Marshall Paul

The other weekend was the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship which was at the golf course just 5 minutes from where we live.  Paul found out that a N was volunteering for the event which gave him free entrance, so naturally Paul decided to volunteer too.  It ended up being a pretty good deal.  He got two nice embroidered polos, a hat, a nice dry-fit like jacket, and a bunch of other golf goodies.

Abu Dhabi Golf Club - I really like their clubhouse design

Paul ended up being a Marshall on Friday with Niclas Fasth's grouping.  He went over there pretty early, and then I came by around noon to catch up with Paul and spend the rest of the afternoon walking the course with him.

Marshall Paul holding the score board

Paul is following the lead of the many tourists here and trying to bring back the fanny pack

I think Paul enjoyed being so close to the players and getting to talk to the caddies.  One of them even gave him one of the player's balls towards the end of the round.  Paul informed me later that day that this Callaway was the type of ball he would be playing with now...apparently Pro V1s are so 2010.  Who knew that little tiny white ball could change so much from year to year?

Paul checking out his souvenir

Unfortunately, it was a bit rainy.  Well actually, I really enjoyed it, but it was a bit ironic for all of these players to come over from cold, wet Europe to the Middle East and get rained on.  After Paul was done marshalling we walked around and watched some people play and then we headed up to the Chalet.  Paul met someone a few days before that had a connection with one of our company's clients who was sponsoring a Chalet for the tournament.  It was nice to sit inside, get out of the rain, eat some good food, and have a few drinks on the house :)

The next day Paul ended up not having to work, so we met up with N&M and one of Paul's coworkers J and walked the course.  We followed Phil Mickelson around on the front 9.  It was amazing how close you were to him, we overheard him talking about Ferrari World and the Emirates Palace.  The weather was really nice and it was just fun to be outside.

Phil Mickelson

While seeing Phil Mickelson was cool, the highlight of my day by far was seeing these birds!  I first saw these when we went to dinner with my dad at the Emirates Palace back in the fall, but it was too dark outside to get any photos.  I think it's just the proportion of their bodies to their legs that I love.  I think that whenever, if ever, I get back into painting, this may be my first subject :)

If anyone knows what type of bird this is, I would love to know!