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World Am Player Enjoys Trip To Players Championship

Michael Dodd was at the World’s Largest 19th Hole on the final night of the 2009 World Amateur, enjoying the end of the tournament as he always does. What Dodd missed in all the excitement was the announcement that he had won a trip to the 2010 Players Championship.

When Golf.com World Am officials sent the Wilmington, N.C., native documentation about winning the random drawing he was as surprised as anyone.

“I had no idea where it came from,” Dodd said of receiving notification of the trip. “Then I started putting two and two together (and realized it came from the World Am).”

The result was a dream week at The Players and TPC – Sawgrass for the self described golf nut. Dodd and his wife flew into Jacksonville the weekend before the tournament started – the World Am covered everything but meals – to soak up the entire experience.  There was little the couple didn’t do.

They traversed the grounds at Sawgrass with their camera in hand Monday through Wednesday, snapping pictures and watching the game’s best up-close during practice rounds. They wisely went into the pro shop and asked how best to get around the course and where the best vantage points to view the tournament were.

The Dodds even picked up an odd job at the event. They helped a vendor put batteries in portable radios in exchange for a little cash and a pair of radios, allowing the duo to listen to XM radio’s broadcast of the event.

“That’s a (heckuva) a party down there, let me tell you,” Dodd said. “Overall experience, I’d rate it, if you are a golf freak like me, an 8 or 9. The only reason it’s not a 10 is that the weather didn’t cooperate.”

The weather Dodd experienced was ideal in many ways, but there wasn’t much wind, taking some of the edge off the famed island green 17th hole. Only 42 balls got wet on the 17th, a number that was too low for Dodd’s liking.

Dodd, who will be playing in his 8th World Am this year, enjoyed watching the greatest players in the world from the front row. At various times he walked with Tiger Woods, Jim Furyk, Kenny Perry and Phil Mickelson and came away more than a little impressed.

“Just being there in person to see what is really going on (was a highlight),” he said. “People don’t have a good concept for how far or how accurate (the pros) hit it.”

South African Tim Clark secured his first PGA Tour win at the Players, but early in the weekend most of the buzz surrounded Woods’ withdraw from the tournament with a neck injury, and Dodd was on the scene. Some questioned the severity of Woods’ injury, which ended his tournament on the seventh hole, but Dodd isn’t joining the chorus of doubters.

He was following Woods at the time and there is no doubt in his mind that the world’s number one golfer was suffering from an ailment of some sort.

“The last three strokes (Woods) stuck’em in the ground,” Dodd said. “It just wasn’t his normal swing. I was probably 15 feet away when he told Stevie Williams, his caddy, ‘I’ve had enough.’ I heard him say he had a neck problem and he needed a cart.”

Throw in a Tim McGraw concert Wednesday night on the 18th hole at Sawgrass as part of a Military Appreciation event and a visit to the World Golf Hall of Fame, and Dodd enjoyed a trip he won’t soon forget. 

“It was a true golfer’s holiday,” he said.

This year one lucky World Am player will win a trip to a 2011 major.  Will it be you?