Dave Wininger, Joe Allen, Joe Doyle and Jerry Pedro stumbled home with a nine hole round of four under this past Saturday at Lakeview. That was good enough to tie Mike Bird, Greg Potts and Jack Nickless and force a tiebreaker, a card draw, which they won. A third team, Wayne Souerdike, Larry Hembree and Kevin Byron, finished at two under par. Of note: Greg Potts ran in a thirty foot putt on #8, and then a twelve footer at #1, to get his team to the four under level and into the card draw for the prize.
-Last Friday night, Tony Trambaugh showed up at 5pm to play a bit of golf. As Tracy Rayhill and Curt Johnson were already on the course (on #4 as it turned out, giving them a nice four hole warm up), I suggested we take them on in a spur-of-the-moment scramble for skins and flags. Sounded like a good idea and Tracy and Curt went along with it. Tony and I spotted the other two a three hole advantage by getting bogeys on the first three holes (couldn't chip, couldn't putt) against their pars. After tying birds at #4, Tony and I got on the board with a bird at #5 against their 8. But then came six and the turning point of the match. With our side already on the green with a likely two putt for par, Tracy and Curt were looking at a third shot from in front of #7 tee box. Getting the ball up in the air and then to stop on the green and then two putt would be a most welcome outcome. Tracy went first, hit way behind the ball and got just enough of it to get it airborne; the ball hits the cart path, takes a big bounce, lands on the green and then slides past the hole and just off the green, giving their side a for sure two putt twelve footer and a possible birdie. Curt tries his hand, does pretty much the same thing, the hit-behind-the-ball-hit-the-cart-path-land-on-green-run-towards-the-hole shot, and has his ball end up some eight feet left of the pin. Well, you can guess the rest of the story, at least at #6: Tony and I do get our two putt; Curt gives Tracy a good line with his putt and then Tracy runs his in for birdie. Hole to Tracy and Curt. Tony and I did get #7 (got a birdie and a flag) but 8 and 9 were washes and we lost the match to Tracy, Curt and whomever that third person was back on #6.
-Dick Lemmon, recent golf fanatic convert, got the first eagle of his budding career on Sunday afternoon, chipping in a forty footer at #4. He and Dave Brown were enjoying a nine hole round after the struggling Colts put away the surprisingly tough Kansas City Chiefs. (Expect Ray Shaw will have something to say about that. Anybody know if he and Carol are back from Kansas City?)
-DJ Harder, former Shoals golfing ace, was in for a nine hole round with girlfriend Jennifer (from Indy) late Friday afternoon. DJ, a freshman, is sixth man on the Oakland City College Golf Team.
-Aussie Katherine Hull came from three back to win the Navistar LPGA Classic down in Alabama. Brittany Lincicome finished second, one shot back while the third round leader, Cristie Kerr, finished in a tie for third with Na Yeon Choi. From espn.com and the AP:
Kerr shot a 72 to tie for third at 17 under with Na Yeon Choi (69). Kerr played the first 50 holes in 20 under, then was 3 over on the final 22.-Already mentioned: Colts won yesterday.
"Today, things just didn't go my way," Kerr said. "If I had played half as well as I had played the first three days, it would have been no contest." Playing in the final group with Hull, Kerr pushed her approach shot to the right of the green on 18 and two-putted for a bogey. Had she won the tournament, she would have earned enough points to take over first place in the Rolex Player of the Year standings. She remained third behind Yani Tseng and Ai Miyazato.
-Not yet mentioned: Irish win on Saturday against Pitt. They did give Pitt the chance to win it in the fourth quarter with some errors on the offensive side - dropped passes, negated td's on penalties, and on the defensive side with late hits out of bounds that gave the other side new life. As with the Colts, it's the 'W' that counts, right? (Whatever happened to it's how you play the game?!)
-Looks like Tiger is finally going to lose his #1 world ranking but not to Phil Mickelson. Lee Westwood tapped to go to #1 here directly. But...
His stay at No. 1 may be short-lived. With Woods, Westwood, Martin Kaymer and Phil Mickelson likely playing in the $7 million HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai, any one of the four could wind up atop the following week's rankings.
A little volatility at the top. That's a bit different after TW's long stay there. (From espn.com and the AP.)
-Coming up this week at Lakeview:
-Today is Columbus Day. Sunny and hot. Go golf.
-Tuesday afternoon scramble - starts at 5pm.
-Thursday morning scramble - starts at 10am.
-Saturday morning scramble - start time to be determined.
