{"id":8341,"date":"2009-06-18T20:56:45","date_gmt":"2009-06-19T00:56:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.IreneEng.com\/?p=8341"},"modified":"2016-01-29T23:04:40","modified_gmt":"2016-01-29T23:04:40","slug":"us-open-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennis.ireneeng.com\/?p=8341","title":{"rendered":"US Open 2009 @ Bethpage"},"content":{"rendered":"

We were lucky to have gone yesterday: on a perfect 10 out of 10 day for golf. I went to food shopping after dropping off the kids few hours ago, and stepped in a poddle of water that was to my calf in the parking lot. The next few days look like more rain drops than sun rays.<\/p>\n

<\/object><\/p>\n

We parked at Jones Beach and took the coach to the Park. It’s about 20 minutes righe, painless, except the dust. As soon as I got off the bus, I found the first piece of garbage on the ground.<\/p>\n

\"CIMG4817\"<\/a> \"CIMG4821\"<\/a> \"CIMG4829\"<\/a> \"CIMG5046\"<\/a> \"CIMG5111\"<\/a> \"CIMG4975\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Michael dropped his sunglasses as we were watching the Tiger roaring. Ben Crane the slowmo came to pick it up. Ben is renowned for his slowness, once his partner walked off without him.
\n\u201cKeep it.\u201d I joked.
\n\"Ben<\/a>He playfully put it on top of his shades.
\nMichael took off his cap. Meaning you can have this if you want.
\nBut Mr. Celebrity is so used to autograph seekers, he thought Michael was one of them.
\nHe signed it without asking.
\nGuess everyone had their mind and eye on Tiger, no one was handing their stuff out for signature for Mr. Crane.
\nWell, no worry.
\nThere is always an Irene.
\nWithout knowing who he was, I handed him my cap.
\nI didn\u2019t want to see him standing there, waiting.
\nAn older gentle stood to me left, joked
\n\u201cHe\u2019s just a ground crew.\u201d
\nEarly we chatted briefly. He posed a question or comment on Tiger, then waited for my reply. I looked at him blankly, confessing that I knew nothing about the game.
\n“Then why are you here?” He laughed.
\n“Oh, I was kidnapped.” \ud83d\ude42 I pointed to DQ to my right.
\nHe wanted to be kidnapped too.<\/p>\n

\"CIMG5003\"<\/a> \"CIMG5006\"<\/a> \"CIMG5013\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The check points at Jones Beach by the coach were through, like in an airport: empty your pockets and gone through a beeping arch.
\nNo cell phone
\nNo food
\nNo water
\nNo camera case, camera is ok
\nThey provided the phone booth.
\nIt’s kind of cool, for the younger generation who grow up on computers and cell phones.
\nDad and Mom used to live this way, make a call from a big machine that’s moored to the ground. Oh, needed to have quarters to make the call.
\nThe famous Nathan Frankfurter, hot dog cost $5
\nThe beer $6
\nI sneaked in a Trader Joe\u2019s strawberry bar. I must have a tendency to challenge the authority.
\nA born rebel, I reckon?
\nThere was this huge shopping mall
\nA gleaming white tent.
\n\"CIMG5018\"<\/a> \"CIMG5022\"<\/a> \"CIMG5020\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Merchandise Pavilion
\nGift shops are Americans’ tradition. They need to have their dose of shopping crave filled. Everywhere.
\nDQ was trying on hat
\n\"CIMG4885\"<\/a>James Dodson, the author of A Son of the Game<\/em> was on hand signing his books.<\/p>\n

I left my purse in the car, had to borrow money for my shopping spree.
\nLove the idea that they decorated the mall with orchards.<\/p>\n

The mall was packed, humming with activities. It was only a practice day.
\nWell, golfers are better paid than tennis players.
\nEven every one can pick up a game of golf.
\nCount how many pro-am\/celebrity golf tournaments are out there, vs tennis?
\nAnd pro golfers have much longer shelf live.
\nTheir careers last longer than any other athletes.
\nThe golf pros and tennis pros charge similar fee per hour. But tennis pro most likely has to sweat out the entire hour.<\/p>\n

\"CIMG4882\"<\/a> \"CIMG5024\"<\/a> \"CIMG5016\"<\/a><\/p>\n

NY Times<\/a>‘ take on New York fans are on the money. The older gentle on my left was yelling out tips to Tiger on how to swing.
\nThese two cuties were at the middle of the 18th hole, waiting for Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh.
\nI sneezed.
\n\u201cExcuse me.\u201d I said to no one in particular.
\n\u201cGod bless you.\u201d One of them said.
\nAfter thanking him, I asked
\n“Why are you on wheels?”
\nThey both stood as the balls dropped.
\n“We\u2019re disabled.\u201d They replied curtly.
\nMind your own business, will you pls Irene?
\n\"CIMG4986\"<\/a> \"Nathan<\/a> \"Tyler<\/a>Nathan Tyler has an Asian girl friend -> right.
\nBehind her were the sponsors – corporate white tents. The big boys would rent a house or a tent or both, to entertain their clients and enjoying the game themselves. Golfer never has worried where to park
\nor how much a beer cost \ud83d\ude42
\nI had just as much fun as anyone would. Thanks DQ.
\nI’ve heard that I’m slated for the July Girls’ game in Pennsylvania, LPGA.
\nYou got to know the right people \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We were lucky to have gone yesterday: on a perfect 10 out of 10 day for golf. I went to food shopping after dropping off the kids few hours ago, and stepped in a poddle of water that was to my calf in the parking lot. The next few days look like more rain drops […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[15],"class_list":["post-8341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-new-york"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.ireneeng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.ireneeng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.ireneeng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.ireneeng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.ireneeng.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.ireneeng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8341\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.ireneeng.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.ireneeng.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.ireneeng.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}