The Players

For the past 4 years we have had the opportunity to go to The Players (thanks to our dear friends the Mahans). The first year I was 5 almost 6 months pregnant and Adam drug me around the course! I was sick as a dog and I was in a lot of pain from what I guess was my stomach stretching?! Needless to say I was miserable! (Adam now feels bad he made me walk the course with him…haha)

This year, after getting there and walking about 3-4 holes I started to feel sick- I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but I didn’t feel great, so I leaned over to Adam and told him I was going to grab me something to drink and I would meet up with him on the next hole. Well, as I was standing in line I started to feel very faint. I started to sway and everything started to close in on me. There has only been one other time I felt this way and it was right after I had my c-section and I was in my room with the nurse and I started to blackout- everything happens in slow motion… Anyway, I knew from the feeling that any second I might be on the ground. I managed to text ‘help’ to Adam and slowly make my way to a shaded spot to sit down. I didn’t know if I was going  to make it- it has to be the worst feeling ever!  Adam came running over and got me something to drink and sat with me until I started feeling better. We still don’t know what exactly happened, because while I was hot, I wasn’t the hottest I had ever been and I had eaten breakfast, so it was really weird. I told Adam to head on back and I would meet him at the turn and walk with him the rest of the way. I headed over to an area that was airconditioned and wanted to sit and make sure I felt good enough to start walking the course again before I actually did it. On the way, Adam texted me and said bad weather was headed our way, so I found a chair and table and made myself comfortable. The bad weather came and it FLOODED! it came hard and fast! Adam had just made it under the covered area when it let loose and since he hadn’t made it inside, when the wind blew, which was so hard the rain went horizontal, Adam got soaked! He finally made it inside and we just hung around for the next couple of hours. We eventually decided to call it a day and not wait around to see if and when they would start playing again. Luckily for us, the PGA tour allowed all Saturday tickets eligible for entry on Sunday.

After church on Sunday all 3 of us, including Ava, headed out to Sawgrass. We drove in a back way and it didn’t take us long to get there. Once we were in, we set up camp on the 17th hole. We had decided not to take the stroller in and Ava and I would hang out at the 17th hole while Adam walked around. I figured that Ava could be just about as loud as she wanted  as long as we were at the 17th and it would also allow us to have a good seats for the next to last hole. 

 

In the years past we haven’t been allowed to take our cell phones in, of course- you weren’t about to separate me from my child, so I always snuck mine in, but you definitely couldn’t get caught with it. This year, the PGA changed the rule and said you could take cell phones in as long as you kept them on silent, they even had designated cell phone areas that you were allowed to use them. Ours served the purpose of a camera (sssshhhh!!!)

       

Adam walked around most of the afternoon, but he would occasionally come and check back in with us. I had brought in a coloring book and some crayons so we could color, but we really just enjoyed watching more than anything. Especially people watching. There was a group in front of us that were definitely there for the party aspect of the game and they were having the best time (likewise we were enjoying laughing at them).

 

As awful as the weather had been on Saturday- Sunday was the exact opposite- it was absolutely beautiful and Ava had a good time just being outside.

 

If Ava did get so shy around new people (which I’m okay with, the less likely it would be for her to walk off with a stranger), she would have made tons of friends. Everyone would say hey to her and comment about how good she had been.

           

At one point during the day, she and I were both thirsty and I made the mistake of mentioning that as soon as daddy got back we would get something to drink. I didn’t want to risk losing our spot nor did I want to carry all of our stuff around, so after a few minutes and he still hadn’t made it back she put her shoes on (I had let her take them off while we were sitting on the hill) and stood up, looked at me and said with every ounce of confidence, “I’ll be right back” lol! I busted out laughing and asked her where she was going, she looked at me and said “to find daddy”  and when I asked her where she said- looked around and then pointed to her right and said over there. I tried to keep a straight face because this child has never wandered off or come close to it when she is around a large group of people. I just looked at her as she walked a little further away and then turned around again and said, “I’ll be right back”. I guess she was looking for some sort of approval from me (which she wasn’t getting) so eventually I talked her out of it *wink wink and she sat back down. Luckily Adam arrived a few minutes later.

     

Adam nor I have ever been to the final round, so Adam was pretty excited. Little did we know we would have front row seats for a playoff! We met some interesting characters throughout the weekend. People from England, Canada, South Carolina, and New York….I would have never guessed that so many people from all over came to the tournament. I knew there was probably some, never would have guessed there were that many, I was especially surprised at the ones who would travel so far, but who wouldn’t want to come spend time in Florida in May, especially those from up north where its still cold. haha!

 

After the final group tee’d off on 17, Adam ran over to 18 to get a good view so he could watch them hit the last hole. Ava and I stayed put and when everyone else left the 17th hole, we gathered our stuff and moved closer to the walkway. I was pointing everything out to Ava from a little closer distance. Adam made his way back to us and said he wasn’t going to follow them thru the last hole, but we decided to make sure there wasn’t going to be a playoff before we headed out- well, imagine our surprise when there was and they were coming back to the 17th hole. We had been standing right next to the rope so we knew we had a great view. The golfers would ride and then walk right past us.

On our way out after the playoff, we received several texts and phone calls about people seeing us on tv- lol! We had made national tv! When the golfers walked by us on their way from the tee to the green they walked right in front of us and the cameras caught us as they walked by- we watched it and you can clearly see it was the 3 of us. I told Adam that Ava can now add TV star to her resume- haha!

We had such a good time, even though it was a little hot. Adam and I would love it if Ava enjoyed golf, and I think she is well on her way ;)