2015 junior course reporter program summary
2015 junior course reporter application
Connor Giveans, 16, lives in Portland, CT and just finished his junior year at Portland High School where he plays on the golf team. He is an Eagle Level participant at The First Tee of Connecticut.
Day Two
Jack and I started day two of our Junior Course Reporter experience around 8:30 this morning watching the first round of the Travelers Championship Midway through the morning, we had the opportunity to talk to longtime Hartford Courant sports writer, Tom Yantz, about journalism as well as the golf going on that day. Since Brendan Steele was playing so well, we spoke at length about his possible 59 and how rare that is in golf. With all of the excitement surrounding Steele, we decided to go out and follow him for his last four holes. Unfortunately, he parred in, but still shot an amazing round of 62, 8-under, which, as of 4:00 on Thursday, is good enough for a one-shot lead. After Steele’s finish, we ate lunch in media dining and waited around for Steele’s post-round interview. This was definitely my favorite part of the day because he was very open about his round and talked about which clubs he was hitting well. Did you know that he recently switched putters? This was his first round with a short putter on the PGA TOUR! Steele said that the course was in nice condition and he even seemed a bit surprised about how well he played because he usually doesn’t play well in the rain. After the interview, we walked back down the hill to the 18th green to catch some more guys finishing their rounds. Jack and I even got some golf balls and gloves from the pros. While some of the players were finishing their rounds, many were also getting ready to start, so we headed to the range for a bit to see them warm up. We had a little bit of time to kill before the live taping of Golf Central Pre-Game, so we watched the last two morning groups finish up 18 and I got a golf ball from Adam Rainaud, the assistant professional from Black Hall Golf Club in Old Lyme, CT who qualified for the Travelers Championship when he won the Connecticut Section PGA’s Stroke Play Championship this spring at Wallingford Country Club. Adam was +2 today. The last thing we did today was watch a Golf Central Pre-Game live taping. Ryan Burr, Frank Nobilo, and Karen Stupples talked about Brendan Steele’s great round this morning as well as other notable players. It was cool to hear about the Women’s U.S. Open going on at Pinehurst, too. Thank you to the Travelers Championship, The First Tee of Connecticut, and Tom Yantz for a fantastic two days!Day One
When Mark Moriarty, the Director of Programs at The First Tee of Connecticut, called me and offered me the opportunity to be a junior course reporter at the 2014 Travelers Championship, I jumped on the opportunity. I’ve always attended the tournament, but I knew that having the opportunity to attend interview sessions and interact with some of the pros would be a once in a lifetime opportunity. I met Mr. Moriarty outside of The First Tee’s Learning Center, and then met the other junior reporter, Jack Kane. The first thing we did was go to the Titleist equipment truck, and meet with some of the club makers. We learned a little bit about the process of making clubs and how players adjust to the new technology that comes out each year. We also received the unique opportunity to see a club being made from almost scratch. That in itself was an incredible experience, but the day continued to get better. After seeing the truck, we briefly watched a bit of the celebrity Pro-Am. We saw former University of Connecticut basketball coach Jim Calhoun play, which was especially cool to me because I am a huge UConn basketball fan. Then we went to Keegan Bradley’s interview. He talked about why he loved the playing in the tournament, as well as why so many pros played here even though it was the week after the U.S. Open. After that Jack and I were able to privately interview Scott McCarron during a miniature golf tournament in the fan zone. That was another incredible experience, and he was extremely friendly and answered every question we threw at him. After, we had a quick lunch and came back to the Learning Center. Our trip to the Learning Center was only supposed to be a quick bathroom break, but then J.J. Henry walked in. He has done quite a bit for The First Tee of Connecticut, as he is from Fairfield County, and wanted to know what was going on here. J.J. saw the new building and loved it. He was especially excited about the painted tiles displayed on the first floor of the facility and that The First Tee is able to do so much for kids. I have been a participant of The First Tee of Connecticut for about eight years, and I know they do such a great job teaching kids live skills through the game of golf. I cannot thank them enough for everything they have done for me. It’s amazing to see professional golfers giving so much of their time to help out kids. Shawn Stefani was a great example of sharing his time with kids when he gave a free clinic on the range. After the clinic, he allowed Jack and me to hit a few balls with him. While we did this we talked about the game, and he gave us some tips and hints to help fix our swing. Afterwards, we had a few closest to the hole competitions. Jack won both of them. We tried to talk him into staying and hitting balls with us a little bit longer, but he had been out there for a while and was tired. After hitting his last shot, he pulled out a sharpie and started writing something on his glove. He then pulled it off and I realized that he had one last gift for me. He had signed the glove and gave it to me. It was the perfect way to cap off an amazing day at TPC River Highlands and the Travelers Championship.Jakc Kane, 16, lives in Berlin, CT and just finished his sophomore year at Xavier High School where he plays on the golf team. Jack
previously served as a junior Course Reporter at the Senior PGA Championship. He is an Eagle Level participant at The First Tee of Connecticut.