HYUNDAI TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS - KAPALUA, MAUI

HYUNDAI TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS
KAPALUA, MAUI, HAWAII

We found out that good people and attitudes can definitely make up for rain and high winds.  Our trip to Kapalua, Maui to watch the worlds best golfers in the Hyundai Tournament of Champions turned into a rain and wind swept day that made meeting the players and obtaining autographs pretty tough.  We hiked the hills of Kapalua, got soaked and held onto our hats as the winds swirled around us.  Our goal was to have Bubba Watson sign our limited edition club heads, tournament flag and golf ball.  We walked with Bubba for several holes as the rain pounded us.  Bubba was trying to stay dry and rushing to get out of the rain after the first hole.  We approached is cart but he darted away.  Next up we followed him to another hole where we camped out on the green where we thought he would exit to the next hole.  Wrong side.  Bubba jumped in his cart and went the other way driving by us again as we held out our pens and yelled for an autograph.  Discouraged, we had to regroup after buying a $62 umbrella in the pro shop.  The course was out of panchos and the rain was coming down in buckets.  I purchased the expensive umbrella and left my Nephew to fend for himself.  Since he is only 22, I felt he can handle a little rain.  The poor kid was soaked from head to toe.  My other friend brought an umbrella from home and together the two umbrellas and the kid set out to find Bubba.  We walked for what seemed to be miles up hills and then up to another hole where Bubba was teeing off.  We stationed ourselves at the green as Bubba finished the hole.  As Bubba exited the green, we hit him with our club heads and tournament flags.  Bubba signed everything with a smile.  His caddy said to us "boy you guys are dedicated being out here in this rain".  With Bubba autographs in hand, we cruised the course and obtained more signatures from some of the best players in the world.  I was not done with Bubba though.  Needed a photograph with him and need to have my personal Drew's Rocketball signed by the Master's Champion.   We again tracked Bubba down on another hole and stood there like hungry cats as he walked off the tee box.  May we take a photo Bubba.  "Sure" he said.  Photo and Rocketball signed we went to find our other friends who were hanging out in a dry tent drinking beer and smoking cigars.  Seems they commandeered a storage tent  for volunteers and turned it into their own corporate tent.  The menu board for the concession stand was turned over and they hand wrote the words "Cohiba Corporate Tent".  Cohiba being a cigar distributor that provided us with some nice smokes.  A trash can lid was hijacked to make a table and chairs were brought in from the concession area.  If ever you could act like you belong and get away with it, this was it.  We stayed in our "corporate tent" the remainder of the rainy day.  As this was originally a storage tent for towels, trash bags and plastic gloves we were more than happy to allow volunteer workers into our corporate tent to replenish their supplies.  Many of them expressed interest in joining us for beers after their shift.  "by all means we said, you are all welcome in the Cohiba Corporate Tent.  The laughter, smiles and experience of our corporate tent will be with all of us forever.  This was one hell of an awesome rainy day in Kapalua.
Click link below to view post on the 2014 Hyundai Tournament of Champions
http://greateatshawaii.blogspot.com/2014/01/hyundai-tournament-of-champions-kapalua.html

BUBBA WATSON WAS A GENTLEMEN AND STOPPED FOR PHOTO AND AUTOGRAPHS

BUBBA WATSON SIGNED LIMITED EDITION PINK CLUB HEAD AND GOLF BALL

BUBBA WATSON SIGNED GOLF BALL

MY PERSONAL "CAUTION HOT" DREW'S ROCKETBALL SIGNED BY BUBBA WATSON

KAPALUA AIRPORT IN MAUI

HEADING OVER TO KAPALUA, MAUI TO WATCH GOLF'S GREATEST PLAYERS

ARRIVING IN KAPALUA TO RAIN AND HIGH WINDS

MY NEPHEW ROBBY GOT SOAKED BUT WAS ALWAYS SMILING

BUBBA WATSON TRYING TO STAY DRY AT KAPALUA

HYUNDAI TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS IN KAPALUA, MAUI

BUBBA WATSON TEEING OFF

ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GOLF COURSES IN HAWAII - KAPALUA PLANTATION COURSE

WHEN THE SUN FINALLY CAME OUT KAPALUA AND THE VIEWS ARE BEAUTIFUL

WE MADE OUR OWN CORPORATE TENT ON THE FIRST HOLE

VIEW FROM OUR CORPORATE TENT ON HOLE #1 AT KAPALUA

TOMMY "TWO GLOVES" GAINEY SIGNS MY GLOVE

TOMMY "TWO GLOVES" GAINEY SIGNED GLOVE
NOT YOUR NORMAL GLOVE.  THIS IS MICHAEL JACKSON IMPERSONATOR GLOVE WITH SEQUENCE

HYUNDAI TOURNAMENT FLAG SIGNED BY PLAYERS -
BUBBA WATSON,  RICKIE FOWLER, DUSTIN JOHNSON, ZACH JOHNSON, BRENDT SNEDEKER,
KEEGAN BRADLEY, IAN POULTER, STEVE STRICKER, WEBB SIMPSON,  HUNTER MAHAN
AND TOMMY "TWO GLOVES" GAINEY