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Dick Jerardi: Getting on the right track for AT&T National at Aronimink

IF YOU ARE asking yourselves, after reading the headline, "What is he doing at a golf tournament?" know that I am asking myself the same question.

PGA pro Ryuji Imada, hitting a drive on 18 during yesterday's pro-am, has his first encounter with Aronimink. (Michael Bryant / Staff Photographer)
PGA pro Ryuji Imada, hitting a drive on 18 during yesterday's pro-am, has his first encounter with Aronimink. (Michael Bryant / Staff Photographer)Read more

IF YOU ARE asking yourselves, after reading the headline, "What is he doing at a golf tournament?" know that I am asking myself the same question.

The reality is that our golf writer, Mike Kern, knows that I have followed everything Tiger Woods (well, everything involving golf) since I watched him win his first U.S. Amateur at Sawgrass 15 years ago. So, he volunteered me for duty this week at the AT & T National at Aronimink.

In reality, I probably would have asked to be included in the coverage anyway. Yes, I wanted to see Tiger hitting a golf ball up close. I also wanted to experience a PGA Tour event.

The entirety of my first-hand experience is the Sunday of the 1974 PGA Championship at Tanglewood in Winston-Salem, N.C. A friend got us tickets and we wandered the course and then hung at one green to watch all the leading groups come through.

My memory of the day is beyond fuzzy. What I do remember is being up a hill way beyond the 18th green as Jack Nicklaus and Lee Trevino, in the last group, stood what seemed like several hundred yards away in the fairway. Each of their shots dropped out of the sky, a few feet from the cup. I remember thinking: "How did they do that?"

Each man shot 69 on the final day. Trevino won it, finishing with a 4-under 276. Nicklaus was a shot behind. Trevino earned $45,000. No, I remembered none of that other than Trevino won it by a shot. The rest of it I just looked up.

Hanging at Aronimink

After trying to get in the main entrance shortly around 11 a.m. yesterday and being rebuffed, I was sent a few hundred yards down St. Davids Road to Lot C. Which, as it turns out, is a large field right next to the action.

I wandered over to the Tennis Pavilion to get my credential and, a few yards from the entrance, noticed a few parking places with name tags. The first one was for my friend Joe Juliano of the Inquirer. The second one was for Kern. I was shocked to find that Mike does not drive a Mercedes. Very disappointing. Apparently, he spends all his spare cash on golf equipment.

But my man has a serious spot, right next to Associated Press golf writer, Doug Ferguson. The New York Times and Washington Post were next in line.

To the course

As I was dropping off some media material in my car (also not a Mercedes), I ran into Kevin Currie, the former La Salle SID and all-around good guy. He told me I needed to get to the first tee where Temple coach Fran Dunphy, Villanova coach Jay Wright and Maryland coach Gary Williams were due to tee off shortly.

Naturally, I had no clue where to find the first tee, but I spied Neil Hartman of Comcast SportsNet on the move. So I followed him and ended up on the first tee.

The first hole

Not sure why course architect Donald Ross called the first hole "Apache," but I do know it looked very serious. There was a giant dropoff from the tee and then what looked like at least a 200-yard rise to the hole.

Williams and Wright arrived at the tee shortly after I did. Wright said he practiced for a half-hour and Williams went longer. Dunphy, he said, hit three balls and said: "Let's go get a hot dog."

I asked Williams about his former athletic director, Debbie Yow. She just left for North Carolina State. It was no secret Williams and Yow did not get along. He just smiled at the question.

Chick Hernandez, of CSN Washington, and Tour pro Steve Elkington joined the three coaches on the tee.

Elkington, playing from the back tees, swung so easily I wondered if the ball would clear the tee box. It ended up around 290 yards or so right down the middle. Smooth does not do the swing justice.

The coaches went long and straight. Chick went into the woods.

"Come on, pick it up," said Williams.

I think the notoriously demanding Williams was kidding. He did smile slightly.

Elkington was playing his own ball. The others were in a shamble. They played the best drive and their own balls from there. Dunphy, just under a 3 handicap, had the best drive.

"How far to the hole?" Elkington asked his caddie, Bob Burns.

"One thirty-one."

"The front."

"One twenty-five."

Elkington's second-ever shot at Aronimink was 15 to 20 feet left of the hole. The other four got it close enough.

As "Elk" lined up his putt, Dunphy whispered to me, "He's supposed to be a great putter."

A few seconds later, the ball broke left and dived into the hole. I figured it was about 15 feet.

"That wouldn't be as sexy as 21," Dunphy said.

A 21-footer for birdie, it was.

"Are you the local fishhack?" Steve asked me just before he introduced himself as we stood in the second fairway.

"Fishhack?"

A nickname for newspaper reporters in Australia, Elk told me.

Something about fish and chips getting wrapped in newspaper that evolved to the nickname. Steve assured me was it was not a negative.

When I told him I normally covered horse racing and college hoops, he told me how much he loved the track. Said Sam Houston Race Track was right near his home in Houston. And he is there often.

Burns asked: "How far is Philadelphia Park?"

Now, this was clearly a pair I could get behind.

Burns, a caddie for 32 years and 20 "off and on" for Elkington, lives a few miles from Tampa Bay Downs. He is a regular during the winter season.

Just too hot

I peeled off after the second green when I saw the tee box for the eighth. That had to lead to the ninth and air conditioning.

The greens for 8 and 10 are side by side. Could be a great viewing area when the tournament starts Thursday.

Walked up the 18th fairway, wondering what the leader might feel late Sunday afternoon.

Saw somebody slam a pitch off what looked like a mini-Fenway green monster behind the 18th green. Don't think the pros will have that issue.

Today's itinerary

By the time you read this, I will be back on the course. I am getting up very early, trying to see if I can catch Tiger during his practice round. Have no idea when he is teeing off, but he typically goes early.

This will be a little like trying to catch a horse working out at the track when you have no idea when the horse is leaving the barn. So, I should feel right at home.

Send e-mail to jerardd@phillynews.com