Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic
After last weekend of covering NHRA, it was back to a sport I was a little more familiar with, golf. I have covered more golf this year then I have ever watched in my life. I started out with the 2009 NCAA Mens Golf Championship, where I got one of the greatest golf celebrations shots. A few weeks later I was in Columbus covering the PGA Memorial Tournament, and now I found my self just 20 miles from my house covering what could be the last Jamie Farr Owens Corning Class.
I really hope the LPGA and who ever needs to sign the contract can come to an agreement to keep the tournament around for a few more years. It’s one of the biggest weekends in the Toledo area, and if they do away with it I think the city itself will hurt drastically. We still have the Toledo Mud Hens who regularly sell out home games, but the Jamie Farr draws people from all over the state of Ohio and Michigan for a weekend of amazing golf and great weather.
Since the tournament is such a big deal in the local community, all the television stations and newspapers are there covering it, I am able to see a lot of friends I don’t see on a regular basis.
Originally I was only suppose to cover Saturday and Sunday, but on Friday mid afternoon I got bored so I headed out to the course to check it out. I ended up walking the front nine to get a feel where the good shooting positions would be, along with good backgrounds.
As soon as I walked out of the media room to the 1st tee, I noticed how horrible the backgrounds would be. Here is an example of Michelle Wie teeing off with all the clutter in the background.
Nikon D3, 400mm, 200iso, 1/1600th, f4
So with the extremely shitty backgrounds in mind I tried something different. I just bought a brand new Canon G10, which has a completely silent shutter. Morgan Pressel was teeing off next, so I got to the back of the tee box so I wouldn’t distract her and I would easily shoot in her back swing.
Canon G10, 21.5mm, 200iso, 1/1600th, f4
With Pressel being the current leader I followed her for most of the time. The below photo is Pressel teeing off from the 3rd hole during the second day of the tournament.
Nikon D3, 400mm, 320iso, 1/1250th, f4.5
I pealed away from following her and caught up with Michelle Wie. I busted out the 10mm fisheye lens to see what kind of stuff I could get with that.
Nikon D700, 10mm, 100iso, 1/1600th, f2.8
I wanted to use the fish eye to get a nice wide angle view of one of the greens, but with it being really cloudy it the shot would be pretty much useless. There was a ten minute gap were the sun came out and there was blue skies. So I fired off a few shots of the fifth hole as Michelle Wie caddie walks off.
Nikon D700, 10mm, 100iso, 1/2000th, f5.6
As I was waiting for the next group to approach the green Amanda Blumenshert hit into the bunker, so I stuck around for a few extra minutes to get her hitting out.
Nikon D3, 400mm, 500iso, 1/2000th, f4
Just as I was getting ready to leave Jamie Farr was talking to the media about the future of the tournament. I fired off a few photos of which could lead to potential sales down the road.
Nikon D3, 400mm, 400iso, 1/1000th, f5
That wraps up day one for me but the second day of the tournament.
Day two I had to focus on getting photos of the top seven leaders of the day. The problem with golf is you could be following one player and you hear these roars coming from other holes, and you think shit what did I just miss.
The following photos listed by how many strokes under they were.
Sarah Kemp
Nikon D3, 400mm, 320iso, 1/1000th, f4
Laura Diaz
Nikon D3, 400mm, 320iso, 1/1000th, f4
Morgan Pressel
Nikon D3, 400mm, 320iso, 1/1250th, f4
Seon Hwa Lee
Nikon D3, 400mm, 320iso, 1/1250th, f4
Jiyai Shin
Nikon D3, 400mm, 320iso, 1/1250th, f4
Natalie Gulbis
Nikon D3, 400mm, 320iso, 1/1250th, f4
Eunjung Yi
Nikon D3, 400mm, 400iso, 1/800th, f3.2
Towards the end of the day I hung out towards the eighteenth green where the players would sign autographs for fans. While waiting for players to finish the whole I shot a general photo of the eighteenth hole. I wish there was a blue sky.
Nikon D3, 10mm, 400iso, 1/1250th, f5
Then Natalie Gulbis signed autographs for fans.
Nikon D3, 10mm, 400iso, 1/1250th, f5
That wraps up day two, round three of the tournament. Be sure to continue reading to see how exciting the final day was.
Day three would be pretty much the same as day two except I had to get my photos transmitted as fast as possible, since speed is the name of the game.
I am just going to share some of my favorite from the final round.
Nikon D3, 400mm, 400iso, 1/800th, f3.2
Nikon D3, 400mm, 400iso, 1/250th, f3.5
Nikon D3, 400mm, 400iso, 1/4000th, f3.5
Nikon D3, 400mm, 400iso, 1/640th, f4.5
Nikon D700, 70-200, 250iso, 1/400th, f4.5
Nikon D3, 400mm, 320iso, 1/4000th, f4.5
Nikon D3, 400mm, 320iso, 1/2500th, f4.5
Nikon D3, 400mm, 320iso, 1/2500th, f4.5
Canon G10, 21.5mm, 200iso, 1/1600th, f4
Canon G10, 18mm, 200iso, 1/1600th, f4
Canon G10, 9.8mm, 200iso, 1/2000th, f5
Canon G10, 8.1mm, 200iso, 1/2500th, f4.5
Nikon D3, 400mm, 320iso, 1/3200th, f4.5
Nikon D3, 400mm, 320iso, 1/4000th, f4.5
Then Eunjung Yi received her trophy.
Nikon D700, 70-200mm, 200iso, 1/250th, f9 with SB-800 flash
Nikon D700, 70-200mm, 200iso, 1/250th, f9 with SB-800 flash
Then as I was leaving a squirrel ran across the green. I wish it was when some one was putting because unusually stuff like that sometimes leads to a double truck in Sports Illustrated.
Nikon D3, 400mm, 320iso, 1/3200th, f4.5
That wraps up my weekend shooting the Jamie Farr Ownes Corning Classic. I just hope this tournament will be around next year.
Great pics, I can never get enough of Natalie Gulbis