Tiger, Tiger Woods Y’all!

After shooting the NCAA Mens Golf Championship two weeks ago, I told my self I wouldn’t watch golf on TV or cover another tournament for at least a month or so. But that quickly changed, when the editing manager for US Presswire called and asked me if I was available to shoot the PGA Memorial Golf Tournament in Dublin, Ohio. I hesitated at first, but since Tiger Woods was going to be there I had to take the opportunity.

My first day at the tournament was Friday, June 5. I got to the course around 12:30 p.m., much later then I wanted to arrive, due to a doctors appointment earlier in the morning. I quickly found the media parking, got my credentials, grabbed a few bottles of water, and was off to find the current leader Luke Donald. When shooting golf I try to make sure I get the following shots: at the tee, on the fairway, chipping or putting, and some kind of acknowledgment to the crowd.

Tee shot:

Nikon D3, 400mm, 320iso, f3.2, 1/1250th

Rough shot:

Nikon D700, 24-70mm, 400iso, f3.5, 1/640th

Fairway shot:

Nikon D3, 400mm, 320iso, f3.2, 1/1250th

Acknowledgement:

Nikon D3, 400mm, 320iso, f3.2, 1/1250th

That wrapped up my first day at the tournament.

I started off my second day by Tiger Woods until he got to the back nine, then focused on some of the other golfers.

Tiger teed off at 11 AM, which meant that I got to the course around 9 AM to make sure I wouldn’t miss him teeing off. As he approached the first tee I made sure to get a shot of him walking with his caddie Steve Williams.

Nikon D3, 24-70mm, 320iso, f4, 1/1600th

After firing off a few frames of him walking to the tee box, I quickly got behind him and laid down so I could have a nice clean background and shoot him in his back swing-  (yeah right!) I didn’t want my camera gear thrown into the river, like he has done in the past to photographers who have shot in his backswing. So I shot him when he was done swinging.

Nikon D3, 24-70mm, 320iso, f2.8, 1/5000th

Like I said above, I try to make sure I get the following shots: at the tee, on the fairway, chipping or putting, and some kind of acknowledgment to the crowd. Here are a few of these shots from day 2:

Tee shot:

Nikon D700, 400mm, 320iso, f4, 1/1600th

Nikon D700, 400mm, 320iso, f4, 1/800th

Eating a candy bar:

Nikon D700, 400mm, 320iso, f4, 1/2000th

Fairway:

Nikon D700, 400mm, 320iso, f4, 1/1600th

Acknowledgment:

Nikon D700, 400mm, 320iso, f4, 1/3200th

This is one of my favorite shots of the whole weekend.

Nikon D700, 400mm, 320iso, f4, 1/1600th

I peeled away and started covering some of the other golfers that were in second and third place.

As I was walking back to the media room, I came across the sixth hole, which has some nice flowers and a little bit of water in the front, and it which made for a new overall view.

Nikon D3, 24-70mm, 320iso, f2.8, 1/3200th

So far, I had yet to get a bunker shot that day. Luck must have been on my side, as I walked right past the eighteenth green when Marc Leishman was hitting out of the bunker. I like the shot, except for the stupid rake in the background.

Nikon D3, 400mm, 320iso, f4, 1/3200th

After quickly transmitting some photos and enjoying a Wendy’s frosty from the media tent, it was back to work. I was off to find Jim Furyk, and yet again luck must of have been on my side. As I was approaching the 15th green, he was in the bunker getting ready to hit out.

Nikon D700, 400mm, 400iso, f3.2, 1/2000th

I stayed at the hole for a while, as the rest of the groups were coming through.  Next up to hit out of the bunker was Vijay Singh, lucky him!

Nikon D700, 400mm, 400iso, f3.2, 1/2000th

I got bored sitting there waiting for golfers to get to the green, so I walked back to the

13th and 14th holes and found Tiger Woods again. He was just getting ready to walk over this bridge that had a water fall on the side. I hurried up and hustled over, got as low as I could, just in time to get Tiger and his caddie walking across the bridge.

Nikon D3, 24-70mm, 320iso, f2.8, 1/3200th

Since I ran into Tiger I decided to fire off a few frames of him putting, but that didn’t go over so well.

That wrapped up my second day at the tournament.

Day three would be were I would have to step up my game. I would be competing on deadline with Getty Images and the Associated Press. Since speed is the name of the game I took my laptop out to the course with me, which allowed me to beat the other wire services by at least 20 minutes.

I spent most of the time hanging around the fourth green and the fifth tee, focusing on the top five players who had a chance to win the tournament.

First of the day was Jonathan Byrd who has hitting from the fairway.

Nikon D700, 400mm, 400iso, f4, 1/3200th

As he was walking to the green I had to bust a move to get to the fifth tee box to shoot Jim Furyk.

Nikon D700, 400mm, 400iso, f4, 1/2500th

As I was sitting underneath a tree in the shade transmitting some photos, all I hear in the distance was the huge roar and I knew that could only be one person…. Tiger Woods.

Nikon D700, 400mm, 400iso, f4, 1/2500th

I followed Tiger for the first eight holes then took a break to transmit some photos.

Nikon D700, 400mm, 400iso, f4, 1/2500th

Nikon D700, 400mm, 400iso, f4, 1/2000th

At this point time no longer mattered, but the number of holes left did. Tiger Woods teed off on the 18th and he had to birdie this hole and hope that Furyk bogie the 17th to win the Memorial Tournament.

Nikon D700, 400mm, 400iso, f4, 1/1000th

After I noticed the really nice reflection of the sun on his club I stood under a tree transmitting this photo while a bunch of people gathered around admiring my work. After that was sent I sprinted to the green to make sure I didn’t miss anything. Tiger was about 150 yards away from the hole and he pinned it about 4 feet away which put him in pretty good shape to win, as long as Furyk boggied. As Tiger approached the green he tipped his hat and shook his caddie’s hand.

Nikon D700, 400mm, 400iso, f4, 1/2000th

Nikon D700, 400mm, 400iso, f4, 1/1600th

Just as Tiger was on the green every one in the gallery including Tiger was watching the leader board as they changed Furyk’s score. As soon as they changed the score every one started cheering Tiger, Tiger because he has won the Memorial Golf Tournament. As soon as he sank the put he went over and shook Jack Nicklaus  hand.

After that It was time for the trophy celebration

Nikon D3, 24-70mm, 320iso, f2.8, 1/3200th

Nikon D3, 24-70mm, 320iso, f2.8, 1/3200th

I hustled back to the media room to transmit the trophy photos and beat all of the other wire services.

That wraps up my coverage for the PGA Memorial Golf Tournament.

Here area few screenshots of my photos around the internet and the newspaper:

This entry was posted on Friday, June 19th, 2009 at 8:54 pm and is filed under Golf, Me, Sports and tagged with Andrew Weber, Columbus, Dublin, Golf, Memorial, Ohio, PGA, Photographer, Sports, Tiger, Tiger Woods. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.