The Loop

Tour Wife Diary: Erin Walker on dealing with big crowds and watching her husband struggle

April 10, 2015

Erin Walker, wife of Jimmy Walker, will be sharing with GolfDigest.com her thoughts on what it's like to be a PGA Tour wife at the Masters. Follow her musings (@Tourwifetravels) from Augusta National all week.

It was really, really difficult to see anything in the first two rounds. I probably saw every third shot. It's great for him to be playing with Tiger, but for spectators, it's a little rough. I only walked nine holes with him on Thursday because I had to go get our kids from daycare. It's hard. It'll be nice to have him play with someone more normal, less prestigious over the weekend.

My strategy for watching when crowds are big is to stay out in front a little bit. If you're maybe half a hole ahead, to see them hit in, that's the best you can do. If you're right with them, you won't see anything. And I'm not very tall, so I have no hope! It's hard, but it's still cool for him to get to play with Tiger here, and there were still a lot of "Go Jimmys," so that was good.

At most other events Jimmy can spot me in the crowd so he can get me or my family a drink if we need it. But as he gains notoriety and he gets placed in these bigger groups, you're usually walking with a Tiger or a Phil or a Rickie or a Bubba or a Jordan. But Jimmy's a big name now so he's playing with big names now. The days of obscurity are kind of over.

I talked to Lindsey Vonn for a little yesterday. I grew up ski racing and my father was a world champion skier. My brother actually went to camp with her, but I'm pretty sure she doesn't remember that or know who I am. When walking the course, the wives and girlfriends will usually chat. And the other players in the group will look out for us, but not this week. You can't see anything!

It's also hard to watch him struggle (Walker was four over through 11, but rallied to make the cut with three late birdies). I'm a very Type-A personality so having to just watch and hope is rough. Unfortunately, our putter hasn't been as cooperative as it was a week ago. Jimmy plays well on the back nine so that's kept us in it the last two days. He loves this event and obviously he wants to be a little higher up on the leader board, but hey, he's playing the weekend. And you really never know what can happen at a major. So we'll just go see what we can do!