CR Open

Sometimes the best photos from an assignment aren't used because they simply don't go with the story. Yesterday, I photographed the Greater Cedar Rapids Open golf tournament, and focused my coverage on the top two groups of golfers, making sure to photograph each of them in case one pulled ahead after I left for another assignment. The top two contenders, when I left, were Justin McCarraher of Fort Myers, Florida, and Scott Ford of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. So I sent these photos before my deadline, giving the sports desk two different options for each player, one standard action photo and one dejection photo.




We ended up running this photo of Ford's approach shot..



Even though I doubted Brian Carroll of Crystal Lake, Ill., would be a strong contender for the championship, I liked these photos of him so I sent them along in the first batch too. I had never shot golf before (how that's happened in my nine years as a photographer, I don't know), so I shot the expected, safe, fall-back photos, but kept my eyes open for the unexpected -- a grimace as the ball misses the cup or a search for the ball in the weeds.



I got a call later in the evening that Derek Lamely of Fort Myers, Florida, had come from pretty far behind and won in a shoot-out against Scott Ford. So I dug back into my take for this photo, which ran in today's paper, of him acknowledging the crowd after sinking a putt.