Day 4: Lexus Cup

My cousin is an avid golfer and wanted to encourage his seven year old's interest in the sport he took us to this weekend's LPGA tourney: the Lexus cup, hosted at the beautiful Singapore Island Country Club (SICC) towards the central part of the city-state. While I was unsure how I'd hold up strolling around the golf course in such hot and humid weather, I was excited at the prospect of watching golf live for the first time.

We arrived first at the old horse race track and polo fields of "Turf City" to park our car and take an air conditioned shuttle to the actual course. Turf City is something else. It has this post-apocalyptic feel because it's a monumentally sized building that used to seat thousands of horse racing spectators, but those days have now passed and it's a dilapidated old concrete structure with various retail shops and a grocery store. Lot's of expats here because they tend of live in the nearby Bukit locality of the city. So it's an odd mix of foreign-affluence and abandoned warehouse charm.

After finding the shuttle pick up we  boarded the oh-so-amazing AC bus. I brought my camera to snap photos at the tourney even though they're banned from the tourney. The tourney was awesome! We were lucky enough to start at the 8th hole following who else but the soon to be retired Annika Sorenstam. It wasn't too crowded so we got great views of her drive and could vaguely overhear conversation between caddies and players. The tourney started in 2005 and attracts only the best LPGA players. It's a team event with Team Asia versus Team International. Asia is largely made up of Korean pro golfers and International is largely made up of California based pro's. Other golfers we watched included 2005 rookie of the year Paula Cramer (from mountain view, ca) and Natalie Gublis. 

Does anyone follow women's golf? I don't follow golf at all, but this live event was still really fun and I enjoyed the peace and quiet of spectators as well as the lush grounds situated next to a large reservoir and Singapore's largest rain forest preserve. Singapore's really got it going on when it comes to all the finer things in life!