First off, what a fantastic location for a golf course - just next to Rose Bay, home of hundreds of luxury yachts and cruisers, mini mansions which pass as houses, and a place where a car needs European heritage or all the other cars on the block tease it for being "common".
But the main draw of the day was a chance to watch the legend Greg Norman in action on a golf course, and we managed to watch him for about 13 holes. It was quite incredible to see the gallery following him around, just happy to be in the same space as the great man... whenever he stood and considered his next shot, a hush would fall over the gallery as they anxiously waited for his next shot.
It must be tough to only play a few times and have the expectation of a nation on your shoulders, but his game certainly improved over the days of the event. There were moments of greatness - an eagle on the par 5 seventh and hitting a monster drive and onto the green in two.. awesome stuff.. unfortunately followed up by a bogey and double-bogey only a few holes later.
I managed to get a couple of photos during the day
oh... and the sweet irony of one of my recent posts regarding tourists sitting in the sun crackling like bacon wasn't lost on me when I got there and realised that I hadn't packed a hat or sunscreen for the day (we were in the middle of an unseasonable cold snap)... here's a picture of me at the end of the day -> my face
and the result? Well, unfortunately Norman was unable to get back to his previous days (despite landing some legend-worthy shots in front of the big crowds which followed him every step of the way), however another Queenslander stepped up to claim the Stonehaven Cup -
"Queenslander John Senden has stormed home with the round of the tournament to claim the MFS Australian Open by a stroke from US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy at Royal Sydney."
Australian Open Web Site