Sunday at The Masters

The day started off well. The running of the bulls to get good seats on the 18th green wasn’t too bad and in the end we ended up with great seats 4 or 5 rows from the green. We had about two hours to kill once we put our chairs down, so we walked around and my parents decided to go and sit at hole 4 while I decided to go to the driving range so I could watch a few players including Rory warm up. But, when I got there it was completely packed with people so I decided to go to the short game practice area and watch there and I was blown away at the shots everyone was hitting. They are so accurate on every shot from the bunker and around the greens. I was the most impressed with the fact that most players would choose one wedge and use it on every shot from the bunker to chip and pitch shots around the greens. The trajectories varied on each shot which was the most amazing. They rarely missed shots far from the hole. Rory had an awesome short game practice and it really came in handy during his round.

I spent the day following Rory McIlroy and Luke Donald and once they came in I sat in my chair on the 18th green and watched the rest of the action. When the rest of the groups were on the back nine all you could here where roars every few minutes. Everyone would look to the big leader board and wait in anticipation for who made birdies. It was so exciting when Tiger and Phil were both making a run at the lead with birdies. There was a point when Tiger made it to 10 under that I thought he would birdie the last three holes to be at 13 under, which is where Perry was. The whole tournament was sooooo amazing. As much as last year was mesmerizing this year was so much more exciting just because there were about a handful of players in contention and you really didn’t know up until the end who would win. When it was all over it felt like a big dream and I didn’t want it to end. The trophy presentation with the sunset in the background was icing on the cake. It was such a surreal moment that I can’t wait/hope to experience next year.

Par 3 - Challenge

Wednesday was the Par 3 Challenge, which is always really fun to watch. We got to the course early and stood for two hours just so we could get really good seats on the 9th green. After we put our chairs down we walked around the course and I took close to 1,000 pictures for the entire day. I love taking pictures and at Augusta National it isn’t hard to go crazy taking pictures. At around 1:30 p.m. we headed to the Par 3 course and stayed until the second to last group came through. As we headed up Rory McIlroy and Lee Westwood were teeing off on hole 8. Rory was signing autographs, so I decided to stick my hat out and he happily signed it for me. As he moved along I saw him take a picture with a kid and I called him back to take a picture with me. He was nice enough to come all the way back to where I was and take a picture with me and he actually smiled in the picture! He wasn’t ticked that I called him back for the picture which has made me a Rory fan for life! Maybe I will follow him tomorrow. Hmmm...

You can follow me more closely on twitter!

Tiger at Torrey Pines

I was really excited to get to play golf again and start from scratch and try to play Andrea golf. We arrived a few hours before our tee time so we could have breakfast at The Lodge at Torrey Pines and just relax and warm-up a bit before the days round. While we were having breakfast I realized that one table was full of people reviewing binders that read Tee off with Tiger. I didn’t think much of it, but at the end of breakfast the waiter told us that Tiger will be on the course filming a commercial for his tournament. Well, it turned out Tiger was meeting a contest winner and he would walk a few holes with the winner and be his caddie. We eventually saw Tiger as we were getting ready to tee off doing an interview for the local news station. It was kind of cool to see Tiger unexpectedly at Torrey Pines.

The rest of the day was really fun, except that we paid $40 for a cart that could only be driven on the cart path! But we managed, and because it was a beautiful day there were a bunch of groups on the course and we were kind of running back and forth between our golf balls and the golf cart in order to not fall behind.

All in all we had a great day of golf, even though I did not play as well as I wanted, and it was awesome to watch the F/A-18 Hornet Navy Fighter Pilots fly over the golf course about every 20 minutes. Those planes are so amazing and as loud as they are it did not drive you crazy. I am a proud supporter of the U.S. Military as my cousin is a Pilot in the Marines. Thank you to all Men and Women who serve and protect this beautiful country.


Tiger watched the F/A 18's fly overhead.

Golf in Poland?!

My father grew up in Poland and I have been there at least five times and I never thought that golf would be of interest in a country that is big in soccer. Boy was I wrong. Poland currently has 15 golf courses with many more on the way. As we were driving from the Czech Republic into Poland I saw a sign for a Par 12 golf course. Number one I couldn’t believe there would be a golf course so close to the boarder and two it was Par 12! I wasn’t sure what that meant, so we went back to the golf course a few days later and inquired about what Par 12 meant, and the caretaker had no idea. He thought the developer saw it on another sign and decided to put it on his sign. The golf course wasn’t even close to being ready, but he said that in about a year or so it will be an 18 hole golf course. The next time I go to Poland I will definitely make it a point to make time for a few rounds of golf. Here are some pictures of the “golf course.”





This is the club house...








A fabulous view and the putting green...








The yellow markers are on the first tee box, and in the distance you can see a castle!






I think this golf course will be beautiful when it is finished and I can't wait to come back in two years and play a few rounds.

Free Internet

Sorry everyone for taking so long to post all of the entires from the Masters, but it is finally done and we can get to more exciting things. Right now, I am sitting in a hotel room in Nurnberg, Germany hoping that I will find a cafe with free internet along the way to getting some breakfast and post a few entries. The prices for internet are outrageous over in Europe. I was just in Israel and prices for everything are much worse. I think one Internet Cafe charged us $15 for 30 minutes. It was crazy, but that was the cheapest we could find at the time. Anyway, I will do my best to update as much as I can and keep up with what is going on in the golf world. One a Side note: I just went to a Starbucks that had a wi-fi sticker in the window, and the Barista said I had to enter my credit card number at the T-mobile site and pay for it. T-mobile is taking over all of the internet access and they charge you an arm and a leg for it. It’s awful. I was lucky to find a cafe in Israel that did not charge for internet, and for some reason there are many cafe’s that offer wi-fi, but they have a contract with t-mobile or another carrier and make you sign up and charge you in order to access the internet. A las, I miss my free internet.

A New Masters Champion is Crowned (Day 4)

Today was the day I and every golf fan have been waiting for. There were so many possibilities of who could be the champion that you could not really put your money on anybody. The running of the bulls was more chaotic than the other days. More people showed up today and more people wanted to put their chairs on hole 18. Once the gates opened there was a mad rush to 18 and somehow my parents and I got separated and in the end our chairs were in different places on 18, but I was lucky enough to get a spot next to the scorecard house. After we put our chairs down we went to get some breakfast, and I followed Justin Rose for his front nine and went to check on my chair, and to my surprise someone had removed my business card that was on the back of my chair and put a cigar ring! I turned to the security guard and asked if my chair had been removed, since people were trying to crowd their chairs in the designated area the security guards were instructed to remove chairs that were not placed in the appropriate area. Thankfully this morning the head of security put his chair next to me and we talked for a while before I left to get lunch, so he told me that even though my business card was missing from my chair that it was mine and he would deal with anyone who said otherwise. So every guard that was involved with the incident of my chair came up to me periodically through out the day and tapped me on the shoulder and jokingly ask me if this was my chair. The morning hours were a bit stressful, but as the day wore on and Tiger, Phil, Immelman, Snedekar, and Ian Poultar teed off things began to get more exciting. As groups began to come in all of the contenders were approaching hole 16 and everyone was intently watching the scoreboard. Many people were cheering and hoping that Tiger would make a run as well as Phill and others were cheering for Sneadaker to make a move. As Phill hit his second shot on 18 his ball hit the TV tower on the left hand side of the green on 18 and it ricochet off of the TV tower and landed somewhere around the green on hole 9. He hit an amazing third shot back onto the green on hole 18 and made the putt for par. The last group finally made its way in and it was so classy of Snedaker to allow Trevor Immelman to walk up to the 18th green alone and receive all of the applause from the fans. The last putt by Immelman will forever be burned into my mind and hopefully my family and I will be able to go back to The Master next year.

Day Three - Moving Day

MOVING DAY!! For those of you who don’t watch the Golf Channel religiously, every Saturday is moving day. It is the day players movie as much up the leader board as possible in order to be in contention to win on Sunday. After the Running of the Bulls, which was not as hectic for us today, because we only wanted to put our chairs on hole 9, which is a great hole to watch players hit their shots into the green. Again, we were fabulously blessed with a great spot, second row behind the pin. After we put our chairs down we walked to hole four. A tricky par three with grand stand seating where you can watch players tee off, putt, and tee off on hole 5. As we made our way to hole four the weather started to cool down and the rain clouds moved in. My dad and I went to the golf shop and bought an umbrella, some breakfast and continued to make our way to whole 4. I brought a pair of rain pants and a rain jacket, but I did not pack them in the car this morning since I did not think it would rain. Boy was I wrong! After the first group teed off it began to rain really hard, and everyone in the grand stand took out their umbrellas, and I am sure it was a site to see on TV, since you could only see the tops of the umbrellas and not the people. The rain was on and off through out the day and when each player would come everyone would lower their umbrellas causing the accumulated water on each umbrella to dump on the unsuspecting patron next to or in front of them. After about four groups had passed the rain became worse and the bull horn sounded and a suspension of play was called. The grandstand cleared and everyone rand to find shelter. It was quite cold, but thankfully the rain was warm and did not do to much damage to the course. We waited about 30 minutes and suspension of play was cancelled and everyone went back to their chairs. After a bit of walking around we returned to our chairs on the 9th hole and I was not surprised to find our chair soaking wet. I bought lunch before we sat down and placed our plastic bags on our chair so our butts would not get wet, but I did not think of covering our entire chairs to protect our backs from getting wet. So, after a while of sitting in the cold with my back side soaked I decided to go and buy a blanket because the sun had disappeared, the wind picked up, and we still had at least five hours to go before we left. I bought my blanket, walked back to my chair and began to unwrap the blanket and I looked up at the person that was sitting behind me and it was Carolyn Bivens! I definitely felt my heart skip a beat. We looked at each other and I began to talk to her. I told her that I thought I saw her earlier in the week and I surprised to find her standing right behind my chair! I then told her that I was excited about the improvements she was making, and she was quick to say thank you and add that I would probably be the first one to let her know once I was unhappy with something that she did. We both laughed and I continued to tell her about what I am interested in and if she had any names at the LPGA that I could contact for some advice. She was surprisingly very helpful and gave me a few names at the LPGA. She was really nice, relaxed, and I wish I could have lunch with her and just pick her brain. She is an amazing woman and I cant wait to see what else she does with the LPGA. After we talked I wrapped my self in my blanket like a burrito and enjoyed the rest of the day.

Day 2

Friday started off the same way the other two days did, the running of the bulls was as crazy as yesterday, except today my mom was with us and we wanted to put our chairs down on hole 16 again. There are so many gates leading into Augusta National, and there is a gate right behind hole 16, so those who line up at that gate get a better spot than those who have to come all the way over from the main entrance of the course, so we thought. The tournament organizers roped off specific areas that were designated for chairs only, and we were lucky enough to be in the second row of seats right in front of the pin location for that day, which was a great spot. Many players tried to go for the pin, but since the pin was in a tight location we only saw two or three birdies the whole day. It was fun to have the players come so close that you could hear the conversations they were having with their caddies about the slope and speed of the greens. I sat with my parents until lunch had passed and I walked to hole four to meet up with one of my favorite players Justin Rose. He was tied for the lead with four under after the first day, which was a great start. When I saw him tee off yesterday I noticed that he has a swing just like my swing coach Kris! I was really excited about that, so I decided to follow him today and learn about his swing, pre-shot routines, and putting strokes. I followed him through hole 12 and met up with my parents again who were watching Tiger Woods on hole 13. We went back to our chairs and watched the rest of the field come in on hole 16. The last group came through and we packed up and made our way to our car. Normally the flow of traffic has not been a problem, but for what ever reason today the traffic cops made our side wait over 45 minutes before they would allow traffic to flow through to the main street. Cars were honking trying to change to the right lane so they could make a turn onto the main road going in the opposite direction and then make a U-turn when possible so they could go the direction they originally wanted. Eventually after an hour of siting in traffic we made it home just in time to watch Golf Central. We practically ate, slept, and breathed golf everyday that we were in Augusta, which is basically something I do on a daily basis any way, but it was nice to see that my parents were joining in on my obsession, even though it would only last for a week.

Thursday Augusta Day 1

Today was the first day of the Masters!!! We knew we had to get up early to get a good parking spot and to raid the the golf shop. We left the house around 6 am and we arrived at the golf course at 6:15 am. We got a great parking spot, but we were not quite sure what to do next. We had an hour before the gates opened, and yet there were still people lining up at the front gate to make sure they got a good spot on the first tee. The front gates opened at 6:30 am, which we were not expecting, so we got out of the car and lined up at the security gate, where they checked everyone’s bags then you walked through a metal detector and had your badge scanned to make sure that it was not a fake ticket. We waited at the security gate until 7 am, and once we got through that line we had to wait at the third and final gate, which would allow us onto the golf course. There were several different gates you could choose to line up at depending on where you wanted to go. We wanted to go to the first tee so we could watch Arnold Palmer take the first shot of the tournament. As we waited at the gate we were told that no one was allowed onto the course to put their chairs down until the gates opened, including members, so everyone would have a fair chance to put their chair where they wanted. Camera crews began to set up in front of the gates to capture the mad rush onto the course, as well as many photographers. Once the gates opened everyone started running with their chairs to hole one. I was worried that we would not get a good spot, but I found one in the front row right where Arnold Palmer teed off. Once it was time for the ceremony to begin they announced Arnold Palmers name and he walked from the putting green to the tee box, and you could see a small camera on a crane following him through the crowd. The morning started off nicely, it was warm and there were not too many clouds in the sky. But, once it was time for the players to tee off the weather started to change. It became cold and the fog rolled in and as a result, there was a weather delay for about 45 minutes. Once the fog cleared it began to heat up again and it turned into a beautiful warm sunny day. Our seats turned out to be better than we thought. Our chairs were right in front of the table that had pin location sheets, the box full of tees, ball markers, and pencils. Every player and caddied stopped at the table and shook the hands of the members/announcers that were standing by the table. Our seats were so close to the players that you wanted to reach out and touch them or just talk to them. As each player and caddie walked onto the first hole everyone stood up from their chairs and cheered and every player and caddie smiled to the crowd and were very talkative, except Tiger Woods. When he waked in he had a serious face, shook the hands of the members, grabbed the pin placement sheet and walked off to where his caddie was and was very focused until he teed off. Every time we saw Tiger he was very focused and did not smile or interact with the crowd and just walked alone, without his caddie, down the fairway. We stayed on the first tee box until everyone teed off, then placed our chairs on the 18th green so at the end of the day we could sit and watch all of the players coming in. We went to the main entrance concession stand to buy lunch and get some drinks and every cup, water bottle, sandwich wrapper, cookie bag, etc. had The Masters written on it as well as the Augusta National Logo. It was amazing to see how organized and fast every line went. Every one that was part of the staff was very nice and very attentive. Every place you went including the bathrooms were very clean and had an excessive amount of staff, which is why in my mind the concessions stands and shops were so successful in creating a great experience for the fans. Every line went really fast and there were tons of check stands, the racks for food were always stocked with what you needed and if it was not there then someone would bring what you needed within minutes. Everything was very organized and it if wasn’t, then I can guarantee they would not have sold as much as they did. After we ate we walked around and followed a few players and made our way back to our chairs on the 18th green and stayed their until the majority of the players came in. Due to the weather delay there were still three groups out on the course with approximately 45 minutes of day light left. We left before they finished, but they decided to finish their round before dark, instead of having an early morning round the next day.

Par 3 Challenge

Today was the Par 3 challenge, which meant that the crowds would be larger than the previous day, which also meant we would have to get up early to get a good parking spot. We arrived outside of Augusta National at 6:30 am and got onto the course around 7:30 am. We placed our chairs on hole 16, which I overheard was the place to be, and we later found out the reason why. There is a hill on the side of hole sixteen along the water, which allows you to watch players on the 15th green, the sixth green, and teeing off on the 17th tee. Also, during practice rounds players skip their golf ball over the lake on the par 3 which is really fun to watch. The crowd and the players really get into it and it is something you will never forget. As we sat there I noticed Momoko Ueda was sitting a few chairs a way from me. She was surrounded by five people , the Japanese press, and she was just enjoying the fabulous golf and sunshine. Eventually I wandered over to her and asked her if I could take a picture with her and she was really nice and said yes.



Once noon rolled around we moved over to the second course of Augusta National, which is a nine hole course and consists of every hole being a par 3. We placed our chairs on hole 7 and sat there practically until sundown, which was when the tournament was over. We saw one hole-in-one by Fred Couples, and Phil, Stewart Appleby, and KJ Choi with their children, as well a few legends of golf. Gary Player, Arnold Palmer, and Jack Nicklaus played the Par 3 Challenge together, which made for a lot of great pictures and great golf.

Welcome to Atlanta!

Yesterday we flew out of San Francisco to our first stop Atlanta, Georgia. The flight was not as long as I thought it would be. I asked my boss to give me something to work on so I had something to do on the long flight, and he gave me the task of learning Adobe InDesign and learn how to create a brochure. I searched youtube for some tutorials and downloaded them through a great new website called Zamzar , which my co-worker, I call her the Mac Queen, told me about. So, the plane took off and after about an hour I started up my MacBook Pro and attempted to figure out InDesign. I searched through the tutorial to try and figure out how to add plain text, and for whatever reason when I opened up the tutorials in quicktime the resolution wasn’t so great and it just got worse when I tried to make the screen bigger, set-back number 1. It took me a while to find the right tutorial, and once I did the video was so blurry that I couldn’t see which buttons he was pressing to get what I wanted, I could only hear him. Set-back number 2. Once I figured out the correct buttons, the result was not what it was supposed to be. I eventually figures out how to create text, change the font and color, and how to import pictures. Before I knew it the stewardess was on the intercom saying that we should be landing shortly in Atlanta, so my fabulous plan of trying to create a simple brochure on the airplane did not exactly happen. But, I learned how to add text and a picture and I think that is a pretty good start. Hopefully I will have some more down time to get some work done and enjoy the trip.

Augusta, here we come!
After the plane landed we rented a car and drove about 45 minutes to the outskirts of Atlanta to visit my father’s cousin and her husband who I have never met before. To be in the presence of a retired Air Force Coronal, who was a graduate of West Point and served as an aid in the White House under President Eisenhower, was a great experience. We practically stayed up until midnight listening to stories of his time at West Point and the White House, as well as looking at albums of old pictures of his wife’s family and playing with their cat Golda. I left this morning with a greater respect for the men and women in uniform and a higher level of understanding of my family history. We planned on leaving their house between 9 am and 10 am the next morning, but the company was so great that we did not end up leaving until 11:30 am.

The two lane highway to Augusta was full of trucks and yet the traffic was not too bad and the two hour drive went smoothly. We arrived at the condo, un-packed and went to eat at the restaurant that is famous for seeing and being seen. The walls of T-bonz were lined with pictures of Tiger and Phill as well as autographed flags and t-shirts. The food on the other hand was not up to par, but I guess the fact that all of the people who come from Augusta National, as well as the players and caddies, hang out there for drinks and some food after each round makes up for it. After we ate, when drove to the golf course and walked up to the entrance of Augusta National and stood in line at the merchandise trailer and bought a few things to start off the memorabilia train. We drove to downtown Augusta expecting to find some exciting things, but were sadly disappointed that most of the stores were closed. So, we just drove through and circled back to the house and watched all of the fans coming out of the various gates as well as all of the golf manufacturer's trailers, and unofficial merchandise stands. We took the rest of the day off and relaxed at the house and watched one of our favorite shows dancing with the stars and went to bed.

Journey to Augusta

A few months a go we were greatly given the opportunity to go to Augusta and experience a full week of The Masters along with accommodations. This trip has been something my family has been planning for a few months, but it has not really hit me until today while I was trying to get everything organized at the office so there were no loose ends while I was away. I have been reading the rules over and over about what days I can take pictures and the what the autograph policy entails. So far I have found that you can take pictures only on practice-round days (Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday) and autographs are prohibited on grounds at all times, except for the parking lot. Thankfully I do not have to stand in line next to the scorecard tent to get autographs from the players and I can just enjoy the amazing golf as well as the beautiful golf course. I plan on soaking in every moment as well as taking as many pictures as I can with out bothering to many people. I will post all of the pictures and keep you updated on my experience.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Hi everyone. This year has been full of highs and lows. Thankfully there have been more highs then lows. Every year for Thanksgiving my Dad asks everyone to say at least one thing that they are thankful for. We usually have our entire family from my mom’s side over at our house which makes for a warm house and great family memories. Last year was the best! My family from the east coast joined the rest of us for Thanksgiving dinner. My entire family was there which was very meaningful, especially since earlier this year my uncle passed away, and it was only after that did I realized how special pictures are. That Thanksgiving I took only a few pictures of my uncle with his sisters, sons, and wife, and because of those pictures my family has been able to remember my uncle when he was healthy and happy. So, the only thing I can say to all of you for this Thanksgiving is, remember who you are with and be thankful that you are with them and take at least one picture. That picture will help you remember that event for years to come, even though some of the people in it have moved on. Every Thanksgiving when it is my turn to say what I am thankful for I say, “I am thankful for having great parents and a supportive family.” This year will be no different, except that this year I will add, “I am thankful for great parents, a supportive family, and a happy and healthy family.” I wish all of you a happy and healthy Thanksgiving. HAVE FUN EATING ALL OF THE GOOD FOOD!!!

I HEART NEW YORK!!

My trip to New York was amazing. My Aunt and Uncle live in Manhattan and I have been visiting them ever since I was a little girl, and every time my family goes there to visit New York never fails me. For me Manhattan has a buzz of its own which I love. It could be that I have grown up in the quiet bay area and the chaos of New York intrigues me, but I enjoy every moment. We arrived Aug. 30 late in the afternoon and we spent the rest of the day with my aunt and uncle catching up and talking about random things. My cousin Julia, who now lives in California, flew in later that night. We were suppose to pick her up from the airport at around midnight, but it turned out that my aunt had read the arrival time incorrectly and my cousin arrived at the airport and we were not there to meet her so she took a taxi from the airport to Manhattan. The next day we took our time to get ready and around noon we got out of the apartment and walked around the city, which is always one of my favorite things to do. On Saturday, the rest of my cousins drove in from Maryland with Pebble! My cousin Mark's dog. She is very cute and provided a lot of entertainment for us throughout the weekend. Sunday was the night of the anniversary dinner,so during the day we just relaxed and went for a walk in Central Park. I we usually don't walk through Central Park to get to where we want to go, but when we do I love it. I like to sit on a bench and watch people and Central Park is a great place to do it. There were a bunch of snow cone carts which looked so yummy and it reminded me of when I was a little kid, as we as a guy walking around with a huge yellow snake. Similar to the one that Britney Spears had around her neck during her performance of "I'm a Slave" at the VMA's five or so years ago. To me that so was not cool! I am not a fan of snakes let alone giant yellow ones.

That night was they Anniversary dinner and we drove two separate cars because not all of us could fit in one car. So my cousins drove in one car while my aunt, uncle, my dad, my mom and I drove in another. My aunt just got a new Lexus with a navigation systems in it so she wanted to try it out. First the navigation system could not find the restaurant that we wanted to go to, and the one we though was the correct restaurant turned out to be the wrong one in the opposite direction. My aunt asked me to wright out directions on note cards, so luckily we had those to get us to the right place. After driving and getting a little lost we arrived at the restaurant 30 min. late. My uncle and I sat down at the table while my mom, dad, and aunt went to call my cousins to find out where they were since they should have arrived before us, but did not. It turned out that they got lost and were still stuck in Manhattan and it would take them 30 min to get to the restaurant. Finally, every one got to the restaurant we enjoyed our meal and forgot about all getting lost and the navigation system not working.

US OPEN 2007
On Monday, Labor Day, my dad got tickets to go see the US Open. It was so amazing. My dad and I love to watch sports together and when I was younger we use to watch tennis, but now we mostly watch golf. In my last year at college my best friend played tennis and she taught me how to play and I made a bunch of friends, which I miss very much, so now my dad and I follow tennis again. We were trying to find ticket before Monday, but we could never find ones that we liked. Pretty much all of the tickets were sold out so we had to resort to stubhub to get some. I watched the US Open on TV last year and I never thought that I would be going to Flushing Meadows to actually watch these world class athletes play. We had ticket for Arthur Ashe Stadium and the first match we saw Svetlana Kuznetsova vs. Victoria Azarenka. Svetlana won 6-2 6-3, the next match was the one I really wanted to get tickets for. It was Andy Roddick vs Tomas Berdych. It was such a great game and it was so amazing to watch these to players have at it. You could tell they both really wanted to win and even though in the first match Tomas asked for the doctor to come out to the court he was still playing really well. Tomas retired in the second set so Andy won 7-6(6) 2-0 ret. I have seen Andy play twice now and both times the matches only lasted an hour. But, he is amazing to watch so it is worth it. Since his match ended early we went over to Armstrong Stadium to watch Shahar Peer(ISR) vs Agnieszka Radwanska (POL). I watched Agnieszka defeat Maria Sharapova on tv and I definitely had to see her against Shahar Peer. We got to the stadium towards the end of the match, but it was still great to see nonetheless. The crowd once again really got into it. There was a section full of Polish flags and there was a section full of Israeli flags and they chanted and cheered throughout the match. Shahar won the match 6-4 6-1 so it was pretty one sided, but it was amazing to see a 18 year old who I think it fairly new to the tour play against some of the big names in women's tennis. After that match we went back to Arthur Ashe stadium to watch the Tommy Haas vs. James Blake match. I have never fully watched James or Tommy play, but this match was one of the highlights of the US Open. The match was over two hours and the crowd really got into it. The match went to four sets and unfortunately Tommay Haas won 4-6 6-4 3-6 6-0 7-7 (4). To watch two men's tennis matches at the US Open was amazing. You could definitely see the difference in pace of the game and speed of the ball between both matches. This was a moment that will last a life time in my memory and I am so glad that I got to go with my dad. I will never forget it.

We just relaxed and lounged around the apartment and walked through the streets or New York for the next few days until we went home. It was a great relaxing trip and so far it hasn't affected my golf game too much. But, even if it did it was well worth it.