CA Course Reporters: Friday morning entries

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Editor's note: Courtney Burris, Johnie Freatman and Owais Durrani will be blogging this week at the World Golf Championships-CA Championship. The three are part of the CA Course Reporters program. Check back each day to see what they have to say.

Archive: Wednesday's entries | Thursday morning | Thursday afternoon

Learning about the media business
By Owais Durrani

Good morning! This was a very relaxing and enjoyable morning. After breakfast we indulged ourselves in a nice walk around the putting green, driving range and the Bridgestone Facility for spectators at the course. The morning was a cool one with a nice soft breeze.

Following our walk we had the pleasure of meeting local NBC TV personality and radio show host Joe Rose. During our chat we learned much from the priceless life experience Joe had accumulated thoroughout his career. A former Miami Dolphins player, Joe began his career on a sports radio show, the same one he is on today. Further on in his career, Joe embraced a job offer from NBC to be the host of a sports show.

What really struck me were the opinions and advice Joe shared with us. For example, he communicated to us the importance of having set goals and not veering away from them, whether you are at a high point in your career or a low point. Furthermore, Joe explained to us that most broadcasters probably had to start out in a small market and gain experience to rise to their ambitions. Among other things, Joe gave us his expert insight into the pay of the media business, the importance of internships and the reason why Tiger was part of the highlight reel even if he was six shots back. He also generously gave us his contact information if we had any other questions.

Though our morning tour was short, I believe it was one of the most intellectually stimulating experiences we have had thus far. By passing on life skills to us and sharing his life experience, Joe Rose gave us something priceless to take away from this morning. We are off now to watch a clinic by the witty Brit Jon Tattersall and engage in some volunteer work. Will see you back here at 4. 'Till then take care.

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Meeting a special man
By Courtney Burris

This week has been filled with so many great experiences. However, one of the best experiences of these past few days is meeting all of the people who work to make this event truly awesome.

This morning I met a person I will not likely forget. You probably know him if you (a) listen to the WQAM radio station here in Miami, or if you (b) happen to watch NBC 6 here in the city, or perhaps you (c) are a die-hard Miami Dolphins fan.

If you are a, b, c or all of the above you most likely know of the great Joe Rose. Today we met with Joe right before he finished his daily morning radio show. Since he has been in the radio and television business for over 20 years, he had lots of great advice, and I soaked in as much as possible. Even though I only have known this guy for 30 minutes tops, I feel like I have known him for a long time. He encouraged us all not to give up, ever. He told us that we will all start small, and you might hate your first jobs in the business, but that if you work hard and pay attention to what you are doing, you will succeed.

It wasn't, however, one of those typical adult to teenager "Believe and you will succeed" kind of speeches that you basically tune out at this point. I could tell that Mr. Rose really cared and truly wanted us to succeed. He is most definitely one of the most captivating, hardworking, people I have met.

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Ready for March Madness on TOUR
By John Freatman, Jr.

As golf fans, we are often left in awe of the players and their aura, wondering what we could possibly have in common. However, many TOUR players are major sports fans themselves. As March Madness approaches, these allegiances become increasingly pronounced.

There is a large contingent of TOUR players who went to Florida and are Gator diehards. With their teams having won two national titles in the past four years in both football and basketball, these players have bragging rights over the rest of the TOUR rank and file. Perhaps the biggest fan is a player not even in the field this week, Chris DiMarco, who frequently displays blue and orange items from his wardrobe with pride. Dudley Hart and Camilo Villegas are two more TOUR players who double as Tim Tebow worshippers. However, the Gator contingent will be sweating the rest of this weekend as their team is on the proverbial bubble and needs to keep advancing in their conference tournament.

Over the years, Tiger Woods has become a fixture courtside at his alma mater Stanford's basketball games. In 2004, Woods provided an indelible image as he leapt high into the air following a miracle buzzer beater by Stanford's Nick Robinson to dispose of Arizona. In the midst of this leap, he temporarily lost his hat, exposing his newly bleached blonde hair. However, his Cardinal won't be advancing to the big tournament after a subpar season that ended in a ninth place finish in the Pac 10.

This is one of the moments reinforcing that at the core, even players of Tiger's caliber are still much like us.