The suns out, the grass is glistening green and the temperature is in the mid seventies as play begins in day two of the Commerce Bank Championship from the Red Course at Eisenhower Park.
After arriving at the 7,021-yard course at approximately 8:30, I raced over to the driving range to watch the players practice and possibly acquire some interviews. Unfortunately, this course encapsulates so much space that it's extremely difficult to find your way around. Even though there are marshalls and hundreds of amicable volunteers, one can easily get lost and that's exactly what happened to me. I went by numerous holes that were three to four hundred yards long until it finally hit me that I needed to retrace my steps and find the eighteenth green.
Although I wasted at least twenty minutes, I was rewarded when I find the putting green and driving range because I had ample opportunities to ask for interviews. Equipped with my new Olympus digital voice recorder I was able to receive interviews with golf Hall of Famer and historian Ben Crenshaw, Danny Edwards, Massy Kuramoto and the top player on the Champions Tour Jay Haas.
From the perspective of a fan of golf and a reporter covering the event it was noticeable how fun, respectful, receptive and accessible the majority of golfers were. Out on the range they are cracking jokes, seeking advice from each other, conversing and signing autographs for fans and hitting picture perfect shots that the average golf player would salivate over.
Joe Ozaki, Bruce Vaughn and Rich Karbowski were the first group of players to start from the first tee Saturday morning at 9:35, and Boonchu Ruangkit, Kirk Hanefeld and Jon Chaffee were the first group of players to start from the tenth tee. Leader Loren Roberts, Eduardo Romero and Lonnie Nielsen were scheduled to begin at 11:35 off of the first tee.
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