I just wanted to pass along my day with my seven & nine year old girls at the Kia Classic during the final round. My nine year old has been playing for about four years and my seven year old is in her first year and both love to play and watch, so getting out and see in person the women they get to watch on TV was a very special trip for us on Sunday.
We ended up following Meena Lee, Ai Miyazato and Karrie Webb for about 15 holes before heading over to the scores tents to get some autographs on their LPGA white pin flags I bought for each of them. Right before leaving the group Karrie's caddie gave my youngest girls the ball Karrie had just used on that hole which made her smile all the way to the scorers tent.
After arriving at the tents the first group was the Paula Creamer group and they really wanted to get The Pink Panther to sign their flags. To Paula's credit as popular as she is she signed every last item that was put in front of her and there was a lot. they ended up getting the whole group to sign and they decided to just camp out there on the fence and get autographs. The women were ALL fantastic and it was quite refreshing compared to the men on the PGA Tour where the big names rarely sign anything and if so just a few items.
A few groups later was the Sophie Gustafson. This was I believe a very nice final trio so I made sure they stayed and got all 3 autographs. As Sophie came out of the tent she walked right up to my two girls and handed each of them her golfing gloves SIGNED. The girls turned around and looked at me with the worlds biggest smiles showing me what they had just gotten. They had no idea how precious a gift they were but were amazed they were given to them. They continued to stay on that fence and got autographs from the threesome we watched for 15 holes and also Se Ri Pak who also signed everything while smiling the whole time. My girls also wanted to get one of the Japanese players autograph, young Ayaka Kaneko who after playing her round had lots of media work to do with the Japanese TV crew and also some Japanese interviews but after all that there were just a few of us maybe 3-4 who wanted her autograph and she spent a few minutes chatting in Japanese with my girls who were amazed to see a girl like them who spoke English and Japanese play professional golf. She easily could of blown off the small group after playing poorly and slipped away but she didn't and that was really special for my girls.
Being a guy I love to watch the PGA but with 2 small girls who relate to the LPGA players more and want to watch the girls play rather then the bigger names on the PGA Tour they win and we watch the ladies play. I like them have been becoming a big fan of watching the ladies play and EVERYTHING they do to help promote their sport and their tour.
I just wanted to take a minute and pass along what for me was a very memorable day watching my girls eyes light up from the practice green to the driving range to the first tee shot on the first hole to all the signings at the scorers tents by everyone. There was not a single downside to the event and you should be very proud of the ladies playing on the tour.
You now have three more fans who can't wait to watch on TV and for the LPGA to come back to San Diego. As a dad I just wanted to say THANKS for a great day with my girls.
Chris Glossner
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