The Mass Hacker: Another Day At TPC Boston

Just like last year, I got my hands on a pair of tickets to the Deutsche Bank Championship Pro-Am, held at TPC Boston. I prefer the Pro-Am to the actual tournament because you can bring a camera, take a ton of pictures, you don't feel like you're missing any action from another spot on the course and the pros are a lot more relaxed. And, as you're going to see in these pictures, if autographs are your thing, they are very easy to get.

We had just gotten to the 10th tee when Nick Watney came up. Frankly, I wasn't expecting him and wasn't ready, which is why you're getting the extreme close-up. We ran into Watney's group throughout the day. Later, one of his amateurs missed hitting me with a drive by about a foot, even though I was well off the fairway. That's the one downside to the pro-am: some of the amateurs are really bad, so you need to pay attention at all times.

After Watney came Vijay Singh.
He doesn't have the friendliest reputation, but as you can see

he was also very willing to sign autographs.

Next came my boy, Hunter Mahan.
Since he is my favorite golfer I didn't even make a comment about the white pants.
Did thank him for the reTweet a couple months back, but I don't think he heard me.

After Mahan was Y.E. Yang.
Check out the guy in the tent: he's holding two extra putters.
I guess Y.E. is still tinkering, but unwilling to try the belly-putter.

Because the amateurs take FOREVER to play, there was a bit of a logjam.
It has to drive the pros crazy.
Worked out well for me, as I got Sergio Garcia and Charl Schwartzel in one picture.

Proving just how long it was taking, Phil Mickelson had teed off before 7 AM,
so I thought there was no way he'd still be around.

It was after noon and he was just finishing.
Also, the dude signs EVERYTHING.

See that cop in the photo?
He was constantly moving, almost always to the direction I was trying to go.
It was like he was messing with me on purpose.
These two pictures of Phil took forever to get, but I am persistent.
Meanwhile, my dad simply walked across the street and is just out of frame.
Moral of the story: getting closer makes pictures easier to take.

Here's Bubba Watson, coming off the 18th green.
We were just a couple of minutes too late to see him tee off,
which is too bad, because I would have loved to see him hit driver on a par-5.
We were late because I was getting a free swing analysis from Golf Town.
Remind me never to make fun of Charles Barkley's swing again.

I'd show the video to you but, like Kim Kardashian and her sex tape,

I'm in the process of making sure all evidence of its
existence is destroyed.

I saw Camilo Villegas at last year's TPC, but wasn't quick enough to snap a picture.
Well, this year I found him up on the practice range. (Told you - persistent.)
He's much easier to get a picture of when he's standing relatively still.

Also on the range were Jonathan Byrd and Stewart Cink.
While neither of these guys are known to be particularly long hitters,
both of them can hit the ball a distance I refer to as "stupid far".

A few feet over was Steve Stricker.
Since he's known as a great putter, I was hoping he'd be on the practice green.
But, he's pretty good with the rest of his clubs.