Is Trump International Puerto Rico challenging enough for the PGA Tour?

Golf fans are creatures of habit and are therefore are used to watching a regulation four rounds of tournament golf on the usual Thursday through Sunday without interruption. When that schedule goes awry, viewers tend to scatter and abandon their proclivities for other more regularly scheduled programming.

So went the tale of the 2010 Puerto Rico Open. Weather delays forced fans who normally would have been swept up by the drama of "must see" golf television to comfortably burrow into their strato-loungers and follow the WGC-CA Championships where Ernie Els did not disappoint.

As golf writers desperately searched for inspiring stories by following veteran John Daly (T24), one overlooked yet newsworthy rookie, Derek Lamely, was surging up the leaderboard.

Although Lamely won on the Nationwide Tour in 2009, his name is not yet synonymous with the big draws because it takes time and many attempts to get noticed and some positive press. Although he m/c'd his last three out of four events Derek has made four out of eight cuts on the PGA Tour this season.

Even more impressive, looking at Tour stats, Derek not only turned in the second lowest final 36 holes on the PGA Tour this year with a 15-under 129 but fired a course record 9-under 63 in the third round. His 19-under 269 total is a tournament record. Last year Derek finished tied for thirteenth after entering the event as a Monday qualifier.

Derek Lamely made Trump International golf course look easy!

Congratulations to Derek Lamely on his breakthrough win! With his full exemption on the PGA Tour through the 2012 season, does he now have enough confidence to take on Tiger Woods?

As Derek Lamely admitted after his win, "I'm still a rookie out here, even though I just won."

In spite of rainy conditions at the 2010 Puerto Rico Open an estimated 30,000 people attended the event at Trump International Golf Club. Barry and I spent much of our time tweeting and taking pictures from the Banco Popular and Puerto Rico Tourism skyboxes, as well as from areas around the 14th and 18th holes.

More images of the 2010 Puerto Rico Open at Trump International Golf Club can be seen on our Flickr page.

Golf for Beginners would like to thank Puerto Rico Tourism as well as Banco Popular for their hospitality during this exciting PGA Tour event week.

Gran Melia is Puerto Rico's Shining "Five" Star of the Caribbean

At a cocktail reception held Friday evening in the lobby of Puerto Rico's luxurious Gran Melia Resort, we engaged in conversation with General Manager Hendrick Santos. Barry casually mentioned that the hotel staff always has a smile and maintains a pleasant attitude whenever we have been in their presence. Being reasonably well-travelled within the US and the Caribbean, we noticed this friendly warmth at Gran Melia more so than at other resorts in which we have stayed and believed it important enough to make mention of it.

As you can see from the pictures, we were excited to be asked to say a few words about this to the housekeeping staff, to let them know that guests really do see and take mental note of the attitude of the resort in which they stay. There are many beautiful retreats in the world but it is uncommon to find such hospitality as we found here at the Gran Melia in Puerto Rico.

Robert Berkowitz, Director of Group Sales, was among the gathering this morning. We asked if there were plans to upgrade the natural beach surrounding the property to a soft, silky sand.  He told us that the Puerto Rican government has finally given permission and approvals to extend and improve the beach area depth to twenty feet and complement the very large pool areas of the hotel.  This project should be completed by April 2011.

GranMelia is now a "preferred" hotel with a newly earned five-star designation. Well deserved.

After a delicious breakfast consisting of bagels and smoked salmon at the Cafe Soleil, we shuttled over to Trump International Golf Course to catch up with the golfers at the end of round two and view the cut line.

Banco Popular invited media for lunch and to watch PGA Tour golfers putt out on eighteen. Although Puerto Rican hopeful, amateur Erick Morales missed the cut, he drew the loudest cheers. Rafael Campos, another up-and coming PR golfer, was also among the crowd.

We're now heading out to the pool, in order to catch the last rays of Puerto Rican sunshine before we fly back to New York.  At the Delta desk, we're going to use a tip we received from an airline employee and ask for a seat upgrade so our bags can fly for free! Costs about the same but at least we'll be comfortable!

Close to the Action at the Puerto Rico Open

By looking at the course and grounds of Trump International Golf Course in Puerto Rico, you would never think that there more than a sprinkle has fallen in the past week.

Mark Stevens at PGA Tour HQ relayed that a total of 6.6 inches of rain fell on Thursday. Five inches of rain fell on the course between Friday, March 5th and Sunday, March 7th. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week an additional four-tenths of an inch fell. That's a lot of rain and I hear that New York will be suffering while we're here taking in the great weather.

In stark contrast to Nueva York, the sun is shining brightly today in Puerto Rico, the Shining Star of the Caribbean, and the "tan" index is great. With only two days left to our stay, I wonder when we will return but a good golfer knows to always remain "in the present". With that in mind I will look only as far forward as to the fiesta in the hospitality center tonight, the theme being "El Yunque".

Aside from another morning swim at the incredibly large and glamorous Gran Melia Resort pool complex we had a great almuerzo (lunch) at the Wet Bar overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. While eating at the grill we were surrounded by a variety of players who had just finished their first round and many were commenting that they have never stayed at such a large, beautiful resort as the Gran Melia.

Barry and I also viewed great golf action today along the 14th and 18th holes.

By positioning ourselves at the 18th, we were able to easily move to the 14th tee so we saw great drives, approach shots and putts by Tom Kite and Gustafsson. Barry helped untangle Gustafsson's caddie from his caddie bag and I watched as Gustafson carefully entered his score after his round. This was all as close as if you were a part of the foursome!

Tom Kite hit his drive on eighteen near a palm tree just a few feet from me and, after his great approach to the green (Kite thought it wasn't so great), a fan shouted out, "don't look so upset Tom; you designed it!"

All in all, the golfers are happy to finally play golf. Rumblings of a Monday finish may lessen the number of fans at the course but the Golf Channel will cover the Puerto Rico Open through to its finale so stay tuned!