Greetings From L.A., Pro-Am Edition

Skies cleared to make for a beautiful pro-am day. Normally I try to take cover on pro-am days since the media center is right in the firing lines. Today I spent some time on the range to watch a few players I don't normally get the chance to observe.

Early on, I witnessed a true first: fifty or so Japanese media members watching Ryo Ishikawa hit balls. And not just watching, but they were glued to every shot. Some were even making notes. Yes, notes of a driving range session. And when he moved to the side tee to work out of the practice bunker, the herd followed. Truly a different world!

Chopra (click to enlarge)Daniel Chopra spent a good 15 minutes trying to hit lob wedges over the range fence before finally giving up. Judging by the state of his, uh, highlights, I think his time would have been better spent at one of L.A.'s finer salons.

Trevor Immelman came to the range and no one seemed to know, care or even recognized the Masters champion. Pretty strange. That said, watching his beautiful swing next to that of Jeev Milkha Singh provided quite the contrast.

Jeev Singh at the top of his unique backswing (clck to enlarge)Singh must have the strangest swing for a great player. I had hoped to interview him but he seemed determined to hit about 300 balls and you can only stand and watch someone that laid off at the top so long.

I watched Vijay Singh and he didn't seem the least bit bothered by the Stanford Financial situation, so hopefully his money was invested elsewhere.

And finally, my major quest of the day ended with good news: Stuart Appleby is not, contrary to what I've heard, a complete jerk to his pro-am partners. In fact, I can report that he not only spoke to them, but signed autographs for young boys and even posed for a photo, patiently waiting while a young Wang took way too many shots and way too much time trying to frame the image. Appleby displayed great patience and dispelled most of the myths about his pro-am demeaner with the GeoffShackelford.com staff.