Welcome to the 100th PGA Championship, which feels kind of like "Jurassic Park" in the sense that here, just wandering around and true to life, are the greatest golfers of this generation, right here in your own backyard ... well, not your backyard _ some super-rich person who lives on a golf course's backyard _ but you know what I mean, St. Louis' backyard, so to speak.
It's a pretty surreal scene _ and a pretty scene, too, with hues of the color green you didn't know they could make. On Monday, the somebodies and nobodies of St. Louis coexisted and bonded over the somebodies and nobodies of the PGA Tour, here at Bellerive Country Club for the practice rounds, the calm before the storm (but hopefully not literally).
"It's unbelievable how many people are out here on a Monday, it's crazy," said golfer Jim Furyk, also the Ryder Cup captain. "Especially for the weather being 97 and humid."
Yes, while we soaked up the day, our underarms soaked. But it was worth it to experience the bigness of this. The long drives that seemingly scraped the clouds clumped together, as if they were all trying to sneak a peek at the same tee shot. The merchandise tent that's as big as Festus. The sprawling spectacle that is the course, with the grandstands and the serpentine crowds along the ropes.
"I was out on the course when Dustin Johnson teed off real early, and it was like watching a mob following him around _ and we're going to have more of that as the week goes on," said Mike DeCola, general chairman for the 100th PGA Championship. "I was not in the mob _ I was trying to help Hideki Matsuyama's caddie get his credentials, and we were actually going against the mob!"
In the gallery, spectators dressed like golfers, tucked-in collared shirts and more pastels than an Easter brunch. And some of the golfers looked like spectators _ it's sometimes crazy to believe such a powerful golf shot can come from such a pixie of a man. Though other golfers, such as Brooks Koepka _ the grand-nephew of 1964 World Series shortstop Dick Groat _ look like Dick Butkus.
"You know what's fascinating?" said another Cardinals World Series shortstop, Ozzie Smith. "When you look at these golfers, I saw Justin Thomas, not very big, but their ability to generate power? And I know it has to do with timing and being able to get everything there at the same time, and as an amateur, that's what you're looking for: How are they able to generate the power and the distance? I know technology allows them to do it a little bit, from a technical standpoint, being able to trap the ball _ I've been playing a long time and I'm still trying to figure out how to trap it enough to be consistent and keep the ball online."
At the driving range, hundreds of spectators stood behind a white picket fence, while dozens more stood impatiently behind them.
Whoooooosh! (How do you spell a golf swing sound?)
The whipping thwack of a golf ball leads to necks whipping toward the sky and then back down, synchronized spectators.
"It's interesting to watch them, the way they practice," said Suvit Nopachai. "When I go to a professional tennis tournament, a lot of times I hang out at the practice court, just watching the tennis players hit, to see how they go about preparing. It's just the concentration. They're so highly accurate and consistent _ I'm amazed, even with the drivers they're using, not only are they getting it 300 yards, but it's in the same spot every time."
There were some families, including a father and a daughter devouring ice cream bars between holes. And there were parents with a stroller and crying kid, the parents hoping they could get through the day to then someday say, "You were there! Back in 2018!"
And there were bigger kids _ old enough to understand the magnitude of the event, but young enough to still pull off some autographs. Seventeen-year-old Jeremy Fox wore a white hat covered in Sharpie signatures.
"And I've got another one in this bag," he said.
His buddy Adam Trunko, 18, declared that "we don't want to give away our secret location," but he then broke down and dished the dirt.
"There's a little corner from hole 9 to 10 and a little putting green, so there's just been guys going in and out all day," he said. "And we've just been camped out there. It's been perfect. What's really cool is when they come over _ they don't just sign, they talk. You see these guys on TV, they're winning championships, and then you're face-to-face with them. It's just something special. We just saw Justin Rose. And I got a ball from Patrick Reed."
Reed isn't the only Masters champ who was there. Zach Johnson was at Bellerive, but be sure not to make the mistake our paper's Peter Baugh did and interview golfer Zach J. Johnson _ playing in his first PGA tournament _ about his experience on the PGA Tour.
"Trust me," the other Zach Johnson told Baugh. "I disappoint a lot of people."
