The thing you notice after getting used to the hum that exists at most major sporting events is just how quiet it is at a golf tournament. Even when the marshals aren’t holding their hands up in the air — signifying that everyone is to be extra quiet — it is understood that hushed tones are the way to go out here at Interlachen. That is probably why they didn’t like it when we started yelling and screaming at the first tee box.*

The U.S. Women’s Open began just over an hour ago, under perfect conditions (though the threat of rain looms later). The most unusual sighting so far: well, that’s a tie between three girls shaking up the implied khaki and polo dress code with fluorescent green and yellow ensembles (we were going to make a comment about how they were obviously confused about where they were, but we’re not sure they would fit in anywhere); and a man who looked very much like The Dude from “The Big Lebowski,” who was chatting with a golfer on the driving range (and who perhaps wasn’t really supposed to be there, based on a later encounter with the gatekeepers).

On the leaderboard: Kelli Kuehne took an early lead at 2-under with a birdie-birdie start. Edina’s own Hilary Lunke is in a big cluster of players at 1-under, and she is through five holes. Natalie Gulbis birdied her first hole for a hot start. (See how we did that there? Because, you know, she has a calendar and everything!) We missed it because we were in the air conditioned tent filing an on-line update. Those. Are. The. Breaks.

Now it’s time to get some snacks.

*Actual truth may vary.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 26th, 2008 at 8:26 am and is filed under U.S. Women's Open. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.