Post by verdantgarden on Mar 29, 2016 4:12:44 GMT
As a member of the Marriott chain, I tried to find one of their hotels that was located closest to the resort. My choice was a hotel completed just last May close to Palomar Airport. There were a lot of families staying there no doubt to visit Legoland and because it was cheap.
I didn't intend to rent a car figuring the course was close enough to walk. When I was studying a map of the area, I was hoping I could take a short cut via a dirt road behind the hotel. It turned out I needed to be half billy goat to get up and down it so I needed to walk around, a journey that turned out to be last over an hour each way! That in turn cut down how much walking was left in me when walking the course. I didn't find out until a couple rounds in that the tournament set aside a lot at Palomar Airport for overflow parking. So at least I was able to take a bus back after the round.
It's a beautiful part of the country. Carlsbad must have some sort of building code where all residences need to be earth-tone colors with Spanish-tile roofs. It's a hilly country which didn't help with my sojourns. Aviara is particularly amazing. The road to the Hyatt hotel was surrounded by Four Seasons residences (an aside: my cab driver once worked at the Four Seasons in Florence Italy). I did find out the hotel was providing a shuttle from the main lobby to the clubhouse so that saved me a little bit of climbing.
The Hyatt is a gorgeous top-of-the-line hotel. I wouldn't have minded staying there but that would've cost a pretty penny. I stayed to eat dinner there after the third round. The table next to me included the Commissioner hobnobbing with a couple of folks. By way of contrast: my hotel was the beeping of the DIY waffle iron, the Hyatt was a yellow Lamborghini with a vanity plate "IL JEDI" parked in front of the main lobby.
The course itself is the most beautiful I have ever been on. When I die, I want to re-incarnate as a coot living on the pond by the 10th green. It is sprawling and hilly. Soon after you get through the entrance, you reach a nexus where you can decide to go up to the ninth green, go under a tunnel to the 10th tee or another tunnel to the clubhouse/1st tee/18th green. The course had quite a few tunnels to allow you to go under the roads that cross the resort.
Because I would arrive at the course after an hour's walk, I would usually start my day going to the ninth green and chill. Nine is a downhill par 4. Many times during the first two rounds, players would find the right rough. Those that made the cut mostly avoided the rough, which lived up to its name.
The long and short of the first two rounds was that Sandra Gal and Ai Miyazato were paired together. But I kid. I was great that Ai-chan did so well this tournament. After I felt rested enough, I would decide to follow a group for the rest of their round. In round one, that was Ilhee Lee, Mi Hwang Lee and Haru Nomura. For round 2, I chose to follow the leader, Jenny Shin, Mirim Lee and Pornanong Phatlum. I was worried Pornanong would miss the cut after finishing with a double bogey on 18.
It was at the ninth green that I thanked Se Ri for her career and wished her good luck. I'm glad she made the cut as well.
For the first time of spectating at tournaments, I decided to splurge for tickets to the tents on 18. For Saturday, it was a tent called The Patio located at the bend of the dogleg. It was there I was Belen Mozo's ball hit playing partner Laetitia Beck's ball and ended up at rest a couple of inches from each other. I've never witnessed that before on the fairway.
After a while I decided to follow the Inbee and Sun Hyung Park pairing through the first nine, that only time I walked that nine. Sun Hyung is a player although she really didn't get going until the back nine. I did see her overshoot the green at the par 5 8 with her second shot. Another Korean player coming down the Pipeline.
On Sunday, I spent the afternoon in one of the three tents surrounding the 18th green. My tent was closest to the water and the flag placed in the far right part of the green by that water. 18 was a tough hole. I saw many a player find the water on either their tee shot or their second. One poor player, Jing Yan, found water with both. Most second shots were either short on the lower level or left of the pin.
A couple of players like Jessica Korda was able to drain their long putts but some missed short ones as well. Most painful was probably Michelle Wie's. She hit her putt a little too hard.
Best shot to 18? Champion Lydia Ko's. She was the only one I saw that put her approach below the hole at the right tier. She is no. 1.
I didn't intend to rent a car figuring the course was close enough to walk. When I was studying a map of the area, I was hoping I could take a short cut via a dirt road behind the hotel. It turned out I needed to be half billy goat to get up and down it so I needed to walk around, a journey that turned out to be last over an hour each way! That in turn cut down how much walking was left in me when walking the course. I didn't find out until a couple rounds in that the tournament set aside a lot at Palomar Airport for overflow parking. So at least I was able to take a bus back after the round.
It's a beautiful part of the country. Carlsbad must have some sort of building code where all residences need to be earth-tone colors with Spanish-tile roofs. It's a hilly country which didn't help with my sojourns. Aviara is particularly amazing. The road to the Hyatt hotel was surrounded by Four Seasons residences (an aside: my cab driver once worked at the Four Seasons in Florence Italy). I did find out the hotel was providing a shuttle from the main lobby to the clubhouse so that saved me a little bit of climbing.
The Hyatt is a gorgeous top-of-the-line hotel. I wouldn't have minded staying there but that would've cost a pretty penny. I stayed to eat dinner there after the third round. The table next to me included the Commissioner hobnobbing with a couple of folks. By way of contrast: my hotel was the beeping of the DIY waffle iron, the Hyatt was a yellow Lamborghini with a vanity plate "IL JEDI" parked in front of the main lobby.
The course itself is the most beautiful I have ever been on. When I die, I want to re-incarnate as a coot living on the pond by the 10th green. It is sprawling and hilly. Soon after you get through the entrance, you reach a nexus where you can decide to go up to the ninth green, go under a tunnel to the 10th tee or another tunnel to the clubhouse/1st tee/18th green. The course had quite a few tunnels to allow you to go under the roads that cross the resort.
Because I would arrive at the course after an hour's walk, I would usually start my day going to the ninth green and chill. Nine is a downhill par 4. Many times during the first two rounds, players would find the right rough. Those that made the cut mostly avoided the rough, which lived up to its name.
The long and short of the first two rounds was that Sandra Gal and Ai Miyazato were paired together. But I kid. I was great that Ai-chan did so well this tournament. After I felt rested enough, I would decide to follow a group for the rest of their round. In round one, that was Ilhee Lee, Mi Hwang Lee and Haru Nomura. For round 2, I chose to follow the leader, Jenny Shin, Mirim Lee and Pornanong Phatlum. I was worried Pornanong would miss the cut after finishing with a double bogey on 18.
It was at the ninth green that I thanked Se Ri for her career and wished her good luck. I'm glad she made the cut as well.
For the first time of spectating at tournaments, I decided to splurge for tickets to the tents on 18. For Saturday, it was a tent called The Patio located at the bend of the dogleg. It was there I was Belen Mozo's ball hit playing partner Laetitia Beck's ball and ended up at rest a couple of inches from each other. I've never witnessed that before on the fairway.
After a while I decided to follow the Inbee and Sun Hyung Park pairing through the first nine, that only time I walked that nine. Sun Hyung is a player although she really didn't get going until the back nine. I did see her overshoot the green at the par 5 8 with her second shot. Another Korean player coming down the Pipeline.
On Sunday, I spent the afternoon in one of the three tents surrounding the 18th green. My tent was closest to the water and the flag placed in the far right part of the green by that water. 18 was a tough hole. I saw many a player find the water on either their tee shot or their second. One poor player, Jing Yan, found water with both. Most second shots were either short on the lower level or left of the pin.
A couple of players like Jessica Korda was able to drain their long putts but some missed short ones as well. Most painful was probably Michelle Wie's. She hit her putt a little too hard.
Best shot to 18? Champion Lydia Ko's. She was the only one I saw that put her approach below the hole at the right tier. She is no. 1.
