COLONIAL DAY I: The race begins

Thursday and this is like having the horses all at the gate, the puck about to drop or the umpire proclaiming ‘play ball’ after the national anthem.

Game on. But wait, severe weather is in the area.

OK. Already an hour delay so I sit & wait.

That’s about it for now. No image as yet, only breakfast, coffee & exercises until I head for the shuttle & the course.

9:44 am. Bill out.

7:49 pm.

CORRECTION: I told some closer acquaintances the incorrect group for today. I went off the 10th tee not the 1st which had the lesser-known players. The group was Tony Finau, Steven Bowditch & Ben Crane.

A short delay for the weather was negotiated easily and we started a bit late.

Crane came up first and introduced himself on the first tee (#10) before starting. Slighter of build, nice smile, friendly, lean to the point of maybe being ill. IDK. He played pretty well.

This was the third or perhaps the fourth year being with Ben. He autographed a ball after the round again with a biblical verse cited. I’ll have to count my balls when I get home if it was 3 or 4.

Long-hitting Tony Finau has won once that I know of on the tour. He looks kind of out of place. Long arms, legs, large hands, gangly & leans towards being awkward. But he just smacks the ball.

He missed some good chances like makeable putts but finished respectively -3 & should make the cut unlike Crane who needs to pick it up Friday if he wants to play the weekend.

Third party was Steven Bowditch. Aussie Steven Bowditch. I did not get a chance to ax if he knew Emma from there. He also came up before we started & introduced himself as 'Steven'. This is always a polite & courteous thing for players to do. OK. Classy. There I said it.

His caddie was a very large unit. Think refrigerator but in white.

He & Bowditch seemed to be in their own world most of the day. It was like they spoke the same language or something smiling a lot, giggling & basically carrying on.

He was doing real well until nine (9), our LAST hole, when his drive found a very awkward lie too near the bunker causing him to hit the approach into the water resulting in a double bogey six (6).

Such a shame because he had it going in the right direction.

Tony F came up & made initial introduction on number 11, our second hole. He seemed nice & polite enough.

Pam was our scorekeeper. She was a nice lady. Two grown boys, 33 & 31. Kind of quiet which was fine. Kind of uneventful unlike Wednesday.

Day II is an 11:56 tee time, group TBD depending on the weather conditions which are poor.

From the 2016 Dean & Deluca Invitational at Colonial, in Fort Worth Texas, this is Bill reporting.