Just wandering Click here for more on this story Posted: Thursday August 12, 1999 07:42 PM By Alan Shipnuck, Sports Illustrated MEDINAH, Ill. -- I didn't have anything in particular to do today -- big surprise -- so I decided to spend the late morning/early afternoon aimlessly strolling around the grounds, looking for whatever adventure may have been awaiting. I started by checking out the faux Moroccan clubhouse. I was standing just inside the towering, intricately-tiled domed entrance when Alison Frazar, wife of Harrison, strolled in and said, in her adorable Texas twang, "Well, I do declare we might as well be in Europe." Alison, by the way, is looking very pregnant, and in light of that I found her hot pink jumpsuit a very bold fashion statement. I then moseyed into the expansive locker room, which is very nice in an old-school, dark-wood sort of way. Ernie Els was set to tee off in a few and he was standing in the doorway doing some last minute cramming -- studying his driving-range warmup swings on a hand-held video camera. Stuart Appleby happened to blow in at that moment and, without breaking stride, he said, "Give it up, Easy, it won't help." Els called him a wanker and kept fast-forwarding and rewinding the tape. I began to case the locker room, and happened to come upon Fred Funk, changing from his jogging clothes into his work outfit. He was in his boxers, and I'll be happy never to see that again. Coming around a corner I literally bumped into Sergio Garcia, who has the same turbo walk as his mentor, José María Olazábal -- who, along with Miguel Angel Jimenez, sat one table away from me last night in this hole-in-the-wall Italian joint. Garcia definitely had his game face on. He didn't seem to even feel our collision, and when I asked him if he was O.K. he looked right through me and said, "Fine," without ever breaking stride. On my way out of the clubhouse I bumped into (figuratively this time) Jarmo Sandelin and his gorgeous caddie/girlfriend, Linda. I had spent some time with Jarmo last week at the Scandinavian Masters and we chatted for a while. When I asked what kind of reception he got from the Yankee crowd, he smiled and, with a wink towards Linda, said, "No problems, but I think they were distracted by her." Truer words have never been spoken. From there I cruised over to the first tee to see who was heading out. I watched two groups, and they were classic. At 12:22 was Shigeki Maruyama, Thomas Bjorn and Tom Kite. Bjorn is Hamlet in spikes, the brooding prince of Danish golf; Maruyama is the only golfer I know on nitrous oxide; and Kite is a crotchety, constipated old man who nobody likes. I would love to hear what those guys are going to talk about. The next tee time was Garcia, Phil Mickelson and Hale Irwin. Mickelson is Mickelson, and Irwin has kids older than Garcia, but they seemed to have a nice chemistry. I watched them play the first two holes, and all three were pure (on No. 1 Hale was at 10 feet, and he was away). This little loop brought me back to the press room, and here I am. Now I must eat my free lunch (early scouting report: Go for the chicken fajitas, lay up on the pasta salad). Thursday, I'll let you know how it was. Alan Shipnuck is a Sports Illustrated staff writer. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer.   Related information Stories Alan Shipnuck's Golf Mailbag: Revelations Haas, Hayes, Weir hold clubhouse lead at soggy PGA Multimedia Click here for the latest audio and video Search our site Watch CNN/SI 24 hours a day Sports Illustrated and CNN have combined to form a 24 hour sports news and information channel. To receive CNN/SI at your home call your cable operator or DirecTV.

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