Future Collegians World Tour

Early start again . . .  still a few folks waking up very early but not too bad.

Met the English boys’ team on the way over to the course, managed by Terry Casey (father of Paul Casey) ~ Great guys, good golfers and a pleasure to be around.

Warm up on the range, a few putts and then off to the official practice round. Rather odd that players were handed scorecards, but when in Rome do as the Romans do. The girls went off on #10 and played with a girl from Korea and 2 girls from Japan. The Koreans were impressive in many ways, smartly dressed, well mannered and great ball strikers, enough to make your jaw drop as they tee-off. The rounds were long and we still cannot get the meal at the turn right. We were supposed to go in for lunch which is really odd in tournament golf, and thus the long wait to tee-off on the second nine. It was a day of very little communication for the girls due to the language barrier. Daniel Kang, being able to speak Korean enjoyed the company of her Korean competitor.

The boys went off on #1, and played with one player from Japan, Korea and England. Having the English lads along was really nice as they could trade stories the whole way around. Reid made good friends with his Japanese player, Konosuke Nakazato. The Japanese haven't seen someone as big as Reid and have fallen in love with the big “fella.” Reid was so impressed with the Konusuke's game, especially because he kept up with his long game, being only 5 yards behind him and 100 pounds lighter. 

A quick lunch, then a little more practice on the range for those that chose to, or just some short game and socializing on the putting green.

The opening ceremony started at 4:30 PM, speeches by the JJGA officials and welcomes. At least that's what we thought because we couldn't understand one word. Then there were photos and speeches by each captain. They served us a beautiful meal during the ceremony. After that it was an photo session like you would see at a rock concert. See attached photo. All the teams joined in and for a few minutes your kids believed they were famous and hopefully someday they will. Everyone had a great time as all their photos will show.   The Japanese are so well mannered and polite, making it a pleasure to be around them (the language barrier is still a problem however).

Well that's it for another day, the pre-tournament team meeting is at 8 PM while we attempt our 4th meal of the day. Cross your fingers for no rain and to a few good bounces for our team.