On Sunday at around 3:30pm, Son Major and The Major will depart for the Tampa airport to make the trek to San Diego and the 2008 U.S. Open Championship. We signed up to be volunteers almost a year and a half ago. We will be working the Thru and Leaderboards during the competition. We have passes for the three practice rounds on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and for the Championship on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. If there’s a playoff on Monday, we’ll get to see that too.

The photo is of some of the gear we have. You can see the hat, shirt, parking passes, lunch vouchers (yellow), and of course the volunteer pass that gets us in for all the activities.¹

Much to my surprise, cameras will be allowed on the three practice days, so we’ll be snapping lots of photos. I might even get another card for my camera. No cell phones are allowed on any day, and not cameras are allowed on the Championship days.

We will arrive in San Diego at around 11 pm and transfer to the Town & Country Resort and Convention Center on North Hotel Circle Drive. On our off days we’ll take the trolley to Qualcomm Stadium for shuttle to Torrey Pines Golf Course main gate. On working days, we’ll try to bum a ride from someone and park in the volunteer parking lot and shuttle to the volunteer gate.

Here’s our working schedule in case you want to catch us on TV:² 

• Thursday, 6:45 am - 12:15 pm, Hole 11 Leaderboard and Thru Board.
• Saturday, 2:00 pm - 6:15 pm, Hole 14 Thru Board
• Sunday, 10:15 am - 2:15 pm, Hole 17 Leaderboard and Thru Board

As you can see, we’ll have plenty of time to watch the competition. And as an added bonus, on Tuesday, we’ll be heading up to Seal Beach to visit with Old Dad and Pretty Betty. We hope to spend the day and part of the evening with them³. I haven’t seen them since the big wedding and Son Major hasn’t seen them since Old Dad’s 80th birthday party in Vegas in 2003. We’re looking forward to the visit.

I think I might take my laptop with me and post some updates while we’re there. I think I can avoid checking a second bag which is now $25 extra when you fly Delta.

1. We also received another shirt, water bottle, and jacket [↩]
2. Times are Pacific Daylight Time [↩]
3. And, I suppose, whoever else can intercept us while we’re there [↩]