A couple months ago my dad scored free tickets to the Ryder Cup at Hazeltine National in Chaska. When he called to see if Jimmy or I wanted to go I knew right away that Jimmy would be working and I would have to "take one for the team" and go. My mom had volunteered to watch the kids even before he called, so all of us spent Friday night there. We left at 4:50 in hopes of beating the traffic and it paid off. We had minimal waiting to park and get on the shuttle and it took less than 10 minutes to get through the gates.
We headed straight to the first green and grabbed a spot behind two people in chairs about 30 yards from the pin. We waited there about an hour to finally see some golf.
After the four groups passed by we walked towards hole 10, hoping to have a view. Since only 4 holes are being played at a time it can be hard to get a spot to see anything. We got a pretty good spot looking out over the green at the lake. It was about another hour before we saw the groups come through again.
Patrick Reed ("my man" according to me dad) and my favorite, Jordan Spieth, were paired up all Friday and Saturday. Jordan didn't have a great weekend, but Reed was hot!
Included with our tickets was access to the Hazeltine member club. This gave us access to luxury portable restrooms (go ahead and Google that!), charging stations for our phone, a premium bar, better food options, and a place to sit and watch the action on TV.
There was 4 different food themes and we chose two to share. A cheesesteak from the deli and bangers and mash from across the pond made for a great lunch. My dad loves the banger and mash so much that he has already requested I invite him over to have it for dinner.
The morning rounds were wrapping up as we finished lunch. We were on our way to the 3rd green when it looked like the last group would end up playing 17, so we stopped and watched for a while. Why dad attempting to get a picture of me with the golfers, but I had my brightness turned down to save battery and he didn't realize the camera was pointed at him.
We continued our journey to hole 3 once Jordan and Patrick hit. It was about an hour before golfers got to us again, but we were able to watch what was happening on a nearby video board. We got a but of a surprise when a ball ended up in the ground just a few feet away. We didn't know who's it was until Brooks Koepka walked over. We got to watch him hit a great shot from a few feet away.
We went home later, checked out the recording, and found ourselves on TV!
We walked to a couple other holes and watched a bit, but were getting tired. We swung through the merchandise tent before leaving and got on the shuttle about 3:45. We were both pretty sore when we got back to my parent's house, but a hot tub soak and early bedtime helped with recovery. I am so grateful for this once in a lifetime opportunity. Thanks for taking me along dad!
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