On a bright Friday afternoon, the galleries for Rory McIlroy, Ian Poulter and John Daly, who is playing just behind them, are like a plague of locusts. You can see the crowds swarming way off in the distance.
There's Broadway, but then there's off-Broadway. The other pairings basically exist in the shadows where marshals need not ask for quiet. The differences are quite stark since close to 90 per cent of spectators are following the afternoon's two marquee groups. It speaks volumes for the few who follow the lesser lights.
'I can watch McIlroy tonight on TV. I see him all the time anyway,' says Jack Choi from Hong Kong, who with his friend, Albert, are among four people following the trio of France's Gregory Bourdy, Thailand's Prayad Marksaeng and Mohd Siddikur of Bangladesh.
At precisely midday, McIlroy, Poulter and Italy's Edoardo Molinari are on the first tee. Ten minutes later Daly follows them, along with China's Liang Wenchong and England's Ross Fisher. Only the caddies and the scorekeeper are around 10 minutes later when Bourdy, Prayad and Siddikur tee off. If you're looking for a quiet place to sneak a phone call, this would be it.
But it's not just this three-ball that is being ignored. A couple of groups back, there is a former British Open champion playing with not a soul in the gallery. I mention this to a friend following Daly and he says, 'Paul Lawrie? Well, he didn't really win. It was gifted to him by [French player] Jean Van de Velde.'
Be that as it may, Lawrie's name is still on the trophy. But such is off-Broadway life. Sidikkur is obviously an interesting story - not many golfers are emerging from Bangladesh these days. He sits at six over par and will miss the cut, but when he hits a nice tee shot on the third hole and one person claps, he makes a point of tipping his hat.
Two holes ahead of him, Poulter is running down the fairway like the Mad Hatter, nary looking up. When he scrambles to make a par, the crowd claps loudly but elicits no reaction from him.