The morning of the tournament, I got geared up in my official volunteer golf shirt and headed off to the country club.  It’s a really beautiful facility with a mission-style clubhouse and of course the golf course was impeccable.

Phones aren’t allowed on the course (one of the volunteer coordinators had a cautionary tale of someone who was escorted off of the property for taking a call), so I left my phone in my car, which was kind-of great.  I mean, I leave it in the other room all the time, but not checking in for eight hours is an accomplishment these days, wouldn’t you agree?

This is one of those events that has been going on for years and years.  Most of the volunteers are regulars and everyone knows each other.  I always get a little bit nervous when I find myself walking into one of those kinds of situations, so I was relieved by how nice and friendly everyone was.  The volunteer coordinators and the other volunteers were super nice, and all the golfers were relaxed and happy.

I was paired up with another woman who was also new to the event.  We were dropped off at our assignment with the promise that someone would come back by to explain what we were supposed to do.

It was a cool, overcast morning and my new friend and I had about an hour to chat and enjoy the scenery before the golfers showed up.  We still didn’t know what our official job was, so we just made a point of being friendly and checking off the groups as they came through.

A gentleman in the maybe fourth or fifth group finally explained to us why we had been stationed at that hole.  You see, the fairway on this hole was a big hump.  Long hitters would clear the crest of the hump, but from the tee, you couldn’t see whether they were still hitting up or were on the green.  One of us was supposed to stand out on the course at the top of the rise and then signal back to the tee when it was clear for them to tee off.

This was an unfortunate interruption of my conversation with my new friend, but I was glad that we had something important to do like making sure that no one was concussed (I mean, the golfers were practically all doctors, but still).

When our final group had teed off, we headed back to the clubhouse where there was a lovely cocktail reception with a huge silent auction (add that to the list of reasons that I am glad to have never had to plan or run a golf tournament).  I’m looking forward to volunteering again next year.

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Some golf tournaments are more can’t miss TV than others.  The Masters is one of them.  Augusta is one of the most beautiful golf courses that I have ever seen. Since I’ve only ever seen it on television, I can’t imagine how stunning it is in real life.

So, the other weekend, we had the Masters on and by the end of play on Saturday it had gotten really interesting.  Tiger Woods, Francesco Molinari, and Tony Finau were playing in the final group on Sunday (the leaders play last).  Tiger who?  Remember back in the day, there was this golfer named Tiger Woods who turned the golf world on its head?  Yeah, him.

Ok, so here’s the Kitten Tuesday part of this story:

When the kittens very first came home, I had them out in the front room while the U.S. Open was on.  They were both very interested in the golf tournament or at least seemed to actually be looking at the television that day.  It was good to know that I had brought home natural golf fans.

Since then Anabel has been more interested in watching TV than Sally.  She seems to like football and hockey but mostly she likes the sports ticker at the bottom of the screen.  She will jump up and sit in front of the TV and try her darnedest to catch that scrolling ticker.

Back to the Masters.  Its Sunday, Tiger Woods is in the lead and getting ready to tee off on the 17^th hole.  Sally, for the first time ever, jumps up and sits in front of the TV.  He was watching Tiger Woods!

Now, it’s hard to say whether Sally just likes Augusta, or Tiger’s Sunday red & black, or if he is a true Tiger fan. I think he may be more interested in the big tournaments and great come back stories than week-to-week play.  We will have to keep an eye on him during the US Open to find out.

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