If Saturday is traditionally moving day at golf tournaments, then Friday must be grooving day. It's the last chance for the tournament organisers to match up threesomes the way they want and on day one all the heavyweights had an early start so they could be good to go later in the day yesterday.
John Daly, Simon Dyson and Lam Chih-bing tee off at 11.30am, followed directly by Graeme McDowell, Liang Wenchong and Y.E. Yang, with Rory McIlroy, Ian Poulter and Lin Wen-tang on their heels. There are fans following other threesomes around the course, but those galleries are in single digits.
Regardless of the throngs surrounding him, there is no mistaking Daly. Even from a distance, his pants arrive a good five minutes before he does. The strap on his golf bag has a huge, unmistakable logo on it: Grip it and rip it.
'JD, you the man,' someone yells as he arrives at the third green. Daly nods as he always does. But, still, those pants. They are so loud, so Daly.
'When we came up with the idea for the brand based on some of the more outrageous golf designs in the 70s and 80s, there was only one person we could think of as a natural spokesman,' says David Suzuki, one of the co-owners of Loudmouth apparel who is tagging along in Daly's group. Since Rodney Dangerfield of Caddyshack fame is no longer among us, the honour naturally fell to JD. 'He's been incredible, so co-operative and genuine,' said Suzuki. 'That's just him though and that's why the fans love him and are so loyal.'
Perhaps no golfer is more aware and grateful of the gallery than big John and, as he steps to the tee box on the fourth hole, he treats those fans to a classic Daly moment. Number four is a short, but blind, par four, all of 288 yards. The smart play is to lay up with a five or six iron and use a wedge to get home.
Both Dyson and Lam skilfully and conservatively strike their shots perfectly, leaving about 120 yards to the green. Daly is the last to go and spends a moment, and then another moment, pondering his move as the crowd starts to murmur.