On to the next

Abilene, Texas

July 19, 2013

The Aaron’s / Bob Estes Abilene Junior is over and I’m currently at the Abilene Airport. This airport is quite unique. If you look around you can see all ends of this building. This is definitely the smallest airport I have ever been in.  There are four gates, and hardly enough space to fit one 757. The planes that come into Abilene are quite small. These are the type of planes that I will have to duck my head to get in, and the type of planes that fellow teammate Tony will have to crouch to get into. I was in row 15 in Abilene, good for second to last row of the aircraft. From Abilene we take the 27 minute trip to Dallas where we will connect on a normal size plane and get back to Washington DC. 

This week we finished 54 holes of golf, which for other weeks is standard procedure. This week the rain made the tournament anything but standard. Somehow we still finished everything. We only had two days, but all golf was completed. On the first full day of golf most played 18, some played more, but only one group finished 36. This meant for a long final round day. Now as interns we are use to long days, but for the golfers this was an uncommonly long day. First they had to conclude the second round. This meant the first wave finishing up where they had to stop due to darkness the previous night. This also meant the second wave starting their second rounds. All in all in got done at about 2:15 p.m. 

This is when things got interesting for the communications depart. The goal was to get the final round shotgun off at 3 p.m. This meant a lot of work, fast work for us to meet our goal. First, all the second round score cards must be entered, and then we had to make the cut. After the cut was finalized the pairings had to be finalized.  While this is going on everyone else needs to keep the juniors informed and make sure they know where they’re going and what’s going on. This was an all hands on deck situation. 

With fast work from fellow Comms Michael and Meaghan, and good help from operations interns we met our goal. The air-horn was blown at 2:59 p.m.  I was definitely happy to meet this goal because at times it looked as if it was not going to happen. The timeliness of the start really set us up for success later in the day.

The shotgun went smoothly and everyone was in around 7 p.m. This allowed for a solid award ceremony and outdoor pictures, which we thought would have never happened at the beginning of the day. Somehow some way 54 holes were completed, and we had  a great tournament in Abilene. 

It was nice to meet PGA Tour professional and tournament sponsor Bob Estes. Abilene is his hometown; it’s great to see him giving back to junior golf. 

The tournament finished, I experienced my first week in Texas, and the drought in West Texas is officially over. I would say this was a successful week. Off to Maryland for next week’s tournament.

Tony struggled getting on our rather small plane in Abilene

OB:

This morning before heading to the airport I was watching The Open Championship. I have always wanted to head across the pond and go to The Open or Wimbledon. Being a huge sports fan there are many sporting events that I need to go to at some point. Here is my top 10 list of sporting events I want to attend.

10. The Open Championship- So much tradition and so much history. This would be a fun contrast to tournaments in the states. 

9. SEC football game- As a northerner the SEC culture fascinates me. I would love to go to a big Alabama/LSU or Florida/Georgia game. 

8. Game at Wrigley Field- Fenway will always be my favorite, but I would love to experience a game in the friendly confides. 

7. Rose Bowl- The granddaddy of ‘em all seems like a great way to spend New Year’s Day. 

6. World Series game at Fenway Park- My team my stadium, I would love to see it lit up on the world stage. 

5. Wimbledon- The championships are always fun to watch. I would love to experience them in person. I’ve been to the US Open and it’s fantastic. I would love to see how England does grand slams. 

4. Stanley Cup Final game at TD Garden- There has been some good opportunities in recent years to get this one done, but I haven’t gotten the chance. Hopefully in the near future the Bs will be back in the final. 

3. Final Four- The culmination of the most fun sporting event of the year that takes place in April once a year. New Orleans would be the perfect city when I go to my first final four. 

2. The Masters- Watching The Masters is always one of my favorite things to do every year. Someday I want to walk the Augusta National grounds in person. 

1. The Super Bowl- This biggest sporting event in America is undoubtedly the number one game I want to go to. However there is a slight asterisk here. Although it would amazing to go to any Super Bowl, the Patriots being in the game would make this a number one that couldn’t be topped.