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Fans showed up early Thursday to compete for prime viewing spots.
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. -- "Ladies and gentlemen, this is the 8:06 a.m. tee time. Please welcome ... from Windermere, Fla., the United States Open champion, Tiger Woods."
Despite the rain, those were the words that hundreds of fans crowded around the first tee were waiting to hear on Thursday morning at the 2009 U.S. Open at Bethpage State Park's Black Course. In fact, the cheers and catcalls from the grandstand -- "Come on, Tiger!" or "You da man!" -- began as soon as you could see his AT&T umbrella coming down the walkway to the tee.
Woods showed up first at the driving range around 7:15 a.m. ET, and the crowd was waiting. The marshals there said the grandstand was full the minute Tiger showed up, with everyone clamoring to get a glimpse of the man, the myth, the legend.
As soon as he left, the grandstand emptied nearly completely. Sorry, David Erdy. Congrats on making the field, but you are not the main draw.
Where'd they go, you ask? Well, the ones that did not chase Tiger to the first tee went to the main merchandise pavilion, adjacent to the range, to gear up for today's nasty weather. When asked if the crowds in the tent have been bigger than the first three days of the week, one volunteer said simply, "Uh, yeah -- a lot!"
Umbrellas and ponchos were most likely the big-ticket items.
Back at the first tee, the crowds had also gathered early. One group from Rhode Island said they were among the first to take up seats at the grandstand, and that was around 6:45. They staked out their seats to see Woods' drive, then said they would head out onto the course.
There were a few lucky souls who practically had Tiger fall into their laps Thursday morning. All that the volunteers at the mini merchandise tent to the left of the first fairway had to do was show up for work. Woods' opening tee shot nearly flew right into the display of hats. No harm done, and it gave these workers a chance to act as marshals, too.
For everyone else out at Bethpage Black following the top-ranked golfer, it was business as usual, except for Mother Nature taking her toll.
The general protocol for most fans is to run ahead of Tiger's group, find a good viewing spot and watch the group come toward them. Then, the fans repeat the process after the golfers play through. You might even get to see Tiger's entourage, which includes his wife, Elin, in the process. (Hint: Follow the AT&T umbrellas -- you've got to love the sponsors).
That's what John Roeckle and Mark Sherfy of St. Louis and John Jones and Bob Duhart of Richmond, Va., did. They were perched on the ropes just below the eighth tee. With a front-left hole location today, this was a great spot to watch shots into this exciting green.
Did the four fans know each other before today?
"Nope," Jones said. "We just came up and stood next to them and have been waiting here since."
You can make fast friends when you have the same goal in mind.
Sherfy won a ticket contest, so that brought him and his friend, Roeckle, halfway across the country to Long Island. And they, of course, had to catch Tiger while they were here. Jones and Duhart last saw Woods at The Presidents Cup in 2005. They traveled to Bethpage to see him again.
When asked if they had heard much noise from the gallery since they had been out there, Sherfy replied, "Yeah, from back there [pointing toward the sixth green, where Tiger made birdie, bringing about the first major roar of the tournament]. You hear the crowd, but some roars are different. For him, it carries."
Unfortunately for this fan foursome, Tiger was halted in the seventh fairway by the horn, as the rain -- more than six tenths of an inch since 5:00 a.m. -- made the course unplayable. The fans will have to wait a lot longer to see the world No. 1 tee off on the eighth hole.
"That's OK," said Roeckle. "We keep getting better spots [as other fans head for shelter]."
Let's hope the rain stops, and the players come back out, so Roeckle, Sherfy, Jones and Duhart can see Tiger up close.
What is there to do until then? Hit the concessions and the merchandise tent. Who says 10:30 is too early for hot dogs and hamburgers?
And the beer will be flowing, too, so the fans can get riled up before the players go back out on the course.