Headed to Miami

I just had enough time to unpack my suitcase from Salt Lake with my girls, do my laundry, and pack it back up so I can get to Miami with Jake for the Optimist International Junior Golf Championship at Trump National Doral. He qualified for this tournament weeks ago by taking 2nd place in a local tourney. We decided to spend the money and take the trip because it’s just a great opportunity to play at a premier course with golfers coming from all over the globe. You just never know if the opportunity would come along again. Of course, he also qualified to go to Pinehurst again for the US Kids Teen championships this week and also a tournament in Wichita. So there we were making a decision between 3 tournaments occurring this week. What a blessing to be in that position and way to go Jake!

Jake, Carson Wright (Wichita), Andrew Fowler (Leawood)

I have to admit I was really scrambling around to get myself packed and to a minute clinic before our flight because I’ve managed to start feeling bad. Thankfully just a nasty cold, but not ideal traveling conditions. We made it to the resort by midnight thanks to hopping on a different flight. Our original flight kept changing and it would’ve put us here at 3am.

2 suitcases, golf clubs, and his skimboard just in case we have some time to hit the beach.

Eating snacks and watching something related to golf. Always.

I swear we just closed our eyes and the alarm was going off to get up to check in for the tournament, eat breakfast, hit a few balls, and up to the tee box for a practice round on the Blue Monster course.

View from our room in the Jack Nicklaus Villa

This is the Ivanka ballroom and where we will eat breakfast and dinner each day—included in the package we were required to purchase. Without a package, breakfast is $26 and dinner $41…what!? That’s ridiculous!

The grounds are perfectly manicured and gorgeous

Everything is over the top here…including the gold embroidery on the seats of the golf carts. Chandeliers are laden with crystals and gold. Everywhere you go, things are “fancy” marbled floors and gold fixtures.

Hallways are lined with large old photos of Jack Nicklaus photos and in the rooms too.

The practice round was off and on rain and some sunshine and delays. This is Jake’s least favorite weather to play in!! We played with Sebastian from Bolivia and Brady from Indiana.

At one point we had to get off the course and spend some time in the clubhouse. Probably a little too much money spent in the golf shop by many as well. Is this a Trump marketing ploy!? They said the weather has been unusually rainy here lately.

We debated about driving to the beach but it continued to rain so we took much needed naps and then Jake hit the range for a bit before dinner. He didn’t feel inclined to enter into the longest drive competition and he’s kicking himself, because he probably would’ve done well! One of competitors from the KC area is in the finals for it (Andrew Fowler).

We attended the welcome meeting and learned there are 575 junior athletes here from 23 countries. Wow!

One last order of business for the evening…a stop at Dicks Sporting Goods do get rain jackets and another umbrella because the weather is not looking good for the rest of the week. Despite a reminder set in all of our calendars, we still didn’t pack our rain gear!!

That’s all for now from Sunny (and by sunny, I mean rainy) Miami!! More updates to come.