25,000 Minnesotans turn out to watch Tiger's Monday practice round

Minnesota boasts more golfers per capita than any other state, and it is the only state to have hosted all 13 USGA championships. And during the precious six to seven months of the golf season, Minnesotans take every opportunity to hit the links, so the level of enthusiasm for the game is tough to top elsewhere in the country.

So yesterday morning at 6:00 a.m., when Tiger Woods sauntered onto the practice range at 6:00 a.m., he shouldn’t have been surprised to be greeted by thousands of fans. And they were stacked up Sunday-deep at the first tee when Tiger teed off at 6:45.

According to a story by Mark Craig in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, by the time Tiger’s Monday practice round was winding down, about 10:15, the stands at the 18th hole of Hazeltine National were full and “the rows of bodies were deep along the ropes.”

Estimated attendance was between 25,000 and 35,000 fans following Tiger around for his first practice session.

The story quotes Hank Haney comparing the crowd at Hazeltine to the Monday practice rounds at Bethpage and Turnberry: “There wasn’t anybody [at Bethpage Black] on Monday. At Turnberry, there wasn’t anybody out there, either.”

What about all those fans’ jobs? Shouldn’t they have been at work?

Nah. Work can wait until it snows.