Isaac and Vanessa are fifth graders at Momentous School, one of the programs of the Momentous Institute supported by funds raised at the Nelson. And this is their experience at the 2014 HP Byron Nelson Championship.
Today the Momentous fifth graders got to caddie for the pros on one hole at the HP Byron Nelson. The 17th hole was beautiful with a clear blue pond. My pro golfer was Gary Woodland, who did an amazing job. We had a nice conversation in which he told me that his dad introduced him to golf. It was how they spent quality time together when he was growing up in Kansas. His first pro tournament was the Sony Open in Hawaii six years ago. He has played in the Byron Nelson six years in a row.
After caddying, we went to the Media Center and watched a press conference with Martin Kaymer. Martin Kaymer is from Germany. He was the #1 player in the world three years ago. Most recently, he won the Ryder Cup and THE PLAYERS. I enjoy his story about his first time playing in America. He ordered a pizza but didn’t know what size to get because in Europe they measure pizza by centimeters instead of inches, so he accidentally ordered a huge pizza. He was also confused when the waitress offered him a box for his leftovers because, as he said, they don’t do doggie bags in Germany.
On our way over to the Media Center, we peeked in the KidsZone and saw that it was not quite set-up yet, but we did get an idea of what’s coming. There were some bounce houses; one looked like it was an obstacle course and the other two looked like regular bounce houses. I think the KidsZone will be ready for tomorrow. I’m looking forward to checking it out (and reporting what I find).
One other thing that stood out to me today was when I saw a pro golfer take time out of his game to help a kid. He was calling him little man until he came and listened. When Ricky Barnes was going to his next hole he gave a kid with a bloody knee and gave him a band-aid and tissue.
