer in reality.

We had a much more sedate flyover yesterday.

On to the weekend! Look for me on the 11th hole, a par 3, with glorious background shots of hang-gliders, etc. We’ll see what trouble I can get into now!