Ball in the hand worth a Tiger in the bush

Most of the packed galleries here at Royal Melbourne arrive just to catch a glimpse of their golfing heroes. Matthew Wright (pictured) a business PR consultant from Melbourne managed to do much more than that on Thursday.

Following Tiger Woods' wayward drive at the par-four seventh, his playing partner, Steve Stricker, abandoned the ball in a bush a few metres to the right of the fairway. Stricker dropped a second ball, bunted it short of the green and marched towards a four-hole deficit. There was a small scramble behind him as the fans that had crowded around the scene sized up the risk of injury by bush in an effort to snag a souvenir. Matthew proved the bravest.

"My boss is a member here at Royal Melbourne and he let me have the afternoon off to come, which was nice of him." Matthew told BackPageLead. "The ball was a bit unexpected. No-one else seemed to be going for it, so I thought, ‘I don't mind that,' and came out without any cuts or bruises."

Woods lost that ball, that hole and that match by a personal record margin on a bad day for the 14-time Major champion.

Channel Nine in the Hot Seat

Eddie McGuire might be the Australian televisual face of The Presidents Cup but it wasn't the Collingwood President golf fans wanted to see on Thursday when Nine left the live golf to cut to a pre-recorded gameshow. With Aaron Baddeley and Jason Day fighting for a point on the 18th, golf fans watching the coverage were left dumbfounded when the final shots of the day were considered less important than McGuire's Hot Seat.

Away from Nine's prying eyes the Australian pair lost the final hole in dramatic fashion with Baddeley driving his ball into a near unplayable position behind a tree to the right of the fairway. Not that Nine viewers could tell.

International Magpie

Major events like The Presidents Cup are magnets for Melbourne's finest. Many sports and media personalities have made their way through the tented village and corporate hospitality facilities but All-Australian forward, Travis Cloke, was happy with the public galleries as he soaked up the first day atmosphere.

"It's good just to enjoy a bit of sun with the boys, see a bit of golf and catch a bit of Tiger and Scotty," Cloke told BackPageLead beside the tenth fairway. "I used to play a fair bit but I've not played here before. it's an amazing course, a great set up and a really good opportunity to enjoy the scenery."

The Collingwood goal machine will be jetting off to altitude training in Arizona next week so The Presidents Cup represents one final opportunity to relax before preseason reality bites. "When we get back I'll try and get back out onto the course with a few of the blokes but I'm looking forward to Arizona next week, it should be good fun."

Golfing Fanatics

What do you get when you cross David Boon with Payne Stewart? The Fanatics, of course. Australia's notorious flash mob of sports fans are out in force on the Royal Melbourne course and they are a sight to behold. From the top down the outfit includes a green beret, a golden polo, reminiscent of the 1980s ODI shirt, shorts and knee-length argyle socks in green and gold.

Fortunately for them Adam Scott's demolition of Tiger gave them plenty to cheer.