John and J.J.

Gophers were in this year.

I was back at the Reno-Tahoe Open this year as the tournament photographer. I like shooting golf—often times more than I like to play it. And enjoyed being at Montreux for the week: it's a beautiful course, Northern Nevada at it's best: sagebrush and pine, blue skies, clean air.

Here are a couple of story lines I followed and photographed:

First, John Daly (T-5, 33) made the cut. It wasn't his first RTO but it was his first weekend and that meant crowds and a record-setting gallery. In addition to Daly, former major winners Justin Leonard (T-5, 33) and Padraig Harrington made it a fun final round.

In the end though, 37-year-old J.J. Henry (43) won the modified Stableford event edging out Alexandre Rocha (42). Henry's a nice guy but and a good champion but you could tell the crowd was pulling for JD.

Also, this year, for the first time I photographed the pro-am on Wednesday. The access is better and it gave me a chance to play with some features but in general, I prefer the weekend action.