"Mr. 59"

Monday after Toshiba, I drove east to Palm Desert for a quick shoot with Al Geiberger, "Mr. 59". Al was the first PGA TOUR professional to card a 59 during an official event in 1977. He has even trademarked the name "Mr. 59" and his cell phone # ends with 5959!

Had a nice 15 minute shoot and then we spent an hour in the
parking lot discussing the "Stack & Tilt" swing method.
I got a nice lesson out of it and I hope to incorporate
some of the concepts into my game.

2010 Toshiba Classic

My first visit to Newport Beach, CA and the Toshiba Classic.
It's a great Champions Tour event on a classic course.
The players and fans all really seem to enjoy the week.

Players warm up on the range, and the bleachers were packed.Peter Jacobsen jokes on the range.Tom Watson and Fred Couples were paired together in round 1 with Mark O'meara.
What a great group.

Great weather on Friday.Tom signs some autographs after his round.

Sunday was all Fred Couples.

No stress here. I think he's digging the Champions Tour.

Two wins in three starts. Look out!

2010 Bike Week in Daytona (Sort of)

Being that I lived in Daytona for about 8 years, Bike Week isn't that big a deal for for me anymore. I've "been there, done that" plenty of times. It can still be fun, but it's not a "must do" event anymore. I was off for the first weekend of Bike Week and we decided to visit our friends Jim & Brooke. We haven't seen them in a while, so we packed up Shelby and headed south.
It was pouring rain, so I left the bike home this time.

It also turned out that a band that I did some photography for in the 80's had reformed
and was playing a weeklong stand in South Daytona for Bike Week.
I spent many a night watching these guys perforn at the Pier when I worked there and also at the other clubs I frequented. They were one of the strongest bands around and It's great that they are still playing. The weather was crap and there weren't many people there,
but we had a great time nonetheless!

Beth and I bust out the Bike Week "uniform" of leather jackets.Jim & Brooke chillin'.

Jim messing around with my camera. Back button focus Jim!

We also caught up with some old friends from my Pier days. Kelsey has been living up north for a while, but decided to move back to FL. For some reason, she thought the idea of poprocks shots (yes poprocks!) was a good one.
She and Tami (keyboard players wife) set the tone for the afternoon.
"Poprock face". Beth is amused but wasn't even going there.

No fog machine... How about bubbles? No it wasn't her name!
Kelsey grabs some pics.

I played around with some HDR conversions using Topaz software.

Before we went home, we stopped by the Daytona Speedway to check out the 2010 motorcycles at the manufacturer displays. No BMW's, but some nice hardware!
I'm thinking a sport-tourer would make nice company for the Harley!
The 2010 Kawasaki Concours 14

Yamaha FJR 1300

LA to Pebble Beach

From Hawaii, it's home for a week or so then back out to CA for the west coast swing.
I usually cover the Northern Trust Open at Riviera CC.
It's a great old course and usually gets a strong field.
Phil signs some autographs after his round.
The weather turned ugly on Friday and we got lots of rain.
There were still some die-hard fans hanging in there!The weather cleared up for the weekend and the crowds grew.The 10th hole at Riviera is never short on drama!Ernie Els on the 11th tee.My buddy Jason H.watches his player Tim Wilkinson warm up at dawn.Steve Stricker was the man to beat on Sunday.And no one caught him!
From LA, I decided to avoid the airlines and dive up to Monterey via the PCH.
What a great stretch of road. I just wish I was on a motorcycle instead of in a Dodge!

Seal beach at San Simeon.Cute couple.Diggin' it.I had to pull over about 10 times for photos.
OK, back to work!

The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am is a special event that can be fun and exhausting at the same time. Everyone plays in foursomes made up of 2-man teams. Each team has one TOUR pro and one amateur or celebrity. The golf can sometimes take a back seat to the celebrities and the fans don't mind at all. With rounds that can last upwards of 5+ hours on three different golf courses, hopefully something entertaining is going on!

The celebrity shootout is the first big event of the week. Here we see pro surfing legend
Kelly Slater show his touch around the greens.Huey Lewis and Andy Garcia watch as Tom Brady tees off.

Round one took me to the new course in the rotation, Monterey Peninsula Golf Club.
Its a great track and the players all seemed to like it.
Corey Pavin and Pat Perez wait to tee off.

John Daly has to hit over some deer which were not too concerned.

Apparently I didn't scare them either!

Actor Chris O'Donnel waiting to hit. Nice pose!

Ryo Ishikawa, the hot new star from Japan stands out in his green on the green.

U.S. soccer star Brandi Chastain celebrates a big putt on #18.
She kept her shirt on this time.

Always good to see David Duval in the field.

I got a chance to do an early flight on the MetLife airship "Snoopy II" on Saturday.
If you've never seen it up close, the gondola is pretty tight.

Just me and the pilot and an awesome day for flying!

You can see the rack of television gear that takes up most of the space.Obligatory self-portrait with the Peanuts gang.We flew over downtown Monterey on the way to the course.There were a few clouds, but overall the view was spectacular.

Looking down on #7

#6 green, #7 and #8 tee.

Looking south.

Pushing the blimp off the mooring post.

I jumped out and the TV camera operator hopped in.
Off they went to cover the round from above.

Back to the course, and a couple of young-guns. Rickie Fowler and Ryo Ishikawa.

Tom Brady tosses a football to his caddie on #18

George Lopez works the crowd.

Looking over to the 7th hole from #17.

There was a huge swell in the area and big waves were crashing
behind the players on the 7th green.A big crowd at the 18th green.

When the dust settled, it was Dustin Johnson holding the trophy
with Clint Eastwood on Sunday