Our very first snow of the winter season...

Diane and I head south tomorrow morning and were blessed with a peek at what we'll be missing if we stayed around.  Got to admit that it is awfully pretty, this first snow of the winter season.  We're driving to and from Miami and going on a 7 day cruise in-between the car rides.  Want you all to do everything you can to hold off on the 'good' winter golfing days till we get back.  Wouldn't want to miss anything.

Eric will be at the golf course off and on during the next couple of weeks and will be checking messages and the mail.  I'll still be in contact via the internet.

Bits and Pieces

-Good news department:  #4 Irish women's basketball team wins against #7 Duke at the buzzer.  Dramatic comeback from 18 down.  The story from the South Bend Tribune.

-Bad news department: #22 Irish football team looks pretty bad (in the first half) in losing to #4 Stanford, 28-14.  First time I've seen the young Irish qb, Tommy Rees, bewildered and intimidated - he got his bell rung very early in the game and wasn't the same after that.  Benched after the halftime with Hendrix looking impressive in getting the Irish on the board with two scores, one of them late and having no bearing on the outcome.  The story from the South Bend Tribune - quick recap:

A shoddy first half in which Notre Dame committed two turnovers, was penalized six times and failed to capitalize after starting a drive at the Stanford 11-yard line was too much to overcome as the Irish concluded their regular season with an 8-4 mark.

-More from the Bad News Department:  Three South Bend area high school football teams lost in the state finals yesterday: Penn, SB Washington, and my alma mater, St. Joe's.  Not a good day for Northern Indiana football families.

-At Lakeview yesterday morning:  Dave Wininger and Joe Allen, frequent visitors to the winners' circle these last couple of months, had four birdies on their way to a round of 31 to win the Saturday Morning Scramble.  Dave chipped one in from off the green at #3 and rolled one in at #7, each for birdies that went with the usual birdies at #4 and #6, to give the victors all they needed to claim the low of the day.  Doug Denson and Tracy Rayhill had birds at the middle three holes, four, five and six, to go along with six pars to finish second at 32.  Mike Bird and Wayne Souerdike had two birds and two bogeys in their even par round of 35 while Short Jeffers and Lee Wininger had a bird and three closing bogeys to finish at 37.

-At Lakeview yesterday afternoon:  Doug Denson and Short Jeffers finally got a little revenge in their 6-6-6 games with Dave Wininger and Mike Bird.  Doug's long putts for birds at #4 and #6 got them a one stroke victory in the scramble, and Mike and Dave's bogey implosion at #11 and #12, gave them the alternate shot win.  The latter stemmed the blood letting with a one stroke victory in the best ball conclusion to the game.  Each team finished with a one under total of 69:  Denson and Jeffers: -3/+2/0; Wininger and Bird: -2/+3/-2.  (Scores: scramble/alternate shot/best ball.)

-At JBA yesterday afternoon:  The Lady Lions beat South Central in basketball, 50-32.  Don't know the details.  Anybody know if it's online somewhere?  The details?

-Colts play Carolina today.  Might be a good time to take a look at Cam Newton, last year's biggie in the college ranks.  And for the Colts?  More disarray and ineffectiveness likely.  Too bad.  Btw, did the Stanford qb, Andrew Luck, look like the guy who could take Payton's place last night against the Irish?

-Cool, cloudy, rainy here on the hill north of Loogootee.  Pretty good day to throw another log on the fire and enjoy some football.  Or maybe a movie (got The Diplomat from Netflix to watch).

Saturday Morning Scramble Start Time

10am.

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Day!

Happy Thanksgiving to all you out there celebrating this American feast.  And Happy Day to all you other guys and gals!

Bits and Pieces

-A quick review of the LPGA from Ruthless Golf.  Worth reading for LPGA fans.

-Happyfan08 at Seoul Sisters posted a golf history of Hee Young Park, last Sunday's first time LPGA winner at the CME Group Titleholders.  It's a goodie.

-Last night, the Lady Lions basketball team beat up on their neighbors to the north, the Cougars of North Daviess, 59-30.  I meant to go but my little reminder person forgot to remind me.  (Stayed at home and watched an excellent movie with Diane - Bride Flight.)

-Missed the Tuesday Afternoon Scramble yesterday.  Thought maybe the rains would disperse leaving us with soggy grounds and temperature near 60 and just enough time to get in nine holes, eight for sure.  But no, the rains circled and stayed with us all afternoon.


-Heading over to the golf course a little later to mow the tees and collars.  Might be nice enough to get some practice in...

Bits and Pieces

-Short-shorts girl wins the CME Group Titleholder tournament.  Hee Young Park went two under for the first eight holes and then parred out to finish at -9, two strokes better than Sandra Gal and Paula Creamer.  The Wie Lass also shot two under for the day and climbed six spots to finish in a tie for 6th at two under par; a dastardly double bogey at the 17th hole kept her from finishing ahead of Yani Tseng and Cristie Kerr all alone in 6th.  Pretty nice way to get her first win in the LPGA for the 58th ranked Hee Young Park.  From Golf Babes.

-Did watch the replay of the Presidents Cup on NBC all afternoon.  In all that I read before watching, nowhere did I get the impression that Tiger was doing as well as he really did.  He was fantastic.  Of course, part of that may be because I thought he won his match 1 up rather than 4 and 3.  Good stuff.

-Sunday afternoon basketball:  #2 Irish Ladies basketball team stomped by #1 Baylor, 94-81.  Oops.  Losing big at halftime, they closed the gap to a single point in the second half and then went cold.  Baylor has the expected player of the year in 6'8" center Brittany Griner who scored 32 points and grabbed 14 rebounds.  Dkylar Diggins, ND's All American guard, had 27 points.

-Go figure Vince Young leading the desperate Eagles to an upset win over the NY Giants in Sunday Night Football.  Also, glad to see the Colts didn't hurt themselves yesterday (they had the bye) but was surprised to see this article by Bob Karvitz laying out in cold hard terms the choices the Indy team has with regards to Payton Manning.  Doesn't look any too promising for #18 loyalists. 

-Cloudy and cool in our neck of the woods today.  Eric will be at the course some this morning working on the greens.

Bits and Pieces: Lakeview Golf, CME Group Titleholders, The Presidents Cup, Irish Win

-At Lakeview yesterday:  Wayne Souerdike ran in putts from off the green at both the 3rd hole and the ninth hole in the Saturday Scramble.  The one at the 9th hole tied Wayne and Dave Wininger with Short Jeffers, Curt Johnson and Kevin Byron at three under for the nine holes. The Souderdike/Wininger team won the game on the tiebreaking draw of a card.  Doug Denson and Mike Bird also played and posted an even par round of 35.

-After the scramble, played another 18 holes as Dave W. and I took on Doug D. and Short J. in a 6-6-6 game.  Dave and I took the first two games, the scramble and the alternate shot while Short and Doug won the best ball with Short starting the third part with an eagle and a birdie.  Of note:  It turned out to be a beautiful day for golf.

-CME Group Titleholders: Hee Young Park and Sandra Gal on top after three rounds with scores of -7.  Lurking: Pettersen, Creamer, Choi and Tseng (all within three strokes of the top).  Should be a great fourth round with the winner taking home that huge paycheck of half a million dollars.  Of note:  #1 Yani Tseng shot ten strokes better than she did on Friday, a six birdie, no bogey round of 66.  She sits at -4 and tied for 5th place with Na Yeon Choi.  Bangkokbobby has photos here.

-The Presidents Cup:  Jim Furyk, Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson, Webb Simpson and friends win one for the Americans.  Stephanie Wei has a good recap here.  Good for Tiger as well.  Am interested in seeing this afternoon's replay on NBC, at least some of it.  How many of you guys stayed up late to watch it on the Golf Channel?  The early success of the Internationals made it a much more interesting final day, at least for this guy 'watching' the action with internet updates (was frustrated by the lack of good live blogging that reported the facts.)  Neat stuff by the old guys with the biggest hats-off compliment to Jim Furyk who had himself a dismal year but then wrote himself into the history books with a 5-0 Presidents Cup.  Super stuff.  Phil Mickelson was a surprise as well, going 3-1.

-Irish hold on to beat the Boston College Eagles, 16-14.  Took the sure hands of Robby Toma to catch the onside kick to give the Irish the ball and the chance to run out the clock after the BC team had scored a touchdown to close the gap to two points late in the fourth quarter.  The Irish were 20 point favorites, started like gangbusters and then were pretty much held in check by the 'Eastern Catholics'.

-Getting on with the rest of the day...

Bits and Pieces: Lion Girls Win Big, Presidents Cup, Big Girls, Irish

-The Loogootee Lions girls's basketball team subdued the Shoals Jug Rox by a score of 45-28.  At some point in the third quarter, they were up, 25-23, and then shut down their opponents while going on a scoring tear - led by Wynter Wagoner who seemed to get stronger as the game progressed.

-Presidents Cup:  Guess they played mostly in the rain yesterday.  Good day for the Americans as they went from 7-5 to 13-9.  In case you missed it, Tiger, the guy who used to be the best putter in the world but who now would love to make one every now and then,  did get a tally when he and Dustin Johnson beat Adam Scott and K.J. Choi in the early session (TW did make a putt on occasion but for the most part the short stick failed him; the word is though that the rest of his game is looking mighty fine). Today's single matches from the Waggle Room.

-Na Yeon Choi leads by one at the CME Group Titleholders tournament.  Her score of -7 is one up on Sandra Gal.  Morgan Pressel had a terrible day, shooting +6 with three double bogeys.  She's at +1 and tied for 16th place.

-From Asian Ladies Golfers Appreciation:  Hee Young Park playing golf in short shorts.  She's currently tied for 3rd at -4 at the CME Group Titleholders.

-The 7-3 Irish play the 3-7 Boston College team starting at 4 this afternoon.  Go Irish.

-Scramble at 11 this morning.  Best get away from the computer and get ready.  See some of you in a bit.  Btw, did get to the golf course yesterday afternoon but just for a walk.  Btw 2:  Aren't we supposed to get up to 58 today?  Weather here on the hill is cloudy and still cool at 46 degrees.

Bits and Pieces: Big Girls, Big Boys, TW Putting Video, Linton Football, Lady Lion Basketball, Hannah LaMar, SJYG Scramble Photo

-Na Yeon Choi (NYC, for short) leads the CME Group Titleholders tournament down in Orlando.  She shot -6 in the first round and is one shot ahead of Morgan Pressel and Karrie Webb.  Michelle Wie, at -4 through eleven holes, bogeyed three of the last seven to finish at -1 and in a tie for 20th place.  Of note:  The tournament purse is $1,500,000.  Of that, $500,000 goes to the winner.  Nice, right?!  Also of note:  Lexi Thompson, the 16 year old long drink of water and also long driver of the golf ball, birdied #2, triple bogeyed #3, then managed to go three under for the rest of her round to finish at -1.  That's a nice recovery.

-The Big Boys played to a draw at the Presidents Cup (scores here) with Tiger, this time pairing up with Dustin Johnson, losing to Aaron Baddeley and Jason Day, 1 up.  As Bob Harig mentions (among others, I am sure), TW is now the only golfer on the American squad without a tally in the scoring column.  Got to say Phil Mickelson and Jim Furyk have been super as have Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson.   But...  Yesterday's competition was really between the players on both sides up against Mother Nature and the course.  As one of the players mentioned, it was fun but only because it was match play (paraphrase).  Match 2 details here.  Match 3 pairings/predictions from the Golf Channel here.

-As I was 'watching' the Presidents Cup on the computer (updates), came across this instructional video from Wayne Defrancesco (first heard of this guy just recently from a short conversation with Tom McAtee).  He walks us through Tiger Woods' putting set up and stroke in this video which he labeled "Tiger Woods: The Best Putter in the World".  Worth the watch if you're interested in copying a technique that could make you the best putter in the county, maybe.  Note that the instructor, Defrancesco, admitted to speeding up his putting swing after metronoming TW's stroke and comparing it to his own metronomic timing.  We've probably all been aware of our own putting strokes slowing down (or speeding up) and going off target as a consequence.

-Local football: The Linton team goes up against Indy Scecina tomorrow.  Think everybody involved is looking forward to the state championship and a possible match-up between the unbeatens - Lafayette Central Catholic and Linton, each of whom will be 14 and 0 if they win tomorrow.  First things first though.  Bracket here.

-Lady Lions and the Shoals girls tip off the basketball season tonight at 7pm at JBA.  I'll be there.

-A ton of congratulations to Hannah LaMar for her selection to the Academic All State volleyball team.  Do you think maybe her time at the golf course gave her a bit of a break and helped her excel both in the classroom (first in her class) and on the court?  Of course it did...  :)  See photo below where she is actually golfing.

-No golf the past two days.  Maybe later today with the sun high in the sky and the temps in the 50's.  Tomorrow for sure.  Btw, Saturday Morning Scramble at 11.

-Getting on with the day...


Photo: Hannah on the right playing in the St. John's Youth Scramble in early October with partners Gary Arvin, Patrick Allbright and Bryant Ackerman.

Bits and Pieces: The Presidents Cup, CME Group Titleholders

-The Presidents Cup:  Woods and Stricker get beat bad by Scott and Choi, 7 and 6, but the Americans end the day with two unexpected halves and lead 4-2 after day one (recap here from Asia Pacific Golf).  When I went to bed, shortly after the Woods and Stricker match ended, looked like the Internationals would be ending up with a 4-2 lead.  Nice surprise this morning.  Day 2 pairings, which is starting earlier that scheduled because of weather (from the waggle room):

Pairings for four ball Friday 18 November.

MATCH 1 – Bubba Watson-Webb Simpson, U.S. vs. Ernie Els-Ryo Ishikawa, International

MATCH 2 – Jason Day-Aaron Baddeley, International vs. Tiger Woods-Dustin Johnson, U.S.

MATCH 3 – Phil Mickelson-Jim Furyk, U.S. vs. Adam Scott-K.T. Kim, International

MATCH 4 – Geoff Ogilvy-K.J. Choi, International vs. Bill Haas-Nick Watney, U.S.

MATCH 5 – Steve Stricker-Matt Kuchar, U.S. vs. Y.E. Yang-Robert Allenby, International

MATCH 6 – Charl Schwartzel-Retief Goosen, International vs. Hunter Mahan-David Toms

 -The ladies have already started down in Orlando at the CME Group Titleholders with Natalie Gulbis and a host of others in the lead at -2.  Michelle Wie, Karrie Webb and Yani Tseng tee off in the last group at 10:50.

-Lots of sun today.  Too bad the temperatures are not rising above the low 40's.  After no golf yesterday (worked on that wood pile and the yard most of the day), would love to play some.  Remember back in the mid and late '90's when this kind of weather would be more than ideal?  Golf anytime, any place as we were in the midst of 'Tigermania'.  

-Getting on with the rest of the day.

Bits and Pieces: Last Tuesday Scramble (maybe), Presidents Cup, Coach K

-The last Tuesday scramble of this season (maybe):  Doug Denson, Tracy Rayhill (the guy with the hottest clubs) and George Templin shot a nifty 30 while Dave Wininger and Mike Bird, with balky putters, shot a 33.  Shot of the day:  Tracy's approach shot from about 100 yards on #8 which stopped two feet behind the flag.  That followed a Wininger/Bird birdie at #7 which brought them to within one shot of the lead, was dropped in for a birdie, and, coupled with a bogey from the other guys, expanded the lead to an almost insurmountable three strokes.  Playing together, we started at 4 and finished at 5:35, and, yes, we still could see the ball playing the last hole.  (Balky putters:  the missing of 5-8'  putts on the first three holes and four overall.)

-The Presidents Cup:  The first matches are foursomes (alternate shot) and include Woods and Stricker going up against Scott and Choi.  Advantage:  Woods and Striker.  Live coverage starts tonight at 9pm on the Golf Channel.

-Coach K becomes the male basketball coach with the most wins as Duke beats MSU in the State Farm Classic last night.  Another Coach K, Bobby Knight, calls him the best college coach ever.  That's cool.

-Cool and cloudy today.  Might be a better day to work on the wood pile than the golf swing.  Guess I'll just go do that, at least for a little while.

2011 St. John's Youth Group Scramble Photo: Mike Seals and Company

Nathan and Mike, Kelsey doing the putting, and Pryce Hedrick and Ashley Lindauer.

Bits and Pieces

-Scramble at 4 this afternoon.  Figure an hour and a half game.  That leaves plenty (!) of daylight to get you home for dinner.

-The Bir Girls play down in Florida this week after several weeks in Asia.  The CME Group Titleholders  down in Orlando starts on Thursday.  Expect Yani Tseng to be in top form after a third sub par performance down in Mexico.  The Men over in Australia start on Thursday as well but that's Wednesday here because of the dateline.

-Very interesting stuff:  Devil Ball Golf has a flashback to the 2009 President's Cup where Tiger Woods was dominant.  Short vid included here.  Hard to believe that was shortly before the accident that changed the face of golf.  But it's also why there are so many believers in Woods.  That kind of skill just doesn't disappear overnight.  At least a lot of Tiger fans don't believe it does, me included.

-Notre Dame Men's basketball team beat Detroit last night, 59-53.  Big whoop.  Early season basketball at the college level is mostly the big schools warming up against smaller schools, isn't it?  Among the other winners last night were Michigan over Towson and Syracuse over Manhattan.  More big whoops.  Guess it's a big deal for the smaller schools, especially when they just happen to upset one of them.  Like when a Cleveland State rolls over the then 7th ranked Vanderbilt team, 71-58.

-Played nine holes with Tony Wease and Mike Strawn in the wind yesterday afternoon.  Wasn't all that bad out there though we and four or five others were the only ones who dared to challenge the weather.  Much easier playing in wind when the temperatures are in the 70's. 

-Getting on with the day.  Breakfast with Diane.  Then maybe the golf course...

John and Judy Walker Finishing a Round of Golf

The two of them were out last Saturday afternoon taking advantage of the warm November day.

Bits and Pieces

-Notre Dame Women's Basketball team completely dominates the Sycamores from ISU, 99-34.  The story from the South Bend Tribune here.  The Irish, with Skylar Diggins and a host of returning players from last year's team that went to the NCAA Finals, are ranked #2 in preseason polls (Baylor is #1).

-So much for predictions:  Suzann Pettersen shot four over par (+3 over the last four holes) and finished in 7th place in the Lorena Ochoa Invitational yesterday.  That was eight strokes behind winner Catriona Matthew.  Michelle Wie shot one under par and tied for 9th with Brittany Lang.

-Colts lose another one.  This is becoming repetitive.  Jacksonville makes it close but prevails in the end over the haven't-scored-a-touchdown-in-two-weeks-now Indy team, 17-3.

-President's Cup later this week.  Lots of tv coverage - Golf Channel and NBC.  

-No golf at Lakeview yesterday - warm but very windy.  Today: Continued warm but not so windy.  Best come on out and see if you can get a hole-in-one.

Bits and Pieces

-Tiger has a third great day but comes up short in the Australian Open.  TW had a -5 in the final round, one that included two bogeys on the back nine.  Those two were the difference as he lost by two to Greg Chalmers.  Finished third with John Senden coming in second.  Of course, his Saturday at +3 was a big factor in his not winning the tournament.  After a -4 on Thursday and then a -5 on Friday, the +3 was way out of line.  But he did well and now it's on to the President's Cup.

-Down in Mexico at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational, Catriona Matthew's has opened up a three stroke lead on Suzann Pettersen after three rounds.  I K Kim and Anna Nordqvist are still very much in contention as well four strokes back of the leader.  The Wie Lass is ten strokes back.  Prediction: Suzann Pettersen comes from behind and wins later today.  Photos at bangkokbobby's Fairways and Forehands.

-College football:  Irish do win easily against Maryland, 45-21.  Look very sharp in their 'amped up' offense.  Two unbeatens fall:  Stanford lost to the Oregon Ducks and Boise State missed a winning field goal in the last seconds and fell to TCU.  Too bad about the Stanford team losing - they were ND's last chance for glory.  Now, if the Irish do beat them in two weeks, it will be for tarnished glory.  (Us Irish fans will take it, nonetheless.)

-In the Saturday Scramble yesterday morning, Doug Denson and Wayne Souerdike had the hot putters, each making several clutch putts over the nine holes.  Doug's dart at one (mentioned in the previous blog) and Dave Wininger's approach shot on #6 (Curt Johnson rolled it in for an eagle) were super shots from the fairway.

-Warm today but you might have to fight the wind if you're heading out to the golf course.  Might be fun playing holes four and six over and over.  Wind from the south should make for some long driving.

-Colts at 1 vs Jacksonville.  Hmmm...

Bits and Pieces: Denson-Allen-Byron Win Saturday Scramble, Shaft Numbers

-The Saturday Scramble was pretty much over before it had much of a chance to get started.  With two teams having duffed their approach shots and facing a par plus first hole, Doug Denson stuck his team's approach shot to three feet.  Turned out, the birdie putt was made for the Denson-Joe Allen-Kevin Byron team and the par plus expectation for the other two teams became a reality.  Mike Bird and Wayne Souerdike finished with a bogey while Dave Wininger and Curt Johnson took a triple bogey for their efforts.  Team scores after one: three, five, seven.  Holes two through nine were played in pretty close proximity: three under for both the Denson-Allen-Byron team and the Wininger-Johnson team, and two under for the Bird-Souerdike team. 

-Some questions at the golf course yesterday about certain numbers on the shaft.  Jack Lents came up with the answer.  From his email to me:

flex:  4.5 regular;  5.0 regular+ ; 5.5 stiff; 6.0 stiff+; 6.5 extra stiff;   5.5 swing speed = 75-85 MPH.  Hope this helps.  JL.

 Makes sense but none of us knew that till Jack was forthcoming with the information.  Tks, Jack.

-Watching the Irish play the Terps of Maryland.  Halftime: Notre Dame 24, Maryland 7.  Good.

p.s.  Keeping track of Tiger as well.  He's played five, is two under for the day and four back of the leader, Greg Chalmers.

Bits and Pieces

-Scramble at 10 this morning.

-Tiger stumbles in his third round - five bogeys, two birdies, plus three on his round and six back of the leader going into the final 18 holes.  Oh me oh my.  The old TW swing made its appearance with disastrous results.  Nice that there were no doubles in there.  How about a ten under to finish the tournament?  Oh - John Senden at -12 leads the Australian Open with Jason Day one back at -11.

-The 'old girl' shares the lead at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational.  Juli Inkster, the 50 something outstanding golfer and Anna Nordqvist are tied at -8 after 36 holes.  Michelle Wie lurks at -3 and in a tie for 7th.  Yani Tseng is nine back with a +1 - bet she considers herself still in contention; bet the other players do as well.  Wonder if Juli minds being referred to as the 'old girl'?  I don't mind being called one of the old guys around here but then there might be the gender thingee with some sort of impact.  But here, Juli speaks for herself (from the AP):

"No, it really doesn't (on becoming the oldest winner - by 5 years)," Inkster said. "I just have to win. If I'm the oldest, that's whatever. I know I'm the oldest, and everybody reminds me I'm the oldest, so it's just I'm just the oldest..."

Not 'old girl' but the oldest winner...

-Wonder how many people showed up at the Lion's girls' basketball scrimmage on Thursday night?  Wonder how they did?

-Did get out to the golf course yesterday afternoon and did play golf!  Two others were out there with me, Grant Mattingly and Phil Eyler.  A little cool and a little windy.  Nicer today and even nicer tomorrow.

p.s.  Go to bangkokbobby's Fairways and Forehands for photos of the Lorena Ochoa Invitational.  And go here for the Saturday Swing Tip, this one on getting more distance - it's a goodie.

Bits and Pieces

-Saturday Scramble start time: 10am.

-Tiger in the clubhouse with a second straight excellent round - though he did get a couple of bogeys on his second nine today.  Left the course at -9 and on top of the leaderboard.  Heads into the weekend in the lead by a single stroke over Peter O'Malley.  The man is playing some pretty good golf.  Keep it up, Tiger.

-Pettersen and Inkster on top at the Lorena Ochoea Invitational.  Michelle Wie three back at -2.  Wie and Kerr (also at -2) completely outplayed #1 Yani Tseng who stumbled to a horrific +4 and a tie for 34th in a 36 person field.  Wouldn't count her out yet even though she has yet to have much success down south of the border.  Lots of photos from bangkokbobby at Fairways and Forehands.  Pulling for Michelle Wie to get her third LPGA win;  if not her, then the 'experienced' lady in the bunch, Juli Inkster.

-Irish take on Maryland tomorrow night at 7:30.  This week and next they are going up against very mediocre teams - the Terps and then Boston College.  Here's hoping they don't play down to their level.  Question:  If the Irish win their next three games and end up ranked in the top 14, should they play in a BCS bowl game?  Well, if they do win out, that means beating a pretty good Stanford team, so my answer is yes.  But they do have to win out and then get voted into the top 14, and, so far, votes for the Irish are deservedly few.

-Lady Lion basketball team on the floor this week in a scrimmage against Evansville Mater Dei - Thursday evening around 6:30 and open to the public, and start their season against the Shoals Jug Rox on Friday the 18th.

-Golf at Lakeview today?  Maybe this afternoon since we didn't get to play yesterday.  I like this extended season...

Bits and Pieces

-Woods in the clubhouse after a bogey free opening round of four under at the Australian Open.  Okay - good start for the once-upon-a-time world's #1 golfer (now #58 if you're counting).  He's three back of the leader, Jarrod Lyle, and tied for 8th.

-Bad stuff coming out of Penn State.  College football's top winner out.  Joe Paterno fired in the wake of another child sex abuse scandal.  Protecting the institution rather than the child?  Sounds like he should have immediately contacted the police - a crime was committed.  Haven't heard his side of the story yet.  Again, bad stuff, and I'm talking about the kids, not major college football.  (I'm half reminded of another Big Ten coach who left in unfavorable circumstances: Woody Hayes.  He was fired after slugging a Clemson player in the 1978 Gator Bowl.  Oh, and then there's that guy from IU who left several years back...)

-Then there's John Daly...

-Big Girls tee it up down in Mexico today at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational.  The Wie Lass is playing.  You remember she won the tournament back in 2009.  She's going out with the world's most dominant professional golfer, Yani Tseng, and Christie Kerr shortly after noon.  Golf Channel coverage at 4pm.

-Little cool for golf in Loogootee today, maybe tomorrow as well.  Better on the weekend. 

Bits and Pieces

-Played nine holes with Short Jeffers and Dave Wininger yesterday afternoon.  We started at four, played behind two foursomes, and still finished with plenty of daylight.  Weather permitting, 4pm scramble next Tuesday.

-Speaking of weather:  If you do want to play golf today, now wouldn't be a bad time to do it.  Looks like the rain is done.  Still got wind (lots of it) and clouds.

-Tiger Woods is paired with Jason Day and Robert Allenby for the first two rounds of the Australian Open.  They tee off tonight at 8:10pm our time.  Go, Tiger.  (And, no, I have no desire to see Woods and Scott paired up on Saturday or Sunday just so the media can do some more with the Stevie Williams story.  For those hoping for more fireworks, Woods will have plenty of opportunity to go at Williams as Scott is playing in the group ahead of him, Day and Allenby.  Tiger is way too professional to even think about that.  Pairings here.)

-Tseng declines an invite to play in a PGA event.  Staying focused on women's golf.  Would have been alright with me if she played in the Puerto Rico Open with the boys.  Glad she was extended the invitation.

-Heading to the golf course for a bit.

Bits and Pieces: Uedo, Kaymer, Irish, Colts, Delaware County V-ball Victors, and Good Things Coming to an End

-Japan's Momoko Uedo wins the Mizuno Classic in overtime.  Great video of the three hole playoff with Shanshan Feng at Fairways and Forehands (bangkokbobby).  After watching Momoko Uedo this week, what's there not to like?!  Yes, I am referring to her game, her demeanor and her smile but, yes, she does look good in those short shorts, too.

-Martin Kaymer shoots a final round 63 and wins the HSBC by three strokes.  Too bad for Rory and Keegan.  Now onto the Australian Open and and then the President's Cup.  (We really don't need to say anything about Stevie Williams, do we?)

-Irish losing at halftime but come out, shut down the Wake Forest offense, and win 24-17.  Pretty flat performance by ND, if you ask me.  Meanwhile, LSU and Alabama had a whale of a game with #1 playing #2.  Number One prevailed in a game where all the offense was provided by the field goal  kickers, 9-6.

-Colts:  I think their odds of going 0-16 are much better than their odds of going 16-0 were a couple of years back.  And, remember, their chances were pretty good till management pulled the plug on that possibility.  Zero and nine and counting.  Oh, almost forgot.  With Miami's win today, the Colts are in a class all by themselves.  Lonely, I expect.  Btw, exciting finish to last night's game when Torrey Smith made up for an opening series hold that cancelled a touchdown and a fourth quarter drop of a touchdown pass with a 'down for the count, eight seconds on the clock' catch of a 26 yarder that gave the Ravens a 23-20 victory over the Steelers.  Good stuff.

-Volleyball finals on Saturday:  Eric told me that teams from Delaware County - county seat is Muncie - meet the state finalist teams here - won three of the four championships.  Now that's impressive.  (Wes-Del beat Trinity Lutheran in three sets in 1A; Wapahani beat Eastern Green in three sets in 2A; and Yorktown beat Indy Bishop Chatard in three sets in 3A.)

-Nice run of scramble victories by Dave Wininger over the last couple of weeks.  All good things do come to an end and that particular good thing did come to an end Saturday.  Now, that photo of Joe Allen sinking a putt on the first overtime hole - we've seen that before, haven't we? (Yes - here, with Stan Graber doing the watching.) Nice clutch putting, Joe, again.  Nice winning streak, Dave (and company).

- Temps are way up today and tomorrow.  Maybe some golf still out there for those of you who can get away.

Ethan Carrico Collage

Ethan was out at Lakeview with his dad Don this afternoon.

Saturday Scramble Photos

 Lee Wininger putting for birdie on the first extra hole in today's scramble.  Dave takes notes.

Doug Denson and Joe Allen shortly after their scramble win.  Celebrating?

Denson and Allen Stop Wininger and Wininger

Joe Allen ran in a fifteen foot birdie putt on the first extra hole to give himself and Doug Denson the win in the Saturday Scramble at Lakeview this morning.  They topped Dave Wininger and Lee Wininger who had tied them with a score of 32 after nine holes of play.  Denson and Allen had completed an error free nine holes with birdies at holes two, four and six while the Winingers had birdies at two and four, a bogey at five and an eagle at six.  Two other teams participated with Mike Bird and Jeremy Graber also finding birds at two, four and six but collecting a bogey with a three putt at #8 to miss the playoff.  Wayne Souerdike and Tracy Rayhill had seven pars, a bird and a bogey in an even par round of 35.

Bits and Pieces

-Scramble at noon today.

-Japanese golfer in lead at Mizuno Classic in Mie, Japan.  With 18 holes to go in this 54 hole tournament, Momoko Uedo has a three stroke lead over fellow countrywoman Sakura Yokomine.  Lets see now, last week it was Taiwanese native Yani Tseng winning in Taiwan.  Do we have a native win this week's tournament?  Don't expect anyone is counting anything just yet what with 18 holes to play.

-At the HSBC, Fredrick Jacobson leads by two after three rounds.  McIlroy and Bradley, POY hopefuls, are four and seven strokes back.  Looks like the HSBC is not going to be a significant factor in the PGA POY voting.  Good thing for the slip-up prone administrators.

-The North Daviess Cougar football team ended its season last night after losing for the second time this season to the Linton Miners, 61-8.  No upset of the decade.  Darn.

-Heading to the golf course in just a bit.  Hope to see several of you out there ready to take on the course and the competition in the noon scramble.  Bring your A game.

Bits and Pieces

-Saturday Scramble at noon.  Temps are supposed to be around 50 at that time.  Sunny though.

-Three way tie at the 54 hole Mizuno Classic in Mie, Japan.  Teresa Lu, Akana Iijima and Ah-Reum Hwang tied at six under par.  More from Mostly Harmless.

-Fredrick Jacobson leads the HSBC after 36 holes, up one stroke on Adam Scott and Louis Oosthuizen.  POY candidate Keegan Bradly two back at -9.

-Wonder what the odds are that Tiger Woods will win the Australian Open?  He says he's fit and ready.  You remember that TW's last win was the Australian Masters in 2009.  More on Tiger and the Australian Open from the Sydney Morning Herald here. 

-Speaking of Tiger:  Got a little bet with Lakeview golfer Tony Trambaugh that Tiger will contribute at the Presidents Cup.  Tony claims he will not score a single point. 

-Yesterday's rain (about an inch) was perfect for Eric's seeding of the fairways and approaches.  Should see all sorts of grass popping up in a week or two.  His renovation of the tees a month back also turned out to be pretty good timing on his part.  Haven't ever seen the tee boxes looking so grand at the end of a season.  Cudos to the 'greens' manager.

-Golf later this afternoon in the sun and the cool of an early November day.

p.s.  North Daviess Cougars play the undefeated Linton team tonight for the sectional championship.  Think the Cougars need a pregame visit from Knute Rockne and the Gipper to get them charged up.  Of course, maybe getting whomped up one side of the head and then the other earlier in their regular season game will be enough motivation.  Go Cougars - pull off the upset of the season.  Make that the decade.

Bits and Pieces

-Rainy and cool.  Rain just right for Eric's overseeding of the fairways and the approaches yesterday.  That became necessary after the hot and droughty summers of the past two years.  Nice weather returns tomorrow.  Hurray.

-LPGA is working on a Solheim Cup like event that will involve golfers from around the world.  From ESPNW:

According to the report, plans call for at least eight nations competing with four-women teams in an undetermined match-play type of format. Most likely, the Rolex World rankings at the end of 2011 will be used to determine which countries qualify. Once the teams are determined, respective players would earn their way on either through the rankings or the LPGA money list.

Sounds great. 

-Lakeview's event of a similar nature:  Been wanting to do that sort of thing out at Lakeview for a long time now but have always stumbled over the format and the scoring.  Maybe the LPGA event will help me finally put together such a competition.  (Thursday Leaguers - look for a trial run sometime during next season's play!)

-Keegan Bradley has the first round lead at the HSBC.  A POY candidate if he wins.  Question:  If Rory should win the event - he's at -2, five strokes back, shouldn't he be another strong candidate for PGA POY?  I mean, he already has one POY in his pocket (yes, I know, undeserved and a travesty of justice).

-Rain looks like it's through with our neck of the woods.  Still kinda cool for golf though.  Will trek down to the mail box and test the waters, so to speak.

Bits and Pieces

-Yani Tseng is not Golf Magazine's Player of the Year.  And, yes, she was being considered along with Rory McIlroy and Keegan Bradley (and others, I presume).  The Waggle Room has more including some fan comments that tear into the magazine for it's backroom, bass ackwards decision.  Does mention that the magazine's readers got it right in a Facebook poll: 95.7% of votes cast for Tseng.  Maybe Rory will step up and declare publically that that is an outrage.  (Don't hold your breath.)

-LaRussa done, goes out a winner.  Pretty nice way to step down with that improbable World Series win.  Congrats to the man for a pretty darn good career.  Expect he'll play more golf now that he has more time...

-Stephanie Wei on Michael Jordan's stepping down as assistant to Fred Couples at the President's Cup:

Oh noes! — former NBA superstar, freeloader, lover of money games and playing mind games with Sean O’Hair Michael Jordan had to resign from team mascot assistant captain of the U.S. Presidents Cup. Because of that pesky NBA lockout, MJ, a majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats, might have to vote or attend important meetings.

She's funny...

-Another good day for golf.  Get to it.

Wininger, Allen and Johnson Almost Perfect in Winning Tuesday Afternoon Scramble

Dave Wininger and Company, this time two old hands, Joe Allen and Curt Johnson posted an eight under round of 27 to blow away the competition in the Tuesday Afternoon Scramble.  The threesome's only par, if you can believe it, was at the usually must-have-a-birdie-here-to-win  #2.  Doug Denson, George Templin and Karry Stoll finished at a more than respectable  minus 4 (on most days) while Mike Bird, Tracy Rayhill and Jack Lents, after getting birdies at their first two holes (#4 and #5), parred out to finish at minus 2.  Good to see Good Neighbor Jack out playing golf with the Tuesday afternoon crowd; it was also good to see Dick Lemmon out with the Saturday crowd last Saturday.

Bits and Pieces

-Tuesday Afternoon Scramble: 4:15 start.  That should get us done before the dark of the night.  Probably the last of the season as we change time this weekend. 

-More Yani Tseng, this time with Michelle Wie when they went at each other for the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championship back in 2004. The last three holes in the 36 hole match play final were decisive:

On the par-four 34th hole, it seemed both players would make par after safely hitting the green in two strokes. But when Wie missed her second putt from three feet, an astonished cry rose from some of the spectators and Wie sank to her heels. Tseng won the hole with a par.
The 35th hole, a par 3, was halved in pars and it all came down to the 466-yard, par-5 36th , a hole that plays longer than its measured yardage because the fairway slopes uphill to the green.
Both players hit their second shots into greenside bunkers. Wie was some 30 yards from the hole in the left bunker. She hit her third shot too softly and faced a 35-foot birdie putt. Tseng was some 10 yards from the hole in the front bunker.
"I saw Michelle put it in the bunker," said Tseng. "Even though the distance was 225 yards, even if I didn't carry it I'm comfortable with the sand. So that's why I did it, (hitting it) right into the bunker."
Tseng left her bunker shot 12 feet short of the hole.
Wie putted first. When her ball tailed off just short of the hole, she slumped over for several long moments. Tseng paced back and forth studying her line, then stroked the putt. When it dropped into the hole for a winning birdie, she thrust her arms in the air.

Neat historical stuff.  In the seven years since, Tseng has done the most on the course but I wouldn't be surprised to see that Wie has taken more to the bank.  Just guessing - the Wie Lass is definitely a marketable commodity even with her so so performance with the crooked sticks.


-Heading for the breakfast table.  Had my eyes checked down at Rick Baurer's this morning.  Things are a little fuzzy around the edges.





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