I woke up the morning with full of excitment that I’m going to see Tiger in real person, really close, seeing him doing thing that he does best: winning a game of golf. After 3 days of competition Tiger’s cumulative score is at -12, second only to Phil Mickelson’s -14. Unfortunately Sergio Garcia is a distance -2, not sure what went wrong with him this year coz he won the cup last year at this place!

So, after a long metro transit from line 2 to line 4 to line 9, we arrived at the Sheshan metro station after 10am. We then took a taxi because we were too lazy to walk for ten minutes, which turned out to be a mistake because the golf club entrance wouldn’t allow taxi to go in, apparently traffic was a big mess around there.  So we wasted almost an hour of effort and time trying to figure out how to get to the entrance to see our friends and obtain the tickets. Finaly, we arrived on the field around 11am, completely exhausted!

Then, as every new visitor getting in, the first question is to ask around: which hole is Tiger at now? At that time he was only at the 3rd hole, there’s a huge crowd following him, along with media and bodyguards and employees of the country club. There is nothing like a normal golf course should be: ordinary grass, lousy people, people running & walking while there was clear sign to stop down, kids playing, and worst of all, the big bad bodyguards looking at spectators as if we’re trying to steal something from Tiger. It’s amazing how Tiger is the center of all attention, while leaving Phil and Sergio with just a small crowd. I’m sure they don’t mind at all…

Clearly Tiger was not in good mood, within the first 9 holes his score dropped from -12 to -9. Not only did he not make any birdies, but he was falling into bunkers repeatedly, and you can see his unhappy face from very far away.

I managed to take a few photos from far away, because the bodyguards were giving me a shit face when seeing my big lens camera. The big guy insisted that I should put my camera inside the bag, I ignored his request, but I was thinking to myself that this is not worth fighting for. I admire Tiger’s skill and reputation but he is not a role model in any way to me, I won’t sleep with his photos! So, few minutes later I packed up my camera and just watch with naked eyes.

An hour later we left the golf course to return to the city, joining our friends for a small gathering at her showroom, much more comfortable place, familiar friends, red wine, cheese, chips, etc.

Next year we won’t ask for tickets, it’s not worth all the trouble to get there and then be treated like dirt by the very people who came to collect the money that Chinese spectators and Chinese corporate sponsors were paying them. Those people don’t think that without our strong enthousiasm, they won’t be given such a generous prize! They just take for granted, because Tiger is a celebrity. Frankly, I’m very disappointed by the way this tournament is organized and run. It’s going to lose its prestige very quickly if thing doesn’t improve.