San Diego 2022 Day 2: Farmers Insurance Open @Torrey Pines

Woke up super early to have the complimentary hotel breakfast. Which honestly was a pretty good spread for a free breakfast. 

We lined up right before 8am, gates opened at 8:30am. Since it was our first time watching I wanted to get the full experience. 

There are certain items that are prohibited from these events. Personal cameras are one of them.

Hole 18

We were there so early that concessions stands weren't even open yet.

Taylormade was demoing their new Stealth Driver.

They had an automatic bar set up throughout the course. You start a tab by signing up with one of the staff. They take a profile picture and it uses facial recognition to charge drinks to your tab. You walk up and a staff member hands you a glass with ice, place your cup under the dispenser and start ordering, you garnish your drink on the side and off you go. When the event is over they charge you and text you a receipt. It's pretty efficient.

We followed the first group that teed off at 9:30am.

We ended up staying at signature hole #3 of South Course for a bit and watched a few groups.

Some of the players I wanted to see didn't make the cut for the final day. So we were waiting for Hideki Matsuyama to tee off but found out he was starting on the back 9. So we headed off in search of him.

We found him eventually.

Saw people walking into the Taylormade trailer so we took a peek.

The tech was explaining to us what goes on in the trailer. I saw the new TM Stealth Driver and wanted to check it out since I've been seeing photos of them. The tech said that the driver I was holding was Dustin Johnson's rejected driver. I guess he didn't like the setup so they were working on a different one. Which is the one on the table in the tech shop.

Upstairs in the loft.

TMs new upcoming Spyder putter.

We eventually made our way to the 18th hole and found a good spot to camp out for the rest of the event.

Anh and I left to grab some food and more drinks and we just so happened to run into DJ as we were crossing by.

The 18th hole got really packed. It was a great game to watch and it went into sudden death. 

We dropped off the girls back at the hotel and Anh and I headed off to meet up with some friends for dinner. 

The next morning we had breakfast at Snooze an A.M Eatery

Breakfast Pot Pie: house-made rosemary sausage gravy smothers a flaky puff pastry, topped with a sunny-side-up egg. This was amazing,

Pancake flight, Anna subbed one of the pancakes for french toast.

After breakfast, we headed to the airport. That is it for this trip.

Had a great time at our first PGA Tour event.

Where to next? 

Going to do a little local getaway for the wife's birthday.

IG: @dukie.travels

San Diego 2022 Day 1: San Diego Zoo, The Crack Shack

My wife and I received tickets to watch the PGA Tour at Torrey Pines in San Diego. So we flew out a day before the event. Stopped by the lounge for some breakfast and drinks.

Cranberry Rosemary Mule.

It was a quick flight to SD, hopped on the shuttle to the Rental Car Center.

Never been to the San Diego Zoo before. So we thought we'd check it out. 

The first thing we saw when we walked in was the Bus Tour. So we got in line.

Told our friends Anh and Anna that we were going to SD to watch the Farmers Insurance Open and they decided to come along. 

We wanted to sit on the upper deck but the staff member suggested that the lower deck had a better and closer view of the animals. 

The Bus Tour was a great way to get a quick overview of most of the park. Then you can plan on how you want to explore more closely on foot.

While on the Bus Tour Anh pointed out the stands that had drinks. So that was our next stop.

The Zoo serves their draft beverages in aluminum souvenir cups to be eco-friendly, which was awesome. It kept the drinks super cold and it was only an additional two bucks and it's a nice keep-sake. 

Time for lunch. Saw a sign earlier that had a BBQ Brisket Sandwich. I'm a sucker for brisket.

Upgraded to chili & cheese fries. The brisket sandwich wasn't that great. 

Time to get a refill on our drinks.

Horchata

and another refill

Anna has been scouting the penny press machine throughout the park and finally came to a decision.

Our friends Phil and Quyen drove down from Orange County to join us at the Zoo.

The Zoo is huge. We were there from open to close 9am to 5pm. We finished about 80% of the park and we didn't stop for any shows or activities. 

After the Zoo, we met with some local friends for dinner at The Crack Shack.

Lots of different sauces are offered.

Fried Chicken: Jidori fried chicken. 

Firebird: spicy fried Jidori thigh, cool ranch, crispy onions, pickles, potato roll.

Mexican Poutine: schmaltz fries, Pollo Asado, jalapeno cheese wiz

Mini Biscuits: miso-maple butter. Tammy really liked this.

Cocky with a Chance of Meatballs: chicken meatballs, marinara, pepperoni, mozzarella on garlic bread.

That's it for our first day. 

Tomorrow we have a whole day at Torrey Pines. It's our first time seeing a PGA Tour live.