Golf - 2008 PGA Championship

[steveking]

Hey gang,

Well I disappeared for a while, or disapparated for you Harry Potter fans. I was busy working, shooting the PGA Championship, then traveling to Europe for our first trip across the pond.

Here are a few shots from the 2008 PGA Championship at Oakland Hills in suburban Detroit.

1- Camillo Villegas watches his pin high approach to the green

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2- and then lines up his putt right across from me

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3- Retief Goosen hits his drive on the 11th tee

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4- Ernie Els hits his tee shot to the par 3 13th

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5- Charles Howell III "chuck" hits out of the fairway bunker to pin high

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6- Who says that golf is "a good walk spoiled"? David Toms and Henrik Stenson walk down the first fairway in the light of the early sun on Sunday morning to start their 3rd round.

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7- David Toms watches his approach to the short par 4 12th green.

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8- Ben Curtis shares a smile with his caddy as he gets set to stripe one down the 7th fairway.

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9- Second round leader J.B. Holmes looks away in disgust as his putt on #9 just won't fall.

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10- Justin Rose hits out of the greenside bunker at the 6th green.

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11- This young fan gets a birds eye view of the 6th fairway and green.

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12- Phil Mickelson blasts out of the sand on #6 to save par.

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13- Eventual Champion Padraig Harrington walks off of the 6th green with a par in the 3rd round. He was only 4 shots back at this point.

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14- Sergio Garcia hits his tee shot off the 7th tee as the rain starts to come down, again.

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15- Sergio Garcia walks back to the drop zone after looking over the green, after plunking his approach into the pond at 16.

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16- then watches with Padraig Harrington as playing partner Charlie Wi hits onto the green.

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17- The look and fist pump say it all, Padraig drops this birdie on the 18th green to lock up the Championship.

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18- ... shakes hands with Sergio

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19- Then gets the trophy on the 18th green...

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20- and gives it some love!

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[GeoffBolte]

Steve, looks as though you nailed them. Looking forward to getting back to the Travelers next year, with hopefully the potential to shoot the Deutsche Bank in Boston later in the year.

Love the shots. Would love to see some Europe shots as well, if you were allowed to break out the camera.

 

[Aqualung]

Steve, welcome back. Great series....

 

[steveking]

Thanks Geoff & Chris,
The Europe football/soccer pix are up, the scenery shots will go up in the right forum tomorrow.
Tomorrow it's back to USA reality, Tigers baseball!

 

[Hockey_Nut]

Hey Steve,

Love the shots - especially numbers 6 & 17. Must have been a great experience.

Hope you enjoyed your trip to Europe.

Take care,
Brent

 

[JoJo2Fast]

Wow very impressive shots, I've always wanted to go watch a pro golf tourney, let alone shoot one!

 

[nuccifamily]

Great series Steve and welcome back! #6 is absolutely perfect! I caught the last two rounds of the US Senior Open in Colorado Springs and would have loved to have been able to photography it.

 

[mike mac]

Excellent work as always Steve what a thrill to shoot such a fantastic event

 

[eng45ine]

Sweet series Steve, I really enjoyed this set. You were able to get some great angles during the competition that helped to create interesting captures.

 

[biggstr6]

Great shots , And I don't like golf Shots much.
I was wondering where you'd been lately.

 

[bvonarx]

Golf? that seems a change of pace for you, but well done. Love #5, perhaps a little to much oof foreground for my taste in No. 7 but still an interesting shot

 

[Shizelbs]

Great shots. I'm jealous.

 

[steveking]

Thanks gang!

Since I had to miss this year's Buick Open in late June I was pumped to shoot the PGA. I had seen the course during the 2004 Ryder Cup so I knew basically where I wanted to shoot. And even though #7 has A LOT of OOF green in it (BROOKS! I went for quite a few different shots like this to keep me thinking outside the box and going for stuff that's not the usual take. #7 got an editors choice ranking from Photoshelter too, go figure.

Sometimes you just have to say "what the heck" and look for different. This was a lot of fun and hard work to say the least. Now that I've done this it looks like I'll be shooting at least one day of the Women's Mid-Am here in Ann Arbor in September for the USGA too. Being local and having a few shots they could see helps just a bit.

Think Different, try different, BE different! But just shoot in focus ok? :smile:

 

[biggstr6]

Steve I think youre right about trying to find new ways to shoot old subjects,or subjects that have been shot the same way a gazillion times.

Looking back through these I think 5,6,& 7 are why I like these more than usual golf shots.

 

[Frits]

Awesome stuff Steve! I'd love to shoot a PGA event (yeah, in my dreams! :smile

 

[steveking]

Steve I think youre right about trying to find new ways to shoot old subjects,or subjects that have been shot the same way a gazillion times.

Looking back through these I think 5,6,& 7 are why I like these more than usual golf shots.

Thanks Biggs, that's what I was going for. The kind of shots that would be a "double-truck" (two page spread) candidate that looks like a portrait you'd hang on your wall, or something that uses the space to draw your attention down to the athlete.
:smile:

 

[Walter Rowe]

What an aweful way to make a living. I'm being completely sarcastic! Those are excellent.

 

[tjk60]

hey, welcome back! nice job on these as always. I'm surprised #7 took the cake, but these are very different from the run of the mill. Padraig is sure holdin the pot o gold.....

 

[steveking]

hey, welcome back! nice job on these as always. I'm surprised #7 took the cake, but these are very different from the run of the mill. Padraig is sure holdin the pot o gold.....

Thanks TJK,
Actually #3, 6, 7, 8, 13, 17, 19, 20 were all editors choices. This is why I have #19 on top of my gallery on SportsShooter, that was pretty cool watching him accept the trophy and enjoying the whole process. Believe me that the Wannamaker trophy is big and HEAVY, I heard him grunt when he hoisted it almost over his head. :smile:
Cool to see an Irishman with a trophy isn't it? Now to get a bunch of American's to play as a team in a few weeks and lift a very small trophy. :wink:

 

[MFowler]

Steve you are an amazing sports photog! These shots are fantastic!