Monday AM update

OK, I lied. Last night's post was not the final post from here in New Jersey. Not after storms rolled through the area last night. They caused serious issues in nearby New York City and portions of northern New Jersey -- flooding, downed trees, power outages -- so I felt the need to touch base with the maintenance crew at Baltusrol to see how the weather affected the course heading into this morning's action, which tees off in about five minutes.

And according to Mark Kuhns, who I spoke with just minutes ago, the good news is that the storms did little to the course other than give it a much needed touch of rain. "We just got a trace here," Kuhns said. "Just enough to save us the trouble of syringing greens this morning." There were no washed-out bunkers, no streams running across fairways ... nothing. The planned morning maintenance routine of double-cutting greens remained in place and green speeds remained in the target range of 12 on the Stimpmeter, even without rolling.

"We're ready to go, ready to get a champion and ready to wrap this thing up," Kuhns concluded. So am I. Now if I can just find a television here in the terminal in Newark to watch the tournament before my flight leaves. Wish me luck.

Comments

[Jereme D.]

Great job on the blog, Scott! I was at home in Florida all week but for those moments when I logged onto your page, I felt like I was in New Jersey!

[Denny Wright]

Scott,

Mischia told me about your blog so I checked in often as the golf week progressed. Thanks for sharing with us the perspective of the superintendent and his team on what it takes to pull off one of the big golf events of the year. Your humor and pictures added to the enjoyment and the feeling of 'being there'. By-the-way, our son Austin is somewhat interested in a career in the golf course equipment industry. He thought Todd Simms' UUV was 'tight'. Thanks again!

Denny Wright (Mischia's husband)

[L. Wick]

A nice job using this technology. Hope more people will get comfortable w/the idea of adding comments/questions that the friendly staff at GCM can address. thanks.