WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS - Some of the sights and sounds of the Greenbrier Classic's Day 2:
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS - Some of the sights and sounds of the Greenbrier Classic's Day 2:
Tiger Woods trying mightily to charge at the end - in order to survive the cut. Didn't happen.Defending champion Scott Stallings, who stands at 3 under after two days, sending his drive off the No. 1 tee under a pine tree. "Same place Tiger [Woods] hit his yesterday," whispered a Greenbrier volunteer.Another volunteer demanding "no cameras please" to the onlookers as Phil Mickelson approached his second shot on No. 1. Complete silence followed.On the same hole, though, Mickelson stood over his putt. From the other fairway, a volunteer boomed, "Ladies and gentlemen, a reminder that cell phones are to be on silent. And no pictures please." Oops. Mickelson did, however, convert the putt.John Daly's loud, floral pants.Aside from the recognizable names, spectators saw groups pass with names like Claxton, Loar and Wilson. They also saw all three throw darts at the No. 9 pin.At the same No. 9, Chris Couch lined up a 42-foot, 3-inch birdie putt. And curled it in.A swing of fortunes? (Pun intended.) Moments after Couch converted his long birdie putt, Greg Chalmers sent his drive on No. 9 into the right rough by a tree on a hill. He punched it into the left rough before the green. Then he failed to get it out. And missed. Then he finally popped it out and two-putted for a 7 on the par-4. Triple bogey.Shortly thereafter, Ricky Barnes sent his approach shot to within 1 foot, 3 inches of the hole and easily tapped in for a birdie. He flipped the ball to a teenaged girl, high-fived two young boys and smiled as he went to sign his card.Video boards gave fans details of players, their shots.Jonathan Byrd was at the media podium when asked about his upper respiratory infection: "Cough, cough," was the response.Byrd, a Clemson product, was asked if West Virginia University fans had razzed him about last season's Orange Bowl rout: "Not too much. They've been very kind. My brother said earlier in the week we needed to keep the Clemson thing on the down-low." Byrd, by the way, has not recorded a 70 yet. Which is good for him.The MetLife blimp hovering.Fans, sometimes stacked four and five deep, lined the holes in which Woods played.Woods walking down the fairways, appeared confident despite his score.Bottles of water, umbrellas and fans were everywhere as those attending tried to keep cool.The green and white of The Greenbrier resort was everywhere.Smiles were aplenty on the faces of those attending, despite the heat.Bewilderment took over at 3:35 p.m., when a weather delay was announced. The sun was shining. But not for long. A delay of 2 hours, 25 minutes would ensue.Tom Watson converting putts.Reach Mitch Vingle at 304-348-4827, mitchvin...@wvgazette.com or follow him at twitter.com/MitchVingle.
