Players Golf Championship, TPC Sawgrass, Ponte Vedra, Florida - Practice- Day 1

Tuesday, March 12th, 2019
Today was the first day of practice, and Military Appreciation Day, at the The Players Golf Championship at Ponte Vedra Beach, just 35 miles from where we were.  We had our free tickets to get in and off we went.
We got there and found the disabled parking, from where we could get a ride into the grounds.  We were told a cart would pick us up from our car and sure enough, almost immediately, a cart arrived and we got on.  It was a very short ride to the entrance where we got off the cart.  They scanned us with a wand, for metal or suspicious objects, and checked our tickets.  Here's the instructions for what you could take in with you, which were very specific.  No backpacks or camera bags, only clear bags measuring no more than 12x6x12 or bags smaller than 6x6x6 were allowed.
We ended up taking a clear bag that Christina lent to us that she had.  We managed to get our rain jackets and some other small items in there.  We took our collapsible stools, which came in very handy. These were allowed without a case.  After passing through security, the cart took us to an area  that was behind the 17th hole, but you had to walk around to it.

We had no idea of where we were going, but Bryan had said he wanted to see the 17th hole so we started to walk in that direction.  We walked past the 18th hole, shown below to the right of the lake.  The tee is at the bottom right, and you can see the 4 or 5 areas of fairway, to the hole.  The building in the center at the far end of the lake is the clubhouse and the 18th green is by the white roof to the right of the clubhouse.  You can see people looking/walking along the walkways to the right of the fairways.

  

 We turned to the right and saw the 17th green in front of us.  We were quite lucky as there really weren't many people about.

17th green on an island in the water.

We walked around to what looked like an entrance to the hole.  There were stewards guarding it, and we thought it was probably a members only enclosure. I saw a handicapped seating sign and so I plucked up the courage to ask if there was any handicapped seating available.  They were very nice and said they would check for us.  A lady there said there are usually some chairs put out but she wasn't sure if they were there yet.  We told her we had collapsible stools that we could use if there was an area available.  Next thing they were leading us through this short tunnel to an area right beside the 17th green.  We set our stools up and sat.  This was our view.  The players would walk right by us, on that concrete walkway, to get to the green from the tee.

The 17th tee in the distance.  They tee off over the water to get it to land on the small island, shown above.  There were people sitting on the right of the walkway behind the ropes but we were on the players side of the ropes.  We were really happy, and so glad I asked about the seating.

All we needed now was some players.  It wasn't long and we saw the next group on the 16th green.

We realized we had a very good viewpoint as we could see part of the 16th fairway, the 16th green and the whole of the 17th hole.

They finished the 16th hole and here they are on the 17th tee.

It's ok, you're nearly finished, no need to yawn!!!  Or was it, OMG, how am I going to get on that green!!!

 If you look VERY closely on the left, you can see two golf balls where they successfully hit the green.

The billboard behind the tee was showing it was Military Appreciation Day.

Here come the players, walking to the green after teeing off.  They all managed to get on the green, none in the water.  Jason Day, in the light grey shirt and black pants, and Dustin Johnson in the green shirt and shorts.  Not sure who was in the purple shirt but if you know please tell us.

Walking right in front of us to get on the green.

 We watched them finish the hole and walk through the tunnel that we had come through.  We decided we would give up our advantageous viewpoint as we wanted to see some more of the course.
We saw the 18th fairways, with the clubhouse in the background.

The clubhouse had the Stars & Stripes and military flags flying in honor of Military Appreciation Day.

An egret

Sawgrass Clock

We made our way to the practice grounds.

They had the names of the players that were practicing.

I was looking for Ian Pouter but according to the board he wasn't out on the course.

This may have been the second hole but I'm not sure!!!

We saw Bubba Watson on the 3rd green.

and then followed him, teeing off on the 4th.

Bubba Watson

We walked ahead and found a place to sit further down the fairway.  We were watching and next thing we know Bubba's ball had landed not far from us.  Not sure if you can see in the picture below but the stewards had to put the rope down so he would be able to play the ball.  It is in this picture but I'm sure you cant see it.

I managed to get a picture of him as he swung and hit the ball.  He's left handed, so I'm not sure he needed the rope to be lowered.  The stewards have their arms up signally for the crowd to be quiet.

We followed Bubba to the green and watched him finish the hole.  Then we looked across the path and saw Tommy Fleetwood in another practice area.  I like Tommy Fleetwood, so we watched him for a little while.

Tommy Fleetwood(Pink/blue jacket)

We were getting a bit hungry so we made our way to the military tent, where they were serving lunch.  We had stopped here on our way past earlier and grabbed a free bottle of water each.  Now we were ready for some food.  I had an Oriental Chicken Salad from Applebees and a Turkey sub from Firehouse Subs, Chips(Crisps), and a Sprite.  Not bad for a free lunch.

Bryan had a Chicken sandwich from Chick Fila, and a Firehouse Sub.

There was Taco Lou, but they had sold out.  We each had a small cupcake for dessert.  Delicious.
With full tummies, we went back to watching the golf.

16th tee

The geese didn't care if they were in danger of being hit as they casually strolled across the fairway.

We walked down beside the 16th fairway, heading back toward the 17th where there was a concert at 5pm.  We had plenty of time but we wanted to make sure we had a good viewpoint.  We sat beside the 16th fairway and watched a couple of groups of golfers go through.
We could see them setting up the stage across the water.

There were more people than when we were at the 17th when we first arrived.

Looking across at the17th tee from the 16th tee.  The handicapped seating area where we sat when we first arrived this morning was where the small group of people are, on the grass underneath the open stands, on the left hand side.

We sat for a while underneath the board that was showing the military appreciation and flag that you saw two pictures before this one.

Our view looking up the 16th fairway, we had walked down through the trees on the left hand side.

We noticed that there were a few more people setting up around the stage and getting their seats put out, so we made our way over there.  We found what we thought was a good place at the back but elevated above the stage and in the shade.  It was quite warm and we knew we had about a two hour wait.  We sat and watched the golfers playing the 17th hole and did see some balls going in the water.

Can you see the egrets in the tree?

The time went very quickly.  Unfortunately the crowds packed in and there were a few that decided to stand.  It got more and more difficult to see but we still managed.  They had all branches of the military in attendance.  The choir (in red) sang the National Anthem as the Stars and Stripes was unfolded, and held up high on the 17th green.  Here's a VIDEO that shows it.

It was an awesome sight and sound.

There were speeches.

Then Jon Pardi and his band came on stage.   Ricki Fowler, along with the crowd, persuaded him to try his golfing skills by hitting a ball across to the 17th green.  I think he eventually made it after a couple of tries.  He was a good sport.

Then the concert began.   It was very good and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

We didn't stay until the end as we wanted to beat the crowds leaving, and the fact it was so crowded and with no view, we figured we could still listen as we were walking out anyway.

We walked back to where we could get a cart ride back to the car, and in no time we were back in the car and headed home.  

What an amazing day it was.  We enjoyed it so much that we decided we wanted to return tomorrow. I'll tell you all about that in the next blog.