Irish open 2014 @ Fota thread

benny79 wrote: »

Where did they sign autographs? its usually as they walk off 18th but you couldnt get near that green as they walked off as it was cornered off.

I saw him signing outside the clubhouse. I couldn't see the markers hut but presumed it was at the walkway between the green and the clubhouse.

Not really, for me it was as close to 100% as possible. Really enjoyed the 3 days i was there. Obviously the weather made a huge difference to things!
It beat last year in Carton by a mile for me

Andy Dunne11 wrote: »

Any other gripes?

Why are you looking for gripes?

Having said that, I agree that the marshalling could have been better - particularly following the irish groups - I heard that all the playing partners of the irish guys had issues with the amount of noise and movement once they holed out - I thought some marshalls outside the ropes could have helped hugely - but then of course they wouldn't be able to see :rolleyes:

I actually asked about the vans etc behind the 9th green - apparently the players don't mind too much about a general noise away from the greens - its constant and so doesn't bother them - its the sudden laugh or phone right beside them that jars.

hoodwinked wrote: »

a well known golfer

Paul Casey, by any chance?

I followed him around a little over the course of 3 days, i'd say his caddie must be hoarse after every round, he seemed to be shouting at the crowd at every chance he got.

On a lighter note, i was watching Pablo Larrazabal tee off and he got a big clap afterwards. He says "thanks guys, i caught that right out of the middle".

Its nice to see the players acknowledge the fans rather then brush past them.

hoodwinked wrote: »

yeah it was the poor marshal didn't know what to do, i'd say he was almost going to run over to the 3rd to get the marshals there to stop the village crowd.



saw more of the golfers acknowledge fans than those who didn't i am happy to say, most of them were so lovely, chatting away after their shots or while walking, and like i previously mentioned looking after the crowd of fans.

I was there for that aswell, i followed that group for a good few holes, Casey was the one golfer I saw the whole weekend who left a bit of a sour taste, he didnt have any time for the crowd, he was literally running between green's and teeboxes because god forbid a young kid might want to high five him as he walked by or whatever. Maybe im being harsh but thats the impression he left with us anyway, . The majority of golfers seemed down to earth decent guys though, especially Harrington, I followed him Saturday and Sunday, the man just oozes charm and class, he always looked like he felt privileged to be just playing and nearly overwhelmed with the support he received.

20 June 2014; The frills and the fascinators were left at home and instead golfing fans turned out in their droves today in the most colourful and interesting of sports attire for the first ever Irish Open Wacky Trousers' Day. Whilst there was plenty of excitement on course for day two of Ireland's greatest golfing event, there was a veritable sartorial rainbow off course as visitors to Fota Island Resort ramped up the style dial for an opportunityto win a top prize from Emirates, official airline to the Irish Open. Pictured are the winners of the Wacky Trouser's Day, The O'Brien family, Maria, Grace, Lucy and Stephen, from Castleknock, Co. Dublin. Fota Island, Cork. Picture credit: Brendan Moran / SPORTSFILE

Andy Dunne11 wrote: »

On a more positive note we did see a funny moment when Quiros was testing the wind with the handful of grass and he managed to sprinkle it all over his caddies head. The caddie was full of mock indignation and was sort of saying wtf and Quiros took out his scorecard wallet and gave himself a yellow card

I also have a photo of him running to the loo........

i seen him do a Seve when he was about to tee up a provisional on 15th on Saturday (I think) after cracking his first into the trees on the left side. Marshall beside him got word on the radio and told him it was good. Quiros looked at the marshal quizically and said good?, yes said the marshall, it's good.

Quiros stated a simple matter of fact. "It might be found, but it's not good!" got a good laugh.

Had a great day at Fota on Sunday, I love the place and hope it comes back to Fota again in the near future. Myself and a friend decided to see what the green fees would be like and are now booked in for next Wednesday @ 40 euro each, am really looking forward to playing it now.

Got a job as a volunteer for the production company that do the European Tour Productions for Sky.

Got assigned a job as a buggy driver but volunteers also worked as spotters, microphone holders and aerial holders.

My job was to drive around with a cameraman, a microphone holder and a aerial holder as part of a mobile camera team. At the start of a given day we were assigned a feature group of players with a view to recording every shot they play. The shots you see on TV are a mix of shots from wired cameras in fixed positions (towers behind the greens, tripods on fairways and a couple of high cranes, and shots from our crew using battery operated cameras and RF to transmit the shots back to the studio.

We get to the tee box. Cameraman films tee shots. We pile into the buggy and drive down to where the balls land to film the next shots. The other guys get out and my job here was to get the buggy off the fairway and out of all the camera shots. Once the fairway shots were taken by the players, I drive buggy back to camera crew and it's off to the green. I grab camera, cameraman sets up tripod. I give cameraman camera and drive buggy to the next tee box. After players putt, camera crew walk with players to next tee box. I grab tripod from around the green and put it back on the buggy. Rinse and repeat.

Pretty easy job really. Have to concentrate on staying out of the shots, not making any noise in case players are distracted and moving around as quickly as possible. Easy to get distracted by the golf. Getting through the big galleries with the buggy can be a fine art.


Day 1: There were two recording sessions morning and afternoon with a couple hours break in between. In the morning we followed Wee Mc, Paddy H and Stephen Gallacher. They started on 10 so we caught up with them on the first. It helped that I had played the course a few weeks earlier as I could tell the cameramen where the exits to the next holes were around the green, as it was his first time round the course. I was little star struck at the start, focusing too much on the golf and not on the job at hand. The three golfers were sound and went about their business, but I got the feeling early on that Wee Mac was not going to set the world on fire.

Back to the TV compound at the right side of the 10th fairway for a catered lunch after the morning session. Got to laze about and watch the golf for a couple of hours. Not to many going for the green on 10 with their second. Plenty of searching for balls in the bushes on the left.

In the afternoon we got G Mac, Lowry and Casey. Camera crew were not impressed as one of the group had a bit a reputation for being difficult to say the least. Met up with them on 10 and followed them through to 18. Lowey and G Mac looked to get on and were joking and laughing between shots. Casey's caddie was working overtime calling for no cameras and for the crowd to stand still. G-Mac walked up and holed a birdie putt on 16 after a very close approach and came and sat on the buggy while the others finished up.

Followed this group all the way to the interview area. G-Mac is an absolute showman when the cameras are around and great for the game. It was very clear that all players have a media face which can be very different from reality. Then up to the tented village for some shots of Irish dancers and diddily-i music in an Irish Pub. Cameraman got great mileage out of this. Free dinner and drinks in the Oliver Plunket that night.

Back to the compound after a mentally tiring and sun baked, but thoroughly enjoyable day 1. Long day. Started at 7am and finished up at 6.30. Didn't stop me heading to the range in Frankfield though .

Day 2: Another early start on day two. Started out with Quiros, Hoey and Siem. Siem was going well on -3 as we joined them on the second. As soon as the players see us coming they know they are the feature group and undoubtedly feel pressure. This was typified on the next hole as Quiros and Siem went into the water on the par three 3rd. To make matters worse Siem went in again from the drop zone, a 60 yard pitch!! He went from -3 to +1 after his seven. Not a happy bunny. We get called off this group as the curse of the cameraman struck. We joined up with Karlsson, Peter Lawrie and Lundberg for the rest of the morning session. Lawrie was struggling with a hook off the tee but was scrambling well. Lundberg was having fun and high fiving all the kids as he went from green to tee box. Amazing the difference in the way different players react to the crowd.

Started following Fitzpatrick, Fleetwood and Paul Lawrie in the afternoon. On 10 Lawrie and Fleetwood hit great drives and end up side by side on the fairway. Fleetwood goes off the right to get a good look at the green but has his head in the yardage book coming back to the ball and he kicks Lawrie's ball accidentally. Fleetwood is mortified and Lawrie starts cracking up laughing. You know Fleetwood is going to hear about is again in the players' lounge. Rules guy is called and Lawrie has to drop. He says jokingly that Fleetwood will get it if his ball ends up in the divot ahead of Lawrie's ball. Ball goes closer to hole on both drops and Lawrie gets to place. Rules guys were called frequently, even for the simplest rulings all week, just to be sure to be sure.

Towards the end of the day we were reassigned to Wattel, Molinari and Bhullar coz both Edoardo and Wattel were going strong. Gave Ed's caddie a few updates on the Italy - Costa Rica game from the phone as he asked for it. Italy went a goal down on 45 min just as we got to 18. I held off on that news until the round was over

Wattel smashed a drive down 18. He was -9 an this stage. MikKo was home with -11, the next closet being -8. The second shot on 18 is blind for most. Wattel goes for it and dumps it in the water. Ends up with a bogey. Would have been an easy par with a chance of a bird if he laid up to 20 yards. He would have then been in the final group on the Saturday. Couldn't understand it.

Day 3: Day three was a different kittle of fish. Later start at 10 but would be following the same group from start to finish without any break. Got the final group of Rock and Ilonen. Happy not to get G-Mac as the galleries would have been a mare to get through with the buggy.

Great watching the pros all week. A few of things I took in from watching them:

- They can hit it long!!!!!
- They don't draw or fade the ball as much as I was led to believe.
- My ball flight is grand compared to theirs.
- Their chipping and putting could have been better, although some of the lag putting was quality.
-They are much slighter than they look in TV.

Mikko was totally focused, robot-like and impervious behind his shades. His people had contacted the production company prior to the round and politely requested no cameras in his putting line. I told the cameraman on Sat morning that I had a strong feeling he would take it home, being a proven winner with a tonne of experience. The cameraman said he expected this group to fall apart and that we would be called to another group. Didn't happen.

Rock didn't play well on the day but was a gent all the way though. No club slapping or swearing, unlike some of the other players.

Day 4: Got the last group again. A lot of waiting around on the first tee. Claret Jug and Irish Open trophy on display. Starter was President of Fota GC and had a strong Cork accent. "Now we have match number tirty tree". You could see the English players chuckling.

Both Willet and Mikko started well. I was all golfed out at this stage thinking mainly about the job, batteries for the camera, which fairway was best to nip off into the trees for a slash etc etc. Still got excited on hole 6 over the water. Must have looked great on TV.

Enda was buzzing around in a buggy towards the end on Sunday. Shaking babies and kissing hands as he waited to do the presentation. He drove past me inside the ropes at one stage and grabbed my hand to shake it even though I made no gesture like I wanted to shake hands with him. Pure chancer.

Coming to 18 it was Ilonens to lose with a two shot lead. I kept slagging the cameraman all day saying that I thought there was going to be a play off. He was dreading this as he just saw it as unpaid overtime. When Mikko hit a wayward drive very right into the trees I turned to the cameraman and his face dropped.

Mikko managed to hack it out of the trees but only to the other side of the fairway near the trees again. Things started to get a bit manic then as a massive crowd started to line the fairway. Mikko knocked his next down to the front of the green. I thought we were going to get swallowed up by the crowd as they advanced after us. I sped off down towards the green in the buggy. Mikko pitched on for four, missed the par putt but got the bogey to win by one. Well done. Takes a lot to lead from start to finish.

Followed him down to the scorers hut and parked the buggy behind the interview area. Mikko'ss caddy came around to me holding a cigar. He was looking for a wrench or something to get the flag off the 18th pin as he promised to get it for his man as a keep sake. We both tried our best to twist the nut off the top of the flag but to no avail. Hopefully he got it off in the end.

After the interviews but before the presentation we all piled into the buggy and made a b-line for the tented area for a pint. Twas one of the sweetest pints I ever downed.

What a week. Probably left out loads of stuff out but you get the gist. Sky guys, camera and production guys were very professional and dead sound. Really seem to be enjoying their work and why wouldn't they. We got a few quid in the end to cover expenses which was a sweet bonus. Have made a few contacts so will sign off by saying till next time hopefully.


Cameraman Westie and sound girl Kath getting ready to roll.


Tried to etch my name on the side.



Me behind Howard Clark, behind Westie, behind Danny Willet on 10th.


Crowd coming down 18 on Sunday.


Filming Willet's 3rd to 18th on Sunday.

Fantastic report Wombatman, thanks for a great bit of insider info. How did you get the gig?

Wombatman wrote: »

Lundberg was having fun and high fiving all the kids as he went from green to tee box. Amazing the difference in the way different players react to the crowd.

Have to make a comment on Mr Lundberg as I followed him down 15 on Saturday. He hit a smashing drive, but as a lot did, with the dogleg he ran out of fairway and ended up in the first cut. It must have been sitting down a good bit and I was the only person beside him. I couldn't believe how he used his club to brush away the loose grass, millimetres from the ball and then did the same with his foot. Was playing with fire if you ask me!

Anyway he hit an awful shot, even I would have been embarrassed it was that bad. Might have went 100 yards, from right rough to left rough and ended up behind one of those big advertising banners. I was joined by a lady as he hit, and my god I have never heard such an amount of foul language from anyone, EVER. He f'd and blinded the sh1t rough as he walked all the way up to his ball. Very funny, but way over the top. He hit a pretty decent chip over the banner (but not great) and the lady just said to me, "I wonder what string of expletives is coming out of his mouth after that shot."

Amazing the difference a bad shot makes:) He seemed acted like a prize pr1ck if you ask me.