Thursday, February 2, 2017

Exciting HSBC Championship!

What an exciting finish to the Championship!  The tournament was held at our home course - the Abu Dhabi Golf Club. So it was really neat to watch how the pros approached the golf course.  I had a chance to watch some of the pros practice and on the last day, I decided to just watch it on TV. Too much sand blowing around! I know,... I am such a fair-weathered golfer :-)

The week started out with the excitement of having taken a photograph with World #4 Henrik Stenson.  Bobby was not too keen on his hand on my shoulder.  Funny enough, Bobby was the one taking the photo. Guess he missed his chance on telling Stenson off!
 A friend of mine from college, who is also from Sweden - played a lot of junior golf with Stenson and his wife. What a small world!

Another one of my favorites - Martin Kaymer. Of course, Leo had to tag along in the photo op this time :-)
And yeah... even the men have some fashion sense.  No, this is not Ricky Fowler:
But the eventual winner - Tommy Fleetwood!  What a great swing! These guys are so strong and stable.  They probably work really hard to get there too:
The boys are keeping themselves busy at the Championship Village as usual.  The Golf Trick Shot Boys were back again this time but there was also a playground and sand art.  Graham and Charlie love that stuff!
Charlie especially couldn't get enough of this.  Graham would have been done with 2 art pieces and Charlie would still be on his first one!
Some ice cream before the end of the night:
And here's the other exciting part of the golf tournament.  Bobby won a chance to hit a tee-shot on a Par 3 during the tournament proper itself!  I still don't understand how the organizers came up with this idea but obviously, it is very exciting for the amateurs that were given this opportunity.  Bobby said he couldn't sleep the night before at all!
Well, here is the day of.  Our good friend John was his caddy.  John was supposed to actually have his chance as well but something happened along the way. Feel so bad for him as he was super-hyped up about it too!
Bobby got to warm up at the range with the rest of the pros.  He was definitely soaking up the atmosphere,  In the meanwhile, Graham and Charlie spotted one of their friends from school:
Okay, time to get on the cart to get to the #15th hole!
Once at the tee, the boys found lots of sand to play on, which was a really good thing because Bobby had to wait about 5 groups until it was his turn.
Hmm... Charlie trying to start a fire???
And here they come!  Bobby's group to hit with was Pablo Larrazabal of Spain, Kiradech Aphibarnrat of Thailand, and Paul Dunne of Ireland.  The big breathe before the big shot! ;-P
Here's the video that I was able to record.  I thought he did great!  And the boys loved every minute after it too:

And here is the live telecast on TV: Bobby's video  

Oh, I forgot to mention that the TV crew were filming their shots live, which is probably why he was also super nervous about the whole thing!  I do love what the commentator said about "... and the key is, his wife is a professional golfer". HAHA!

Graham and Charlie soaked it all in as well. Everyone was able to walk down the fairway to pick up Bobby's golf ball:
Larazabal was really nice to the boys. I thought it was very polite of him to take his cap off whenever he approached us:
What an awesome experience for Bobby! Definitely a HSBC Championship to remember!!!

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