Ed, I'm sorry that we didn't get a chance to shake hands. I was driving an hour each way from Babylon, fighting allergies and taking deep, cleansing yoga breaths each time a marshal reminded me that cameras were not allowed/asked me how I snuck two cameras in
I'd love to get out to LACC in 2017, but that will require some serious doing. Both Merion and NGLA were within a day's drive for me; LACCN~not so much. I remember you and your son at Merion. It was my privilege and pleasure to snap that photo (gosh, I hope that I sent it to you!)
Gene, Indeed, I wore the distinctive tartan cap. Our youngest just returned from the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, where she and her troupe performed over the course of two weeks. She brought me the cap and I decided to wear it. My disclaimer over the course of the weekend was, "If you want to find me or avoid me, this cap should make it easy." I thought about you all weekend and the conversation/driveabout/beer that we shared at SGC in June. It qualified as my most enjoyable evening on LI, all summer long.
Here's a nice story: Saturday evening, around 8:30, I walked down 18, through the gates, to the shuttle pick-up stop. Three (legit) photographers had been waiting for 30 minutes. The shuttle drivers had shut down early, leaving them stranded. Pete Kowalski, the communications director for the USGA, drove down from the media center and took us to the Elks Lodge and our cars. He could not have been nicer. I'm not a top-shelf shooter for any name publication, yet he treats me with the same dignity as guys with greater credentials.