Waste Management Friday

The crowd was noticeably larger today but announced at a comical 101,709. Still, even if it was half or 3/4 of that total, it's a mighty impressive turnout. Behavior held steady until late in the day, but overall it's a decently behaved group considering how aggressively the spirits are flowing.

Even more interesting for me is the policy on cell phones. Fans are asked to put them on vibrate but no attempt is made to police usage. I've heard one phone ring in two days even though I was unable to Tweet or receive calls out on the course because of data overload issues brought on by so many people in one spot. I've seen no fans using cell phones on the course other than to send text messages or read emails. The combination of so much commotion at key spots along with the laissez faire attitude toward phones seems to help make it a non-issue. That, or the potential for intense heckling by fellow fans if a phone goes off. Market forces, baby!

A few shots from another perfect day in Scottsdale:

2nd round co-leader Camilo Villegas left himself with an incredibly difficult fairway bunker second shot on the par-4 17th. It looks pretty simple, but the combination of water behind and a tiered green made this quite tough (click image to enlarge)

Both Waste Management and PF Changs are giving out these free "Box Seats" to fans and they're a huge hit. I sat on one and it was quite comfortable. They are also fully recyclable and already made out of recycled materials (Click on image to enlarge)On the par-4 17th and 18th tees, Camilo scribbled numbers furiously. I asked him after the round what exactly he was computing on par-4 tees and it's hard to say whether his cranky answer was a product of (A) thinking I was a novice scribe from the Phoenix Penny Saver making my first tournament appearance or (B) it was a product of his last hole bogey. (Click to enlarge)

The warning for Saturday was posted throughout the course. Players will tee off in threesomes after the cut is made. Only Matt Every has a 3 footer for the field to complete round 2 so the cut can be made, like to 79 players. (Click to enlarge image)