Wachovia Observations

LANGSTON WERTZ JR. Scenes from a walk around Quail Hollow Club Tuesday morning:

Jacob's quest: Singh's autograph

Six-year-old Jacob Batchelor, all blond hair and grins, is sitting in a wheelchair beside the first tee. It's 11:28 in the morning. On his lap he has a sheet full of golfers' autographs. But there's one he wants badly. His favorite player, Vijay Singh, is on the first tee, maybe 15 yards away, and Singh is about to hit a beautiful high fade with his driver.

"Vijay!" Jacob screams as Singh sticks his tee down. Jacob looks around. "Wow. Take his picture, Mom. I'll tell you when."

Jacob, who has cerebral palsy, has played golf for more than half his life, but he's been in the wheelchair for months after he had surgery at the Shriner's Hospital in Greenville, S.C. Doctors cut bones and tendons in both legs to help him walk better.

Jacob returns to the hospital this weekend to have the casts taken off. He can't wait to get back on the course, especially after his parents—Mark and Christie Batchelor—wheeled him around Quail Hollow Tuesday.

Mark Batchelor has been a volunteer for a few years at the tournament and wanted to let his son see what he'd been up to. All you had to do was look at the big smile on Jacob's face to know he'd had the time of his life.

"This was great. It was really, really good," said Jacob, still in pursuit of Singh's autograph.

Professional trust

K.J. Choi and his caddie walk up the No. 7 green and Jose Maria Olazabal is about 20 yards behind, about to hit an approach shot—over Choi's head.

That's the kind of trust you don't see at Charles T. Myers Golf Course in east Charlotte.

Choi and his caddy walk to the green, not worried that Olazabal could hit one thin and knock them out —something you might see at Charles T. if someone trusted his partners this much.

Of course, Olazabal's shot hits the green softly. And of course, we don't recommend amateurs try the same thing.

Quail Hollow in perfect shape

You can't help but notice how beautiful the golf course is walking around, especially after watching some of the conditions at last week's Bryon Nelson event in Texas. Quail is a deep shade of green and the rough, almost everywhere, is wet and juicy.

Notes

• A little insider note for fans of the show. It appeared that Tommy "Two Gloves" Gainey and "Big Break VI" champion Bri Vega were getting very close on the new show.

Tommy says the two are just friends.

"It looks like this and it looks like that, but that's all it is, man," Tommy said.

• At 11:45, John Daly pulls up in a big black Mercedes and a crowd quickly gathers. Daly gets out with some loud country music blaring as the door opens and signs some autographs. There's no bigger star here Tuesday than him.
• The golfers all look slimmer than on TV. Stewart Cink is downright skinny and 40-year-old Billy Mayfair looks like he could probably pull out a pair of his high school Levis and wear them now.
• If you can't make the tournament this week, check pgatour.com for all the par-3 shots on the dangerous 17th hole at the tournament this week.

In all, viewers will get 35 hours of television-quality streaming coverage from No. 17, which plays at 217 yards over water.

Hours of on-line coverage from the Wachovia Championship are 9 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, and 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

A hand for `Two Gloves'

S.C. native Tommy "Two Gloves" Gainey will play his first PGA Tour event this week, but Golf Channel's "Big Break" reality shows have already made him a celebrity.

Walking around the course Tuesday morning, Gainey got plenty of finger points from fans, handslaps and handshakes.

"I get it all the time," he said. "But I'm just a good ol' country boy and I like to be as nice as I can."

Provider:
Knight-Ridder / Tribune Business News / Charlotte Observer, The (NC)