Bits and Pieces for a Monday Morning

-Hmmm.  I see John Daly and I (and lots others, I expect), are on the same page.  From espn.comhttp://sports.espn.go.com/golf/news/story?id=4699432:

"I don't really care what happened between Tiger and ... whatever happened. I'm just glad he's OK," said Daly, preparing for the Australian Open. "We need him, probably more than anybody on the tour, to keep things going, the way the economy is.
"Tiger's the biggest asset the tour's had in a long, long time," he said. "Whatever happened, as long as he's OK that's all that matters.
"Golf needs him badly ... no doubt."

- And here's a guy, from the NY Times, who thinks maybe Tiger's not coming clean will start a golf recession.  Oh my golly jees.

- The Houston Texans are gangbusters for the first half, the Indianapolis Colts gangbusters and a half for the second.  Colts win.  Bob Kravitz at the Indy Star sings their praises.  Any predictions for next week's tussle with the Titans and the revitalized Vince Young?

- Charlie Weiss still has his job but not for long, me thinks.  Expect I'm not alone there.

- Golf day today in southern Indiana?  Expect I'll try it though tomorrow looks much nicer.

Photos of Saturday's Gamers

The individual photos of the guys who were out gaming last Saturday can be found here at Webshots.  Note that Curt did leave a comment giving the results of the game here.

Bits and Pieces for a Sunday Morning

-The call for Tiger to come clean.  Well, I just hope he plays this coming week, and plays well.  One other thing: hope his wounds, both physical and emotional, are superficial.

-The Irish play a most entertaining game, again, and again come out holding the short end of the stick, losing to Stanford last night, 45-38.  The finish six and six after starting the season with some saying championship potential, an 11-1 or 10-2 win-loss record, and a spot in one of the BCS bowl games.  High expectations.  Did enjoy the play of Clausen and Tate who both played spectacular for most of the season - Tate really coming on strong once Michael Floyd was hurt.  Hope they return for their fourth year at ND and whomever the new coach is going to be.  (Btw, I did wonder why Harbaugh didn't run out the clock on their last possession - take a knee for two downs, clock runs down to just about the end of the game, kick a field goal;  that would have kept the ball out of the hands of Clausen and Tate.  Worked out in the end but not till ND had moved the ball well within game changing distance.)

-The Irish basketball teams did win yesterday, the men over St. Louis in Chicago and the women over Oklahoma down in the Virgin Islands.  Shylar Diggins, the freshman guard out of SB Washington, was the tournament mvp.

-Had intentions of going down to the Lions Den last night and watching the boy Lions play in the championship game, but opted for the living room and the Irish-Cardinal football game.  Expect the boys destroyed whoever they played - had listened to the morning game against Henryville.  I know the score is on the internet somewhere but I can't find it - did see that the Lions won with Josh Divine being the MVP from the Loogootee Tribune's facebook site.  (Found it at the Shoals News web site.  The final was a four point game - as close as the final score?)  The girls won on Friday.

-Haven't heard what happened in the skins and flags game that took place at the golf course yesterday midday.  Maybe Curt or Tracy will add a comment and enlighten us.  You have to want Cory, the youngster, to walk off with the lion's share, right?  

The Second Tee

Photo - click to enlatge.

Some of the guys were out for skins and flags earlier today. Caught up with them on the second tee after Cory Rayhill, the college student in the group, took the opening skin on one. The above photo shows the four of them arriving, taking their turn on the tee, and then leaving. Let me see, that would be something like veni, vidi, vici, wouldn't it? Well, maybe just for Cory at this early stage. The guys: Cory, with the honors, Tracy Rayhill, Bric Parker and Curt Johnson.

Tiger Sighting

Early in the morning in a little accident.  Sure had the world news organizations all aflutter.  And a lot of TW supporters, myself included, sitting on the edge of our seats waiting for more news.  Glad it's only facial cuts (is it only that?) and hope he's able to play this next week.  (Wish I had a nickle for every story that is circulating on the whys of the accident.)

Saturday Golf Game

Anybody out there up for a golf game at 11 or 12?  Sunny day with temperatures heading into the 60's.  Lovely Thanksgiving Saturday.

Course Opening

Will open the course about 11 this morning.  A little cool but maybe the best place to go work off some of yesterday's excess.  And what else do you have to do other than go mix with the crowds doing their Black Friday thingee?

Thanksgiving Day

Day to be thankful for all the good family and friends that make life such a joy.  Happy Thanksgiving to you all.

Bits and Pieces for a Monday Evening

-Golf with the boys earlier today.  That would be Jack Butcher (62), Ken Hudson (68), myself (69) and Jack Lents (71) - net scores in parens.  Of note: Jack Butcher's 76 meant he shot his age once again.  Didn't he just do that?  No hole-in-ones, though Ken and Jack B. each had chip in birdies.

-Here's a good idea for the future of the lady golfers - don't be relying on one super star (like Michelle Wie), go global.  Money is in Asia, not to mention a bunch of the existing and the up and coming young stars.  Makes sense to me.  Btw, Lorena Ochoa did win the LPGA's POY by finishing second down in Houston.  Jiyai Shin came close - could have one with a chip in for birdie at the 18th hole.

-Colts win for the second week in a row on a play by the opposing team that goes against conventional wisdom and turns out bad.  Ravens, deep in Colt territory and needing only a field goal to win, and a couple of running plays to use up most of the time remaining (or, at least, the remainder of the Colts timeouts), put one up in the air and had it intercepted by a Colt defender. 

-Here's a list (via the bleacher report and the Chicago Tribune) of possible replacements for the Irish football coach.  Tony Dungy gets a mention but only in the 'forget about it' section.  Interesting.

Bits and Pieces for a Sunday Morning

-Oh my goodness gracious, Notre Dame loses again.  What is this world coming to?  Another Big East team comes to South Bend and upsets the Irish on Senior Day, last home game of the season.  UCON bested the Irish in double overtime yesterday, 33-30.  This can be said for the Irish: they looked impressive in the first quarter, racing out to a two touchdown lead - I actually thought it was going to be a rout.  But then they disappeared.  I was surprised to here the guys in the tv box say during the game that Charlie Weiss still had a chance of staying on next year if he was able to win the last two games on the schedule.  At the end, they, too, had joined the rest of us in saying good bye to a coach who had tons of talent but didn't know what to do with it.  My oh my.  (Go here to see a Chicago Tribune poll on who should be next year's Irish coach.  The CW number surprised me.)

-No golf game at Lakeview yesterday morning.  Did have some golfers out chasing little orbs once the sun made more of an appearance.  Did get into the '60's and more of the same today.  Nice.

-LPGA final event reduced to a 54 hole game what with all the rain Houston has had these last few days.  The ladies will finish up tomorrow.  Does Ochoa shine and beat Shin for the POY?  Ochoa has mostly been quiet this year and I was very surprised to see her very much in contention to win the big award for the best player on the ladies' tour.

-The Loogootee girls' basketball team took it to the Shoals Jugrox Friday night in an impressive manner.  The Lions' Tia Pennington and Kelci Mann were dominant underneath the basket.  The team had excellent defense as well.  At halftime during the game, all the girls in the basketball program, grades five through eight, were introduced.  The line went from one end of the court to the other.  That, too, was impressive what with all the moaning about the lack of players in last week's Loogootee Tribune article.

Saturday Morning Scramble Time

10am.  Golf game of some sort...

Bits and Pieces for a Friday

-Photo: the bulk of yesterday's golfers - a group of four from Jasper.

-Michelle Wie w/d's from the LPGA Tour Championship with a sprained ankle. Probably a very smart move on her part after she lost 2007 with her wrist injury. She was three under through 12 holes and went three over the next six holes - actually a bogey on 13 and then a double on 17 where her ankle gave way on her off the tee. Her ankle injury happened during the Solheim Cup - that's a pretty long time for a sprained ankle to be healing.

-Girls' basketball at the Lion House tonight: Shoals vs Loogootee. The Loogootee Tribune had a big article on the girls this week with much emphasis on the smallness of the squad (nine players, four of whom were seniors). In a separate article with a different author, the Barr-Reeve girls team was being heralded as one of the elite teams this season with the likes

-In women's basketball, the Notre Damers (Dames?) sneaked past the Spartans of MSU on the heroics of 5'9" Ashley Barlow, 68-67. Barlow snatched a rebound out of the hands of 6'9" Spartan Alyssa DeHaan off of a missed free throw, got fouled and made one of two of her own free throws in the closing seconds of the game up in East Lansing.

-Headline: Georgia's mascot Uga VII dies. Hmm.

-And as long as we're on college football: the betting odds on who will be the ND coach for next season's first game here. (via South Bend Tribune's twitter bag.) Meyer, Kelly and Harbaugh are the early favorites. Eric told me Harbaugh, a Michigan alum, might also be a prime contender for the Wolverine coaching job.

-Golf date with the boys (Lents, Butcher, Hudson) later this morning. All of us should be fresh after several days of non golf activity.

Bits and Pieces for a Thursday Morning

-Michelle Wie glamour shots here.  Definitely a nice way to start the morning.  Note to the Wie Lass: ditch the baseball cap.  Expect she's tried different covers and maybe the baseball cap is the best for her.  More glamour photos here.

-Girls basketball tomorrow night in Loogootee: Shoals, with Danielle Turpin, is the competition.  Btw, the Vincennes Rivet girls play both Shoals and Loogootee over here this year.  They have the Meeks girl all recovered and playing and should steamroll themselves to the state title come next February.  Will be a treat to see them at Shoals and Loogootee during the winter months.

-Question: did you get your fill of articles and comments about the Colts-Patriots Sunday night game?  How about the Michelle Wie first LPGA victory?  I did - kinda reminds me of a Thanksgiving dinner where you sit there and stuff yourself silly.

-LPGA schedule for next year has been made public.  Only 24 events, none in Japan or South Korea - with all the South Koreans on the tour - make that all the super South Koreans on the tour, how about a couple of events in that country?  They do play in Toledo, Ohio, and Springfield, Illinois, though.  Might be worth a car ride.  Here's much more from Mostly Harmless about the 2010 schedule. 

-Gonna go open up - ten o'clock tee times this morning. A little cool but, what the heck, it's not raining and it is golf - more opportunities for that elusive next hole-in-one, or to shoot your age, or maybe just trade quarters with your buddies.

Lakeview Ace Golfer Photo

Did you miss this portrait of one of Lakeview's ace golfers?  I posted it over at my new photo blog, birdman photos.

Bits and Pieces for a Tuesday

Photo: Perry Yoder strikes a putt on #9 last Saturday as his son watches.

-More on Michelle Wie from the NY Times. She just had a birthday and is now undefeated as a twenty year old. No victories as a teenager but still a pretty impressive list of accomplishments.

-Eric filled me in on the statistical sagacity of Belichick's Sunday night decision to go for it. Of course, statistics don't tell the whole story and to my way of thinking are just one tool of many used by decision makers. However, keeping the ball in the hands of his best players, like Brady and Moss, makes a whole lot of sense to me. Also like people suggesting that he expressed supreme confidence in his young defense by going for it, thinking that they would certainly be able to stop Manning, etc, if the offense failed. More good reading from the NY Times online here.

-How about Bob Stoops of Oklahoma as the next Irish coach. The bleacher report says yes here and also says to cross out Jon Gruden as a candidate here. I kinda liked the idea of Jon Gruden being the coach but Bob Stoops will do. Doesn't really matter to me as long as they win or get out of the big football go round. Ivy League would be just fine.

-Had some golfers yesterday - didn't turn cool and rainy till right around five in the afternoon. Today's another matter entirely. Could hope for a break and sneak some in but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Bits and Pieces for a Monday Morning

-Hope you didn't toddle off to bed last night and miss the super comeback by the still undefeated Colts.  Great 4th quarter for Manning and his boys aided by a single bonehead decision (more here about that from the Indy Star) by the coach of the Pats - you remember, going for it on fourth and two at their own 28 right at the two minute mark.  Not that a punt wouldn't have resulted in a similar march down the field and the winning touchdown.

-Still feeling real good about Michelle Wie's win yesterday.  Here Jason Sobel at espn.com chides the naysayers. 

-Haven't seen any comments or articles (well, here's one from the South Bend Tribune that conjectures...) on who the new Irish coach is going to be, that is, since Saturday's loss in Pittsburgh.  Expect that will change here directly what with the weekend over and the pundits returning to their jobs on a Monday morning.  Of course, Weiss hasn't been fired yet.  Any projections on the remaining games against UCON and Stanford?

-Gotta go open the golf course.  No rain yet.  Mid 50's.  Monday morning.  Great time to head out to the golf course.

The Wie Lass Wins!

Michelle Wie got her first win as a pro with a sterling effort down at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational in Mexico.  She finished with a birdie on the 72nd hole to wind up with a score of 13 under and a two stroke victory over her closest competitor, Paula Creamer.  How sweet it is.  Hope she gets many more and continues her pursuit to go up against the best in the world, whatever their gender.

Bits and Pieces for a Sunday Morning

-Tiger won the Aussie Masters down under.  Now if we can get the Wie Lass to prevail down in Mexico at the Lorena Invitational - she goes into the final round tied for the lead with the Kerr Woman.

-Out at Lakeview yesterday morning, Curt Johnson put on a clinic with his short game in pairing with Tracy Rayhill for a 33 to 39 scramble victory over Ward Smith and myself in a nine hole scramble.  Curt dropped in a fifteen foot birdie putt at #3 and then completed another birdie at six with a ten foot down hill slider.

-The Notre Dame Irish had their shots last night in Pittsburgh, mostly in the fourth quarter, but came up short, 27-22.  They needed another touchdown in the fourth quarter, had the ball with plenty of time to go, but then lost it on a fumble when their gutty little quarterback, Jimmy Clausen, fumbled with two minutes to go.  Just like last week against Navy, where he was taken down in the end zone for a safety (which proved to be the difference), he was blindsided when he had dropped back to pass.  Of note: Golden Tate was golden; some very questionable calls and non calls by the officials; and the Panthers little running back, Dion Lewis, was superlative.  Wonder what Lou Holtz is thinking nowadays.  He's the one who was so high on the Irish before the season started, even giving them a chance to go undefeated.  My oh my.

Saturday Scramble Start Time

10am

SI Flashback: College Football

Great article on one of the best quarterbacks that ever played the game both at the college and the pro levels.  From the SI of August 6, 1990.  Know who he is?

Bits and Pieces for a Friday Morning

-Tiger leads by three at the midway point down under at the Aussie Masters. Do you know any of the other guys playing in that event?  I see a few familiar names on the leaderboard.
-Song-Hee Kim leads at the Ochoa event down in Mexico after shooting a 65.  The Wie Lass is competing and shot a 70.
-Note from the above link: Jiyai Shin has won the rookie of the year award in the LPGA and could win the player of the year as well, something that has only been done by Nancy Lopez.  Remember the year she did that?  Hint:  The Notre Dame Fighting Irish played in the Cotton Bowl, smashed Texas, 38-10, and leapfrogged from a ranking of 5th in the nation to win the national championship.
-Out at Lakeview last Monday, Jack Butcher shot his age (or better) for the umpteenth time by firing a 76.  I had illusions of doing that yesterday after opening with a 36 but exploded for a 46 on the back nine.  My timing belt broke on me.  Have shot my age once - back in 2005 when I was 65.
-In yesterday's play, Ken Hudson recovered from his high scoring of earlier in the week and fired a net 70.  The rest of us: Butcher a 72, Jack Lents a 75, and me a 76.  (All scores net.)
-Another foursome out there playing: Tony Wease, Charlie Sheetz, Mike Strawn and Dick Cresgy.
-No hole-in-ones that I heard of. Jack Lents came the closest in our group with a shot on #7 that ended up a couple of feet beyond the pin.
-It was lovely out there even with the temperatures not getting out of the 60's.  More lovely today and tomorrow.

Change at the Corner

Eric's been busy cleaning up the area just before #6 green. Remember the bush surrounding the tree over there by #7 tee box? Gone. Remember the bush in front of the near tree? the one pretty much blocking any stray shot cutting the corner? Gone. Should help out on the scoring on hole #6 though you wouldn't be able to convince the foursome I played with today - Jack Lents, Ken Hudson and Jack Lents being the other three. We played 18 and averaged 6.5 strokes on the par five with only one par among us (the Butcher man the second time). (My horrific 9 on the hole the second time didn't exactly help.) Over time, expect the clearing out of the debris will help a bunch.

Bits and Pieces for a Monday Morning

Was not a good weekend for my favorites:

-North Daviess Cougars lost their football sectional championship to the Linton Miners - Friday night
-Barr-Reeve Vikings lost their v-ball match to eventual state champion Marquette - Saturday morning
-the Fighting Irish got sunk by the Middies of Navy - this one I don't mind so much, being an old Navy man, and the fact that they were such overwhelming underdogs on paper - Saturday afternoon
-Tiger lost in China - Saturday night/Sunday morning, local time

Saving graces

-Colts won a close one on Sunday afternoon
-the weather goddess provided some beautiful golfing weather - and that continues!

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Six of us played a scramble yesterday morning with the team of Dave Wininger, Cory Rayhill and Curt Johnson outlasting the team of Mike Bird, Tracy Rayhill and Joe Allen.  With October being pretty much of a wash because of rain and cold, the rust on the golf clubs showed as each player took his turn in hitting both bad and ugly shots.  Still, there were some very good shots as well.  For instance, the putting expertise of Joe Allen and Curt Johnson, each of whom continually made the greens a one putt show over the first several holes.  Joe's first putt at one, a thirteen footer, saved par after several mishits by his team.  Joe continued finding a good shot here and there with a chip to an inch for a kick in par at three, a six foot birdie putt at four, and then an eight foot birdie putt at five that gave him and his team a brief one stroke lead.  That was wiped out by a Curt Johnson putt of six feet at six.  Dave Wininger then gave the other guys the lead for good by dropping in a twisting twenty footer for birdie at seven.  Great to be out playing and expect the nicer weather of the next several days will provide more opportunities for more of the good (much more), the bad, and the ugly.

Birthday Boy

Ray Shaw came out to the golf course today and had Carol drive as he played a round of golf on his 81st birthday.  Happy Birthday, Ray!

Saturday Scramble Start Time

10am.

A Game of Inches

Played with the boys yesterday morning.  That would be Jack Lents, Jack Butcher and Kenny Hudson.  You remember that Jack Lents, my good neighbor to the southeast, has been running up his flag count the last three times we've played together.  Yesterday he came within a whisker or two of continuing that trend.  With three flags piled up on top of each other (that means we all missed the putting surface at #3 and #7), he and I both hit the green with our tee shots.  It took three different measurements using two different methods (stepping it off and then using the flag as a measuring tool), for him to finally concede that his shot was five or six inches further away than mine.  Dang the luck.  He went flagless on the back nine as well - I picked up the ones at three and nine while Jack Butcher got the one at seven.  Though Jack finally decided to share the flag glory, he didn't walk away with out a laurel stick: his net 69 was low score for the day.  I came in with a 71, Jack Butcher a 73 and Kenny Hudson a horrendous 86.  The skins: JB had 5, MB had 4, JL had 1 and KH had nada.  Sad to say, no hole-in-ones, again.  Won't be long before we try again though.

You Gotta Love the People

They sure are having a lot of fun over in China at the HSBC in Shanghai.  Through two rounds, TigerWoods and Nick Watney share the lead at ten under but the real story is the crowd.  Golf is new in China so no real tradition or a knowledge of the 'proper way' to watch.  That means lots of moving around, lots of camera clicking, lots of cell phones ringing.  Here's an espn.com article by Dan Washburn that will give you a pretty good idea of the chaos that reigns over in the Far East.    Isn't life grand?!

Postman, Oilman and Banker, Too...

Seen at the golf course late this afternoon.

Winter Fees

We've gone to our winter fee rate schedule.  You can see them here.

Bits and Pieces

-Nice day for a scramble or any other kind of golf.  The afternoon game would have to start at 3:30 to finish before the lights went out - I watched the sun fall over the trees last night - got dark and cool very quickly starting about 5:30.  Of course, if you insisted on starting later (or had to because of other commitments, like work), you could play two man teams with each starting on a different hole - shouldn't take more than an hour and a half, one would think.  Or play a six hole scramble - skip the par threes.  Or...

-Speaking of par threes: Jack Lents came out and played 18 holes with Jack Butcher, Ken Hudson and me yesterday morning.  He's the guy who has taken five of the six flags the last couple of weeks in the game of skins, flags and partners that we play.  Us other guys were intent on limiting his flags to about zero yesterday and for 16 of the holes we pretty much had him corralled.  He was even mumbling as we finished up hole #15 that he was having a bad day - zero skins, zero partners, zero flags.  But...  Three flags were up for grabs at hole #16 and it looked like my shot was about two or three feet just beyond the pin.  Jack's shot looked close but not close enough.  Turned out, his shot was five feet from the pin, mine ten, and suddenly his day brightened a whole bunch.  And, to top things off, he rolled in the putt for a birdie and a skin as well.  Dang.  Day ended with Jack firing a net 75 along with Kenny Hudson; Jack Butcher finished with a net 68 and me a net 69.  The Butcher man walked away with the most quarters, one more than the other Jack, two more than me and four more than Kenny.

-Looks like a nice week for golf if you can get out during the day.  Weekend looks even nicer.

-Cautionary note:  If you are an early golfer, remember to wait till all frost has cleared before hitting that first ball.  Walking on frosty greens is verboten (forbidden). 

-Hannah LaMar has joined our staff.  She will be helping out both at the clubhouse and on the grounds when she can get away from her school work and her athletic commitments (she plays both volleyball and tennis at Loogootee).  Here's a photo of her at the v-ball sectionals where the Lions succumbed to the Barr-Reeve Vikings (a team that is now 36-0 and goes to state next weekend).

Double Eagle Update

Just got an email from TJ McAtee on double eagles at Lakeview:

Not sure who the guy was, but Drew Kluesner, Bubba, and Mitch Wagler were witnesses to a double eagle on 4 a few years ago.  Vague details I know…

Anybody out there know who that might have been?  So, we have at least one other double eagle at Lakeview, total of two.  Any others?

ps from TJ:

Unfortunately it wasn’t me.  I just remember them telling me about it a few years ago.  The guy was playing alone and drained it from 200 or so out.