A Visit To The Byron
I went out to the Byron Nelson tournament today, arriving around 10:30AM. The weather was warm, not much wind, and cloudy. While walking in, I saw group 24 tee off on #1 (Kris Blanks, Wil Collins, Troy Kelly — they started on #10). I went to our villa, had a quick snack, and saw groups #42 (John Sendon, J.J. Henry, Jason Bohn) and group #43 (Adam Scott, Fred Couples, Robert Allenby) come in on the 18th. Adam Scott hit a long drive and a wedge to about 3 or 4 ft and made the birdie putt. Fred Couples also holed his 12 footer for birdie.
I then followed group #31 (Anthony Kim, D.J. Trahan, Charley Hoffman) as they teed off on the first. I followed them for six holes. Among the notable shots:
- Charley Hoffman hit a perfect tee shot on the first hole and followed that with a perfect approach shot just left of the hole. He hit the putt for birdie.
- Anthony Kim hit a fade into the water off the tee on the long par-4 third hole. He slammed the driver on the ground and then threw it to his caddie. His third into the green after a drop ended up with a downhill lie just short of the bunker to the left of the green. He hit a magnificent cut lob to about 4 ft and made the putt for bogey.
- Charley Hoffman hit a drive just left of the fairway bunkers on the third. His ball was deep in the rough, but he hit a spectacular shot into the green and made par.
- D.J. Trahan hit his tee ball on the fourth hole right behind me about a foot off the cart path. He didn’t take relief, instead hit a perfect shot with his feet on the cart path to about 8 to 10 ft from the hole and made birdie.
After watching that group, I headed back to the villa for a margarita or two, stopping along the way to see a couple of groups hit into the third hole. Tyler Aldridge hit his approach into the left greenside bunker on the third and hit a pretty good bunker shot to about 6 ft. I saw Colt Knost hit a beautiful shot out of the fairway bunker on the third hole with a hybrid. Dean Larsson hit his tee shot on the third hole almost into the exact spot where Charley Hoffman had hit his drive earlier, but Dean pushed his approach shot into the first right greenside bunker. I didn’t see if he got up and down from there.
As I was leaving the tournament, Rory Sabbitini was leading the tournament at -8.