The Scott's Sell Scottsdale

Yesterday, January 23, 2009 was Celebrity Day. Since we were offered free tickets we opted to ‘played hokey’ and took the day off to enjoy the outdoors and watch the golfers. Although it was bright and sunny, it was a brisk 57 degrees when we arrived but it eventually warmed up to a 64 degrees. You could definitely tell who was from the Valley of the Sun and who was from colder climates. The locals were bundled up in sweat shirts of warm coats while others were in shorts and sandals! The forecast for the rest of the week is the mid 70’s with lots of bright sunshine! We won’t complain as much of the rest of the nation is not as fortunate!

Once you park, catch the shuttle and wait in line to get in, the vender tent is your first experience. It is always fun to check out the wares. A variety of dealers offered a assortment of products from Suns tickets, golf apparel, into on energy savings from SRP, to free tastes of coffee. Gary entered the putting contest offered by Home Depot and actually got one putt to go in the hole! Must have been the inspiration of the pro golfers! His name is now added to the list of those eligible to win 4 new tires from Discount Tire.

Once you exit the vendor tent, the golf watching begins. Celebrity Day offers a fun day for all. There were 26 groups of players, with each group anchored by a pro-golfer who was joined by 4 armatures. After picking up the daily pairing sheet to find out when the players tee off and the order of the groups, we were off to follow comedian George Lopez and retired AZ Diamondback first baseman, Mark Grace.     

They provided great entertainment throughout the day.  The famous 16th hole, which is now totally surrounded by bleachers, was especially comical as Gracie first used a baseball bat to hit his golf ball. He eventually did use a golf club and actually got his shot to land on the green. We did view some ‘interesting’ shots at this hole. A couple actually hit the bleachers or ended up in the stands! And, some others didn’t make it out of the desert sandy adjacent to the tee. The 16th hole can be quite intimidating even for the pro-golfers.

January has a lot to offer here in the Sonoran Desert. The Barrett-Jackson car show, the Russo-Steel sports muscle car auction and the P.F. Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Marathon were all completed just in time for the kickoff of this major golf tournament. If you aren’t in to cars or golf, the Arizona Sun Circuit Quarter Horse Show, Native American Arts Festival or Maricopa County Home and Garden Show are some other options. Of course, with the mild temps and sunny days, who needs a better reason to be in Scottsdale in January?