After about three years, I finally got to go back to The Players Championship yesterday, and it did not disappoint! Living two and a half hours away from Jacksonville it is not a bad drive over, but with a busy schedule I just hadn't been able to make it the past few years to TPC Sawgrass. Wednesday night my dad, his best friend, and I made the drive over to Jacksonville to visit an old friend that used to live in Tallahassee, that invited us this year. Wednesday night was filled with a great dinner and ice cream, a little catching up and then heading off to bed for our early start to the day.
We woke up around 7:00 AM yesterday morning, and were greeted with our hosts son making us breakfast! After breakfast we got ready to head over to TPC. The house that our friend lived at was in the neighborhood next to TPC, so we hopped in his 6-seater golf cart and took about a 15 minute drive over to our parking spot at the course.
The whole day felt like a VIP treat meant. Normally when we go to TPC we park about a mile away and have to walk to the gates, but because of the golf cart we were less than a quarter mile from the front gate. We got there right at around 8:30 and there were no lines anywhere.
We got our tickets and walked straight in, without a hassle and headed straight for the 10th tee box where, Rory Mcilroy, Justin Thomas, and Jordan Spieth had just teed off. We were able to follow that grouping without much difficulty, for a few holes!
We were able to skip ahead a few holes and watch Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, and Bubba Watson for a few shots, then watched the other group come back through.
After making it through most of the back nine, we finally made our way to our box over looking the 17th hole! Now, I've been to TPC a few times before, but the box seats are the way to go 100%! Being able to escape the heat, and get free waters was amazing. There is no other way to watch golf! We got there early enough to snag a little bit more for breakfast before heading out onto the course to watch some more golf.
We wondered around following random golfers up until lunch time. Our host and I opted to get Tacos On 12, the food truck from my favorite restaurant from the night before, and my dad and his best friend opted to eat at the box. Once the afternoon tee times started, we all started going in different directions. I choose instead of following Tiger, Phil, and Rickie, to follow a guy that I went to high school with Hudson Swafford. I made it just in time to catch his fairway shot from the 10th.
Now while I was never great friends with Hudson in high school, him being a senior when I was a freshman, we did interact a little here and there, and I was friends with his best friend Cory. There were about 20-30 people following his grouping, and who was one of them, but his best friend Cory.
I was able to follow Hudson from the 10th hole to his tee shot on the 15th. After the tee shot on 15, I was ready for some AC and water. I cut over to our box and met up with my dad. We waited to see Hudson on the 17th, before going back out and following him for 4 more holes.
We then decided it was time to head back to our box on 17 to see all the big name players play through the 17th hole. We stopped along the way to get a picture with the trophy.
After that we watched the big four afternoon groups play the 17th. The biggest names ranging from Sergio, Kuchar, Patrick Reed, Jon Rahm, Jason Day, Tiger, Phil, and Rickie. Once the last group came through we went to the 18th tee box and followed them up the to the 18th green.
Once Tiger, Phil, and Rickie were done we headed back to our VIP golf cart parking spot and headed to the house.
Overall, this was my best TPC experience yet! I've already started making plans to head there next year and make a yearly tradition out of this! I definitely haven't had a fun day like that in a long time. It was much needed! While we walked over 11 miles it was a somewhat relaxing day to just be outside, and enjoy nature and watching some of the best golfers in the world! I can't wait to go back next year.
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Dude you got some awesome pictures!! This looks like a hell of an event! Hopefully we can go next year!
There is no hoping! We are going next year!