Klein Got Fanfare, Big and Little, at Oakmont
As expected, Emilee Klein had one of the largest galleries of the day--about 50 to 100 people depending on the hole.
Right there every step of the way was 11-year-old Lauren Huhnerkoch of Burnsville, Minn.
Huhnerkoch, a shy blond who preferred that her father did all of the talking for her, claims to be Klein’s No. 1 fan and has a T-shirt reading “Emilee Klein Fan Club” (which is autographed by Klein) to prove it.
She started following Klein in 1993 at the LPGA Tour stop in Minneapolis when her father, Gary, took her to see the event. Ironically, they were there to see Julie Hennessy, who hails from the same hometown as Gary.
“I was very impressed with how she played,” Gary said. “So I started following her through college and Lauren did the same.”
Lauren and Gary have seen Klein at the Minneapolis stop every year since, but this year they made a pact to see an away tournament.
Lauren has been saving her allowance for a year, and when she saw a television commercial advertising kids fly free she literally jumped at the chance.
“She hopped off the couch and told me about it,” said her father, who made the T-shirt for her. “We had no idea that this was her home course, it just happened to be the one weekend I could come with her.”
Emilee and Lauren have become friends over the last couple of years and Klein stopped by to chat with Lauren after shooting an opening-round 70 on Friday. Earlier in the week, Klein gave Lauren a beige Callaway hat exactly like the one she has been wearing this week.
More Rosie: After lobbying hard for tickets to the Rosie O’Donnell Show, Jill Briles-Hinton finally got to go Thursday night. The trip was more than Briles-Hinton could fathom.
“It was great,” she said. “I talked to Rosie for five minutes after the show and she gave me a jacket.”
Things did not turn out as well for Laurie Brower, another tour golfer who wanted to attend.
Brower was in the middle of her pro-am round when the phone call came inviting them to the show.
“They tried to pull me off the course but the officials wouldn’t allow it,” Brower said.
O’Donnell show officials offered Brower tickets for Friday night, but because of her 12:21 tee time she was unable to attend.
“It just wasn’t meant to be,” Brower said.
Hearts and flowers: Love conquers all . . . even on the LPGA Tour.
With the LPGA in town, members at Oakmont Country Club festooned the locker room with hearts and placed candy in each player’s locker. A steady stream of delivery men have been coming through the club’s front doors.
“They’ve been bringing Valentine’s flowers, exotic arrangements, long-stemmed roses in gold boxes,” said Kathy D’zurilla, who works at the tournament’s hospitality desk. “The locker room looks like a warehouse of flowers.”
Renee Heiken’s fiance called a club member to get the lowdown on local flower and candy shops.
“You know what’s great is to see the players’ faces when the flowers are delivered,” D’zurilla said. “You’d think that they won a million dollars.”
Breaks of the game: Ellie Gibson finished the opening round on the leaderboard with a three-under-par 69. Still, she gained a healthy respect for the Oakmont course.
Gibson was particularly perplexed by several putts that looked like they would break right but went left. The local rule of thumb is that all the greens break toward Glendale.
“Downtown Glendale or the barranca,” she said, referring to the flood control channel that bisects the course. “Whatever it was . . . the greens are tough.”
Helen Alfredsson had plenty to worry about before she so much as reached the greens. After shooting a 75, she said: “It’s a long day out there when you don’t hit the fairways.”
In escrow: It’s not very often that a real estate agent feels the need to put a “For Sale” sign in the backyard of a house.
But if the backyard in question looks out on the 10th fairway at Oakmont, well. . . . “We just figured that people would be golfing,” said a realty company employee. “We figured that members at the country club would see it.”
This week, the sign is also clearly visible to passing clusters of fans, reporters and cameramen.
“Will it get on TV?” the realtor asked. “That didn’t even occur to us.”
