Bits and Pieces

-Irish women win convincingly at UCON last night, 72-59.  With the win the Domers win the Big East title all by themselves for the first time and take down the Huskies for the third straight time (somthing that doesn't happen very often to this team that has dominated ladies' basketball for the last seems-like-forever).  Natalie Novosel had 21 points and Skylar Diggins had 20 in the victory.  (Story here from the South Bend Tribune.)  The Notre Dame men did not fair as well as the women, losing to Georgetown rather convincingly, 59-41.  Ouch.

-Boys sectional play starts tonight at Odon with WC Cardinals playing BR Vikings in the early game and VR taking on the host Cougars in the second game.  Loogootee and Shoals await the victors (I'm predicting Barr-Reeve and North Daviess) for a Friday night date.

-Did you see that the Northeast Dubois Jeeps are heading to the state finals in girls basketball?  They will be taking on the Fort Wayne Canterbury girls up at Terre Haute at 10:30 this Saturday.  Go Jeeps but I don't think they have a prayer against the Canterbury team who have had double digit wins on their march to the finals.  They have also won the title in three of the last four years, stepping aside last year for the Vincennes Rivet Patriots. (Bracket)

-Scramble at 4 this afternoon.  Looks like we're going to be warm and dry till well into the night and I'm not going up to the sectionals.  So why not play some golf?  See some of you tonight.

Bits and Pieces

-Mahan stops McIlroy from ascending to #1 with match play victory down at Dove Mountain.  How about Mahan for #1?  I like the idea.  And what's all this talk about McIlroy ascending to #1 being inevitable?  Got to admit he did look impressive when he was on, and that was most of the time.  A good player but inevitable?  Like his chances but lets wait a tournament or two before we slip the crown onto his head.

-Michelle Wie did make some news down in Singapore.  Yahoo picked up her apology for her display of frustration on the 17th hole during her fourth round.  After a wayward drive, she slammed her club to the ground (omg).   

"I absolutely apologise for that," she said after finishing her round.
"It's unacceptable behaviour. Sometimes it's just really frustrating, and I was at that point where everything kind of boiled up."

 After finishing +22 for the 72 holes, and 32 strokes behind the winner and just one place from dead last in the tournament, would say she had a little bit to be frustrated about.  Better next time, right, Michelle?

-Good to see the Hoosiers win one away from home.  They beat Minnesota, 69-50.

-A fair number of golfers came out and did a little playing under the sun and wind yesterday.  Along with the six of us doing the 6-6-6 thingee (Dave, Doug, Short, Nick. and Travis along with me), there were the Frank and Susan Fee group which included Kevin Byron, James Hager and Tyler Booker, a Don Carrico threesome, and several individuals.  In the 6-6-6 game, Dave and I won the scramble while the alternate shot and best ball were tied when the leading team - Nick and Travis in the alt. shot and Dave and me in the best ball, couldn't get up and down for par on the final holes to seal the deal.  Frustrating. 

-More good golf weather today.  Got good golf weather tomorrow as well - maybe good enough for a 4 o'clock scramble. 

-Time for breakfast with Diane.  Then the golf course.

Bits and Pieces

-In Singapore at the HSBC Women's Champions tournament:  Angela Stanford won a four way playoff by rolling in a par putt on the third extra hole (#18 was used each time).  Jenny Shin, who double bogeyed the final hole to fall into the playoff, saw her three footer lip out to give the win to Stanford.  Shanshan Feng three putted on the first extra hole to drop out of contention while Na Yeon Choi missed a three foot par putt on the second hole to drop from contention as well.  Yani Tseng failed to make the playoff after tying for the lead after the first nine holes of fourth round play.   The Wie Lass shot a second straight 75 to finish at +22 for the tournament and in 59th place. 

-Irish women beat South Florida, 80-68, but again struggle to do so.  Committed 22 turnovers, four more than against Louisville last Monday, and actually lost the lead early in the second half after being held scoreless by USF for five minutes.  Natalie Novosel led all scorers with 32 points.  Skylar Diggins had 18.  Irish clinched a share of the Big East title with their win and can win it outright with a victory at UCON Monday night.  Irish men lost at St. Johns, 61-58, yesterday.  They missed a last second three pointer to tie.

-At Dove Mountain: Mahan up 2 over Wilson through 10 and McIlroy up 1 on Westwood in the semis.  Winners go at each other later today for the championship.

-Looked like bumper cars down in Daytona yesterday (or is that just normal NASCAR?).  Glad that Indy beauty, Danica Patrick, wasn't hurt in her crash.

-At Lakeview later today:  Will open the course just after noon.  Playing with Doug, Dave, Short, Travis and Nick at one.  Sunny and windy with temps over 50.  Just about perfect especially for late February.

Bits and Pieces

-At Dove Mountain:  Well, it won't be either Dustin Johnson or Steve Stricker on Sunday - each of them got bumped yesterday.  McIlroy still in and could face Lee Westwood tomorrow morning in a battle of #1 seeds.  But first they have to get by today's opponents, Bae for McIlroy, and Laird for Westwood.  My druthers?  Hmm, don't know if I have any with the players left in the game.  Wild guess:  Wilson vs. Laird in the final Sunday afternoon.  (Bracket)

-In Singapore:  Second round leaders Kutcher, Shin and Stanford each shot 71's to remain tied at the top after three rounds at -9.  Yani Tseng shot a 67 to get within three going into the final round.  Shanshan Feng is one ahead of her at -7 while Na Yeon Choi and Jiyai Shin share fifth place with her at -6.  Wouldn't surprise me at all if Tseng comes from behind for the second straight week to capture the title.  Michelle Wie continued her unimpressive play with a 75 though her round did include a couple of birdies (at holes three and eleven, both par threes!), her first of the week.  (Scores)

-The Irish women play South Florida today at 2 up in South Bend (nah, not going though I should have thought about it last night - then maybe...) and finish up the season at UCON Monday night.  #1 Baylor is still perfect at 29-0.

-The Irish men, going for their 10th win in  a row, play at St. John's at noon today while the Hoosiers go for a second straight win (!) at Minnesota on Sunday.

-We got snow at the moment up here on the hill.  Did get my tooth extracted and did have some puros (cadaver bone bits) put in the socket to build up the bone in there in preparation for an inplant.  No fun but should make for easier eating down the road.  Speaking of which:  It's time for breakfast - oatmeal today and, yes, the pancakes and eggs were delicious yesterday.  Just a stray thought:  Why not shoot up to Odon and get one of those delicious donuts?  I mean, after yesterday, deserve a treat, right?  Right.

Bits and Pieces

-Woe, woe, and more woe.  Tiger gone at the match play tournament at Dove Mountain and the Wie Lass all but dead in the water over in Singapore.  TW missed three short putts yesterday, the last one, a five footer on the 18th hole, that would have extended his match with Nick Watney.  Not to be.  Jeesh, Tiger - get a grip on your putting!  On the other side of the world, Michelle was leaving no stone unturned in a round that saw six bogeys and a triple bogey (on her 17th hole - #8) on the way to an 81; that, along with her round of 79 on Thursday, gave her sole possession of 60th place in a 62 golfer tournament, a whopping 24 strokes behind the leaders.  Not a very good day for those two.  Btw, the Dove Mountain thingee is still up for grabs - like all match play events.  If I had my druthers, I would just as soon see Steve Stricker or Dustin Johnson going up against Rory McIlroy on Sunday.  Chances of that happening?  It's not impossible.  At the HSBC Women's Championship, Katie Futcher, Jenny Shin and Angela Stanford are tied for the lead at eight under par (Yani Tseng is tied for 20th at -1).

-Boys sectional at the North Daviess arena coming up next week (bracket for 1A).  Loogootee and Shoals get the byes.  Looks like the decisive game is going to be on Friday when the Vikings (18-2 and expected to beat the WC Cardinals (3-19) on Tuesday) will go up against the Lions (16-4).  The Tuesday night game between North Daviess (15-5) and Vincennes Rivet (4-16) might be interesting with Cougars not having Nick Crays playing.  The winner (I'll go with the Dalrymple Bunch - ND) takes on Shoals (6-13) on Friday.

-Tough golfing here in our area today and tomorrow.  But Sunday and Monday look great!  Heading over to Bedford in a little bit (for a tooth extraction - always fun, right?) and then up to B-town.  Best go get a bite to eat with Diane - she just popped in and asked if pancakes and eggs sounded good.  Yum.

-One other thing:  Good Neighbor Jack kept me up to date on the Tiger story yesterday - I was at the golf course when he called me around five to let me know that Tiger missed that five footer.  He said it didn't break his heart one bit.  Guess he fits into that 'doesn't-love-Woods' category.  Keep reminding people that golf, and golfers, owe a lot to that man for the boom years - 1995 to 2006, 2007, 2008 (?).  Would love to see some more of that excitement.

Bits and Pieces

-At Dove Mountain in Arizona:  Tiger advances in match play event.  #1 Luke Donald upset by Ernie Els (the Big Easy has exited many times on the first day so he must feel pretty good after knocking off Luke!).  Fifteen of the lower seeds advanced in yesterday's action.  TW takes on Nick Watney today just after one ET.  Anybody fill out a bracket?  I didn't - match play can go any which way - 18 holes isn't all that long - you stumble even a little and you can be gone.

-The Big Girls are off and running in Singapore at the HSBC Women's Champions tournament with Angela Stanford in the early lead at six under par.  Yani Tseng is at -1 while the Wie Lass got off to another poor start, +7 on the day with zero birds.  Ouch.

-Congrats to the Lion boys who took it to the Jasper Wildcats (again) on Tuesday night, 66-59.  Haven't heard any of the particulars.  They travel over to North Knox tonight in the regular season finale.

-The Hoosiers (#24) won last night, beating North Carolina Central, 75-56.  Cody Zeller had 17 points and 7 rebounds.  Coach Crean made a big deal out of the first 'non-conference' undefeated season since 1989-1990.  (Whatever works, right?)  The #18 Irish steamrolled West Virginia, 71-44.  Winning streak at nine now.  Whoop.

-At Lakeview yesterday:  Golf with the Boys including Dick Lemmon who is back from Florida and his tens hours (two five hour days) of instruction at Doral (he shot an 82 gross, 68 net; not at all shabby after being away for a couple of weeks).  Four birds in the fivesome: Dick and I each had birds at #11 while Jack Butcher, again closing well, rolled in a couple of putts on the back nine at holes #13 and #16.  Ken Hudson chipped one in at #13 from twenty yards off the green for a par save.  No hole-in-ones. 

-More golf today with the rain staying north and the temperatures approaching 60.  I like that.

Photo: Louisville Cardinal Ladybirds dancing at the KFC Yum! Center on Monday.

Skylar Diggins and Company Win in Louisville With Loogootee and Odon Folks in Attendance

The #3 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Women's basketball team hopped on down to Louisville for a Presidents Day matinee game with the Louisville Cardinals and came up with another win, 68-52.  Skylar Diggins led all scorers with 21 points and also had 7 assists.  The Cardinals kept close throughout the game with quick hands that forced the Irish into 18 turnovers in the game,12 in the first half, but saw the Irish pull away in the closing minutes.  In attendance were Mike and Diane Bird from Loogootee and Eric and Colleen Bird from Odon. 

More from the South Bend Tribune.

P.S.  That was fun - getting up yesterday morning, finding out that the Irish were playing in Louisville and then calling Eric to see if he wanted to go; finding tickets online and getting everybody (Diane and Colleen joined us - as a matter of fact, it was Colleen who responded favorably to my call around 9:15 yesterday morning - Eric was so-so on the suggestion and Diane needed an arm twisted just a little bit) in Eric's van and on the road by 11.  Got down to the KFC Yum! Center in plenty of time - first time I've been there.  We had seats way up in the stratosphere (section 308) but which gave us a bird's eye view of the game.  Moved down to the first level at half time.  As you would expect, it was mostly a Cardinal audience but they allowed us our cheering for the Gold and the Blue.  Stopped at TumbleBucks (New Albany?) on the way home for some good Mexican food and a 99 cent margarita (yum).

P.S. 2:  Sorry I missed the golf with Jack Lents, Jack Butcher and Ken Hudson.  No doubt there was a hole-in-one out there at #7 waiting for me to pick up.

Photo: Irish guard Skylar Diggins during the second half - doing her Macho Man?

Bits and Pieces

-What a honey of a finish at the Northern Trust yesterday afternoon!  And what a great hole #10 is!  Bill Haas won it by laying up, getting himself in position, to get a par on the short, drivable par 4.  His overtime partners, Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley, each of whom had made dramatic putts at the 72nd hole to force a playoff, chose to try and squeeze in a lob shot and a sand shot on the narrow and fast and domed green.  Unable to do so, they each found their third shots still off the green.  Haas, meanwhile, had a forty footer to roll in for a birdie and the win, the probable win, as he was first to go.  And it went in.  And Mickelson and Bradley missed!  And the tournament was over.  Wow!  Good stuff.

-WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship starts this Wednesday at Dove Mountain in Arizona.  Bracket here.  TW is a five seed and is in the same bracket as Lee Westwood, Webb Simpson, Bill Haas and Nick Whatney.  Luke Donald, Rory McIlroy and Martin Kaymer join Westwood as the one seeds.

-The Big Girls swing over to Singapore this week to play the HSBC Women's Champions Tournament.  Karrie Webb is the defending champion. 

-Saw that the Irish men came back from 20 down at Villanova in OT on Saturday, 74-70.  Their magical season continues while the Hoosiers took another hit at Iowa yesterday, losing 78-66.  Expect the rankings to show ND moving up, Indiana moving down.

-ND women should move up in the Women's polls as the #2 team, UCON got upset by St. Johns last week.  The Irish are down in Louisville this afternoon for a 2 o'clock game (hey - that might be fun to go to!  Just got a call from good neighbor Jack Lents about playing golf at noon - that would be fun, too.  Choices, choices). 

-Coming up tomorrow night at JBA:  The Lion Boys (14-4) take on the Jasper Wildcats (12-7).

-Going to check on tickets for the Irish-Cardinal game.

Update:  Going to the ball game with Eric and Colleen!  Go Irish!

Bits and Pieces

-#1 Yani Tseng got an eagle on the first hole of her final round, continued on to shoot a 66 and win the Honda LPGA Thailand 2012 at Chonburi yesterday.  She bested Ai Miyazato by a single shot and Jiyain Shin by two.  Tseng's opening day 73 was definitely the aberration as she then went 65, 65 and 66.  Of note:  Morgan Pressel got the third ace of the tournament with one at the 8th hole.  Michelle Wie shot +1 on the day and finished at +1 and in a tie for 38th place (not impressive).  Lexi Thompson, who started the day the same place as the Wie Lass, finished strong with a 66 and ended up in a tie for 14th place (impressive).  More recap at lpga.com. 

-Mickelson and Bradley tied at Pacific Palisades but several others in position to win.  The two leaders, at -7, are being chased by 17 other players who are within five shots.  If you add in the six at -1 (which is a pretty good place to be on the fourth day if we look back at the last several weeks), that makes a whopping 25 players in contention later today.  Got any predictions? 

-The Viking girls came back almost all the way from an 0-8 start but fell a point shy in their day game against Borden yesterday in regional play over at West Washington.  Borden then went on to lose to Northeast Dubois, 35-31.  Too bad for the Barr-Reeve team:  Would have been fun to go over to BNL next Saturday and then up to Terre Haute for the state finals in two weeks.  Dang.  Btw, the highest Sagarin rated team, Fort Wayne Canterbury, bested Oregon-Davis, 63-45, to win their regional.  Expect they remain the favorite to win it all.  Brackets for 1A here. 

-At Lakeview yesterday:  Several golfers took advantage of the almost decent weather (almost 50 degrees, a little windy and overcast) to get in some play.  I played 18 holes with Dave Wininger, Doug Denson and Short Jeffers (a game of 6-6-6 where Dave and I partnered up and skinned Doug and Short, something which doesn't happen all that often - like maybe this was the first time that I remember).  The three long time Loogootee residents, still fiercely competitive, shed no tears on hearing that our neighbors lost over in Campbellsburg (that would be the Viking girls).

-Another cool day today but much better tomorrow.  Got the day off?  Lakeview's waiting for you.

Bits and Pieces

-Saturday Swing Tip from LinksLifeGolf.com: Phil Mickelson, Hit the Lob Off a Tight Lie.  Looks like he's swinging his club about five feet in front of his cameraman.  Tell you what - if any of you need somebody to take a photo of your attempts to do this, don't call me.  Not that I don't trust your golfing ability but...

-Ai Miyazato up by one in Chonburi at -14 after three rounds; Yani Tseng one back.  Karrie Webb and Jiyai Shin two back at -12.  The two leaders, one the diminutive Ai and the other the long hitter Yani, played together during the third round and shot matching 65's.  That was after completing their storm shortened second rounds.  Lots of photos from the second round at bangkok bobby sports.

-Phil Mickelson still in the lead at Pacific Palisades (at -6) after a second round of one under par.  Pat Perez is one back and 18 other golfers are within four shots of the top heading into the weekend.

-At Lakeview yesterday:  Lots of sun and lots of shots by the four of us - Jack Lents, Ken Hudson, Jack Butcher and myself.  Jack Butcher put on a show for us midway through the second nine with birdies at holes 13, 14 and 16 in a back nine of 37, the only birds of the day.  No hole-in-ones, again.

-Vikings girls tip it off over at West Washington in a couple of hours.  Good luck to our neighbors (and friends and relatives); bring home the regional championship.

-In boys basketball last night:  Barr-Reeve had little trouble with Vincennes Rivet, 67-32.  North Daviess, without Nick Crays, had all sorts of trouble with White River Valley, losing 33-14. 

-Might get some golf in this afternoon.  Sun is out and the temperatures are climbing (42 right now). 

Bits and Pieces

-In Chonburi, Thailand:  They are still playing their second round with Karrie Webb currently at the top of the leaderboard at -10.  Yani Tseng righted her ship with a round of seven under and is currently tied for 7th.  The Wie Lass also did better on her second day, firing a -4; she is at -1 and tied for 27th.  (Update here: Play was suspended and Karrie Webb got herself a hole-in-one at the 12th hole.)

-In Pacific Palisades, California:  Phil Mickelson continues his just about perfect golf (6 birds with a lone bogey), going five under in his first round to lead the Northern Trust Open.  JB Holmes and Hunter Mahan are one back.

-Mechelle Voepel at espn.com brings us up to date on the best player of the year in women's basketball.  Her top four candidates at this point are Baylor senior center Brittney Griner, Stanford senior post player Nneka Ogwumike, Notre Dame junior guard Skylar Diggins and Delaware junior guard/forward Elena Delle Donne.

-Tya Harmon, Lindsey Graber and company (Barr-Reeve Vikings, 22-0) head over to West Washington (Campbellsburg) tomorrow for a noon date with Borden (17-6) in girls regional basketball action.  Northeast Dubois (19-4) plays Tecumseh (11-11) in the other match-up.  Expect the Vikings and the Jeeps to win the earlier games and advance to the championship game in the evening.  Expect the Vikings to beat the Jeeps and head to the semi-state at Bedford North Lawrence next week.  Two other premier teams in the state, Fort Wayne Canterbury (21-2) and Oregon-Davis (20-4), should meet for the championship at the Caston regional.  Brackets for the state tournament here.

-Golf at Lakeview at noon with the Boys.  That would be Butcher, Lents and Hudson.  And breakfast with Diane in a minute or two. 

Bits and Pieces

-From about.com and Brent Kelly:  Poll for which golfer you would like to see in the SI swimsuit issue (or in a bikini any old place).  Michelle Wie is on the list as is the current leader in the poll, Paula Creamer.

-The Wie Lass got off to a not so good start in the first round of the Honda LPGA Thailand 2012 tournament - six bogeys, three birds and 9 pars.  Ai Miyazato leads after the first day at five under with five players at four under: Anna Nordqvist, Se Ri Pak, Karrie Webb, Amy Yang and Na Yeon Choi.  The world's most dominant golfer, Yani Tseng, had a rough beginning with five bogeys to go along with four birds for a plus one and a tie for 36th.

-Hard to believe:  Paula Creamer got her first professional hole-in-one yesterday at the 12th hole over in Thailand.   She shot an even par for the day and is tied for 26th place.

-In Men's basketball last night, the Fighting Irish, behind Jack Cooley's 22 points and 18 rebounds, beat Rutgers, 71-53, and the Hurrying Hoosiers triumphed over Northwestern, 71-66, with Cody Zeller scoring 20 points.  That's seven straight for the Irish.  Question: at season's end, which team gets the higher rank, the Irish or the Hoosiers?  My guess (without a peek at the rest of the season's schedule for either team): the Irish.  Your guess?

-espn.com's top story at the moment:  The Knicks/Lin 7th straight victory last night.  Hot story stays hot.

-Golf day here in Loogootee?  A little cloudy and cool at the moment but with a little sun this afternoon, would be hard to resist the urge to go hit a few balls.  Will go out for a walk at least...

-Blood drive today here in Loogootee, at St. John's, I think.  2 o'clock to 7 o'clock.  If you haven't given in a while, why not come on down and do something that will get you a gold star in heaven?!

-Just about breakfast time with Diane.  Don't think Eric dropped by with a donut or two from the Donut Barn earlier - he did bring one on Tuesday when we did the taxes, a yummy honey bun.  Guess a honey bun is more than appropriate on Valentine's Day.  Even came in a red box.  Good stuff.

Bits and Pieces

-Good article from the Washington Post on Michelle Wie, a young woman happy with her lot and with her decision to start and finish her education at Stanford while playing professional golf.  The Wie Lass is playing in Thailand this week, scheduled to tee off just after noon local time on Thursday (12 hours earlier here in Loogootee).  The players and the tee times here.

-The Legend of Jeremy Lin: 10 days and running.  From the Today Show on NBC - shirts are selling out around the world.  Since I don't follow the NBA, I only catch snippets of what's going on with Lin when they make the regular news.  This morning's news clip on the Today Show was the second now in the last few days.  Good stuff for the young man, and the NBA.

-Woods adds the Honda Classic to his schedule and makes it three weeks in a row that he will be playing tournament golf:  next week's WGC-Match Play Championship, followed by the just added Honda Classic and then the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral.  Good.  In fact, terrific.

-Up in South Bend:  The now #4 Irish women rebounded last night from their Sunday loss by beating Providence, 66-47.  Devereaux Peters led the ND squad with 19 points and 11 rebounds.  Skylar Diggins also scored 19 points and had seven assists.  In this week's rankings, Baylor remains #1 followed by UCON, Stanford and then the Irish.  (The Irish men also made the rankings this week, #23 in one and #25 in the other.  They are the only top 25 team with a whopping 8 losses.  But they have won six in a row, the first of which was that huge win over then #1 Syracuse.)

-From the Waggle Room and Emily Kay - Sexist Golf Digest letter goes viral (hey, I golfed with that guy!):  Some dude wrote nasty stuff about women golfers.  He now is being roundly booed by many the world round.  I have run into a few golfers who have had similar sentiments but not for a while and they don't come around anymore.  Would say that the golfers at Lakeview are very comfortable with players of any stripe, any gender, any age.  


-See that the Loogootee boys won their game last night against Washington Catholic, 62-21.  Can't have been much fun.

-No rain needed today to whisk away the snow - yesterday's way above freezing temperatures took care of what little snow there was.  Now if we could get the temperatures up today...

-Hope you all had a good Valentine's Day yesterday.  Diane and I went out to Stoll's Lakeview Restaurant.  Had good eats and ran into several people from the neighborhood including Jerry Tredway's sister Norma Jean and also Kevin Byron.  Kevin said Junior and Pam are having way too much fun down in Florida, mostly around their involvement with horseshoes.  Said Junior has gone 'national' with his new passion and even won himself a tournament.  He does plan to continue going to tournaments when he comes back to Indiana in a month or so.  Cool beans, Junior!

-Getting on with the rest of the day.  Think I'll zip over to the golf course before having breakfast with Diane.

Bits and Pieces

-Natalie Gulbis is in the SI Swimsuit issue.  Didn't know that till I saw it headlined at golfbabes.com.  Can think of several other lady golfers I would like to see there as well.  You?  If you want to do a little more research on this, try si.com.

-Jeff Skinner at linkslifegolf.com thinks Tiger has to learn how to win again.  He again quotes Phil Mickelson, who, on Sunday, said Tiger's "game can change in a week".  Well, he really doesn't need a week - he's getting through the first three days just fine.  It's that Sunday close he's having trouble with and that started before his Thanksgiving Week troubles of 2009.  For sure it was the putter that let him down this last Sunday.  Would hazard to guess that that's true of many of his 'Sunday meltdowns'.  Solution:  Spend equal time with a putting guru and a sports psychologist.  Maybe he's already doing that.

-Wonder if Dick Lemmon is back?  He was heading down to Florida for  a week or so and while there he was going to take some more golfing lessons.  Imagine he is anxious to get back out to Lakeview and try out his new skill set.  He's been working hard on his golf game these last two years.  Would not be surprised to see his handicap drop another three or four strokes this year. 

-Did you notice Wayne Pearl in one of my arena collages last week?  He's back on his feet after some more work on his heart. He's now fitted with something that looks like a couple of holsters around his waist that somehow keeps his heart going.  He's limited at the moment though back on his feet and getting out.  Expects to be back doing some limited reffing and umping in the not too distant future.  He'll be taking a sabbatical from golfing while he recovers more fully. 

-Snow today.  Good day to do some more tax work.  Eric just drove up to do just that.

Bits and Pieces

-At Pebble Beach:  Phil Mickelson was absolutely brilliant in firing a bogey free round of 64 yesterday and winning the National Pro-Am by two over Charlie Wi.  Playing with Tiger Woods, who started the day two strokes up on him and four behind leader Charlie Wi, Phil broke out of the starting blocks like he was running a 100 yard dash while the rest of the field was running a much slower paced half marathon of thirteen miles.  Par, birdie, par, birdie, birdie, eagle - that's about as sweet a start as anybody could ever ask for.  He then ran off six pars before finishing the next six with three birds to go along with three pars.  Tiger, who found himself one shot out of the lead after six holes with a start that included five pars and a bird, seemed to crumble at the 7th when he missed a short par putt, the first of three in a row, that's three make-able putts and three bogeys.  It didn't help that Mickelson answered TW's few brilliant strokes with dramatic and even more brilliant strokes of his own (think hole #12 for one where Tiger chipped in from the sand for a bird and then watched Phil roll in a 40 footer for a par save).  Tiger could have finished in the top ten (in a tie for 9th) if he could have finished what started out as a fairly typical bird on the par five last hole - drive in the fairway, second shot onto the green, third stroke getting close.  But no, another short putt went awry (he did manage to make the longer and equally difficult come-backer for his par).  Phil, playing the same hole in safe mode (who would have thought that possible?!), went 4 iron, 4 iron and then plugged his approach shot close and, of course, rolled in the birdie putt.  Great day for Mickelson; great day for golf fans; terrible day for Woods.  But, hey, just think about the 'old guy' (Phil is 41) doing it to all those young guys out there.

-Up in South Bend:  Skylar Diggins and the Irish fell to unranked and unheralded West Virginia, 65-63.  Caught the last several minutes of the game (following the Pebble Beach Tiger debacle) and watched the Irish lose a lead and then lose the game when the often brilliant Diggins (she scored 32) committed a back court foul in a tie game with five seconds to play.  Yes, the two free throws were made and the Irish couldn't make the two pointer that would have sent the game into overtime. 

-Need a lift here on a cold and snow-in-the-forecast Monday morning.  Might just go and start my taxes.

Sectional Championship 2012 Photos

Bits and Pieces

-Ladies Golf:  Six way tie at three under par at the top after 72 holes down in Australia.  The Open was finally decided on the second hole when teenager and 2nd year pro Jessica Korda sank a 25 foot birdie putt.  The ones who made the playoff:  Stacy Lewis, Brittany Lincicome (who missed a three foot birdie putt on the first extra hole), Julieta Granada, So Yeon Rhu and Hee Kyung Seo.  #1 Yani Tseng got a triple bogey on the fourth hole of her final round and finished two strokes out of the playoff; that fourth hole plus the quadruple bogey on hole #7 in the second round prevented her from winning the tournament in convincing fashion.  The amateur youngster, Lydia Ko, finished six back and tied for 19th place.  Lexi Thompson, the professional youngster, finished nine back and tied for 24th.  Next for the ladies:  The Honda LPGA Thailand 2012 in Chonburi, Thailand.  Last year winner - Yani Tseng by five strokes over Michelle Wie.

-The Big Boys go their final round out at Pebble Beach today.  Charlie Wi, who played with Tiger Woods as  a youngster, even beating him once in college, leads the tournament by three strokes over Ken Duke and by four over TW.  Looks like they are pairing Tiger up with Phil Mickelson this afternoon; Phil starts the day six back of the leader and tied for 4th.  Go Tiger.

-The #2 ranked Notre Dame women's basketball team (24-1) host West Virginia (17-6) later today at 3:30. 

-No local golf today.  Can't say I'm enjoying the break we're getting.  Am looking forward to those 45-50 degree days.  Looks like they will return the end of this week.

-Time for breakfast.

Bits and Pieces: Girls Basketball

The Barr-Reeve Vikings took charge early and finished strong as they won the sectional title with a 50-24 win over the game but overpowered North Daviess Cougars.  In this game, the Vikings used the three pointer to bury their opponents with Lindsey Graber and Cori Cummings tossing in the early ones to put the Cougars deep in the hole early in the first quarter.  Game try by the Cougars and even with a little fire late in the game but by then it was way too late.  A nod to the cheer sections:  After an early "this is boring" from the Viking kids and a "you can leave" reply by the Cougar kids, the Viking crowd, with the opening of the second half, decided to stay awake by going 'bananas' after each score by their team.  They also did something I've never seen at the end:  Came out of the stands to celebrate with their team by crawling on all fours across the floor.  What antics!

Next up for the Vikings:  Borden (16-6) at 12 noon next Saturday over in West Washington.  Tecumseh (10-11) and NE Dubois (18-4) play the earlier game with the winners taking on each other at 8pm for the championship.  Bracket here.

Photos:

Bits and Pieces: Girls Basketball

Big upset at the Girls Sectional at Barr-Reeve last night as the Lions are stunned by the Cougars, 35-30.  Up 16-5 midway through the second quarter, the Lions were pretty much shut down by the Cougars who went on a 21 to 3 run to lead at the end of the third quarter, 26-19.  The Lions did make a come back in the 4th quarter but were never able to get closer than four points.  Cougars now have the chance to take on their cross country rivals, the Barr-Reeve Vikings who took down the state champs, Vincennes Rivet, 53-47.  The second game was similar to the first in that the second quarter was decisive - the Vikings went from a 15-17 deficit to a 31-19 lead at halftime, a 16-3 run that the Patriots, even with a furious fourth quarter charge, were unable to overcome.  In both games, foul trouble had its impact as the Lions were hampered with Wynter Wagoner limited after picking up her third foul as were the Patriots when Allyson Wehrheim did the same, each in the decisive 2nd quarter.

Was most impressed with the Cougars defense and its slow deliberate style of play; and by the Vikings slash-to-the-basket offense.  Tya Harmon was especially good at going to the hoop (Lindsey Graber and Jenna Knepp were no slouches) and led all scorers with 24 points - I don't remember her making anything other than lay-ins and foul shots.  Darrah Holder (that super Cougar golfer who went to State last Fall and has been seen often down at Lakeview) had two bombs late in the first half that were daggers in the Lions' side.

Tonight at 7:30 over in Montgomery, the 21 and zero Vikings try to make it 22 and zero against the unheralded North Daviess Cougars whose record now stands at a not-so-gaudy 9 and 13.  Am sure that Mark Holt, the Viking coach, will have his girls on their toes and looking no further than where the ball is on the court.  Expect they will beat the Cougars and advance to the regional next week.

Bits and Pieces

-That dynamic and friendly South Korean duo who duked it out for the US Open championship last year are at it again down at the Australian Open.  So Yeon Ryu (-6) and Hee Kyung Seo (-5) are one stroke apart after 36 holes.  Four players are two strokes out of the lead at -4: Jessica Korda, Melissa Read, Julieta Grenada and Stacy Lewis.  #1 Yani Tseng is even par and suffered a quadruple bogey at the seventh hole yesterday.  The youngster, Lexi Thompson, is +2 and tied for 19th (she took a triple on the 7th hole).  The ladies are playing at Royal Melbourne where the Presidents Cup was held last Fall.

-The Big Boys and a bunch of celebrities are out in California at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am with Tiger Woods at -4 and tied for 15th place, five strokes out of the lead.  Dustin Johnson, Danny Lee and Charlie Wi are tied at -9.

-Hoosiers win last night, beat their good neighbors Illinois, 84-71.

-Lion Boys lost at Orleans last night, 58-54 (dang).  Vikings continue to win, beating South Knox, 62-29.  North Daviess beat Union Dugger, 53-45.

-More Girls sectional tonight starting at 6 with the Lions taking on the Cougars.  That will be followed by the undefeated Vikings playing the defending state champs, the Patriots of Vincennes.  A repeat of my predictions:  Lions win easily; Patriots avenge their regular season loss with a win to advance to the final Saturday night.

-Miss all the golfing that we have had in the last several weeks.  Shoo, cold weather.

-Off to breakfast at the Breakfast Barn in Bedford with Ron and Peggy Acuff.

Around the Arena at the Girls Sectional Collage

Girls Sectional Photos

Bits and Pieces: Girls Basketball

-Girls Sectional at Barr-Reeve:  North Daviess Cougars beat the Washington Catholic Cardinals, 28-19; and the Vincennes Rivet Patriots beat the Shoals Jug Rox, 67-42.  No surprises in the end scores though was surprised at the inability of the teams in the ND-WC game to put the ball in the hoop: score was 2-0 at the end of the first quarter, 10-4 at the end of the half.  Heated up some in the second half but not much.  The second game, by contrast, started fast and amazingly even with both teams being perfect from the field through the first several shots - Michaela Brockman for Shoals was particularly effective (and brilliant), scoring 11 of her game high 24 points in the quarter.  Though the Shoals team played their hearts out, the Patriots were way too much for them, having stellar athletes something like ten deep.  The state champs are definitely a class act.  Btw, it was good to see the Shoals team out there looking like a team with places to go.  They lose both Brockman and the older of Kevin Harder's two daughters, Rachel, but come back next year with a bunch of girls who look like they know what they are doing and want to do it. 

Friday matches are set now with the Cougars facing the Lions of Loogootee in the first game at 6 and the Patriots taking on the Vikings on their home court in the second game around 7:30 (imagine the house will be packed, something it definitely was not last night).  Expect the Lions to do very well against the Cougars and the the Patriots to avenge one of their three loses in the second game in a barn burner.  Should be fun.

Bits and Pieces

-At Lakeview yesterday:  Golf with Jack Lents, Ken Hudson and Dick Lemon.  A little soggy in places and the golf was a little erratic, like February golf can be.  Did have a couple of birdie putts at hole #16.  Good neighbor Jack rolled in an 18 footer for a 2 and then watched as my ball, pretty much on the same line but a few feet closer, dropped in to match it.  The par fives were particularly gruesome, played in +22 fashion with only two pars by the group.  Ken Hudson came closest to hitting his net average with a 73; Dick Lemmon was close with a net 74.  No hole-in-ones.  Several other golfers also came out and played.  More today?

-The girls start their basketball sectional tonight over at Barr-Reeve.  First game at 6pm - North Daviess (7-13) plays Washington Catholic (2-19); and second game at 7:30 - Vincennes Rivet (17-3) takes on Shoals (7-13).  Expect both the Cougars and the Patriots to win easily and advance to matches against Loogootee (14-6) and Barr-Reeve (20-0) on Friday night.  (Brackets here.)

-More girls basketball stuff:  The Sagarin ratings have Barr-Reeve, Oregon-Davis and Vincennes Rivet bunched between #96 and #100 in the state.  The highest ranked 1A team is Ft. Wayne Canterbury (the team that knocked off Vincennes Rivet in both 2009 and 2010 for the state title) who are ranked way up with the big guys at #23.  The Lions are at #181.  Wonder if the Canterbury girls are the prohibitive favorite to win the title? 

-LPGA starts their seaon this week down in Australia.  Questions:  Does Yani Tseng continue her dominance and become the next Annika/Lorena?  How about the youngster Lexi Thompson who turns 17 this Friday - will she continue to shine?  She won twice last year as a 16 year old, once on the LPGA, once on the LET, becoming the youngest professional winner ever in each league.  How about Michelle Wie, the very classy 22 year old who really does have a very successful life that includes golf, studies and lots of other stuff that has made her a world class celebrity.  With the conclusion of her Stanford studies, does she come into her own as a golfer?  And the South Koreans?  Do they return to dominance after what must seem like an off year in 2011?  

-Getting on with the rest of the day, which at the moment is overcast and very cool.

Bits and Pieces

Winners:

-Giants in the Super Bowl, 21-17, over the Patriots in a game that wasn't over till Brady's hail mary hit the ground in the end zone - just out of the reach of one of his receivers.  Makes me wonder if defenses practice with thoughts on the tip - I saw blue shirts hanging around waiting and all the white shirts up in the air with the guy tipping the ball.  Great game.

-The Lion boys on Saturday night over the Southridge Raiders, 52-41.  Looked iffy for the Lions going into the locker room at half time down three and with Ackerman having three fouls.  Not to worry - big second half by the home team and Ackerman.

-Both the IU and the Notre Dame men on Saturday, the Hoosiers over Purdue, 78-61, and the unranked Irish over #23 Marquette, 76-59.

-Lady Irish over DePaul, 90-70.  Irish coach, Muffet McGraw, loved the offense but chided herself (for sending in the subs too early in the second half) and her team for the defense letdown which allowed the Blue Demons to score 70 points.

-Kyle Stanley, the guy who triple bogeyed the 72nd hole last week at Torrey Pines and lost to Brandt Snedecker in the playoff, came back with a sterling round of 65 on Sunday at the Phoenix Open to catch the stumbling leader, Spencer Levin, and win by one over Ben Crane.  How's that for a rebound in a hurry.  Not only good stuff, great stuff!

-Christel Boeljon won the Australian Ladies Masters, beating US Open winner, So Yeon Ryu, by a stroke when she birdied the final hole.  Ryu had a five stroke lead over the winner at one time during the final round.  More ladies' golf this week at the Australian Open.

What a great weekend!

In a little bit, heading over to the golf course for some more 'winter' golf.  With the Boys.  Did play nine holes yesterday afternoon - it was lovely.  Only Chris Jones was out there with me.  Guess everybody else was home getting ready to party...

Photo: Before the start of Saturday night's Lion-Raider game: 

Young Lady in Awe at the JBA

Captured near the end of the Loogootee-Southridge boys basketball game last night.  The Lions prevailed, 52-41.

Bits and Pieces

-Hope you had a chance to take advantage of the lovely weather we've had these last three days.  Definitely not the normal end of January, start of February that we are used to here in southern Indiana.  I played with the boys (Lents, Hudson and Lemmon) both Wednesday and Thursday, and then got in some practice yesterday afternoon after spending most of the day in Bloomington.  Now we are having some more typical weather for this time of year - rainy, gray, cool.  Actually the temps are up some - in the mid to high 40's today with the average being 41.  Not half bad if we can get the rain to stop sometime this morning.  Wouldn't mind a bit more golf this afternoon.

-Looks like John Daly is not going to win over in Qatar.  He was leading after two rounds in what is going to be a wind shortened three round tournament.  In that third round, he is one over after 17 holes and four under for the tournament.  Paul Lawrie is the leader at eight under.  Too bad for the guy who has been entertaining us now for over twenty years (?!).

-Lion boys (12-3) play Southridge (7-8) tonight at JBA.  Prediction:  Lions win.

-Superbowl tomorrow night, like you may not have heard.  Prediction (and desire): Giants over the Patriots.  Brady needs to be perfect with the not so perfect team around him.  Giants have been riding high for several weeks now, playing like the best team in all of football.  Go, Giants!  Go, Eli!

-Tomorrow at 1pm in South Bend:  #2 Notre Dame women host the #23 Depaul team.  Prediction:  Another win for the Irish.  Go, Skylar, Natalie, Devereaux and company!

-Heading up to Odon to see what goes on at The Donut Barn on a Saturday morning.  Just might have a donut or two.  Yum.

Bits and Pieces: Girls Basketball

Girls basketball:  Heading into the sectional with Barr-Reeve at 20 and 0, Vincennes Rivet 17 and 3, and Loogootee at 14 and 6.  Sectional pairings here.  Loogootee gets a bye and plays either North Daviess or Washington Catholic on Friday (they should advance to the finals on Saturday).  The Vikings get the other bye and will face either Shoals or Vincennes Rivet on Friday.  Expecting it to be the Patriots taking on the Vikings on Friday.  And if that is the case, that will again be one heck of a game.  The Patriots looking for revenge after losing the regular season game to them when Lindsey Graber sank a the winning shot with 17 seconds to play - their one and only lead of the game.  The Vikings looking for payback after so many years of playing second fiddle to Rivet, not only in basketball but also in volleyball.  Being played in Montgomery.  Advantage Vikings?  The Lions, looking ahead, were swamped by Barr-Reeve during the season and played tough against the Patriots.  Expect they would rather see the Patriots on Saturday; they wouldn't say that though.  Should be a good sectional with the champion having a pretty good shot at the state title.  Lots of basketball to be played before we get to that point though.

Bits and Pieces

-Irish women win another one.  That's 19 straight as they beat #14 Rutgers, 71-41.

-Viking girls remain undefeated with a 49-22 win over Springs Valley last night.  They are 19 and zero.  Impressive.

-Also last night:  Lion girls win at Eastern Green, 55-49.  13 and 6 for the season.  Looking good.

-More golf weather today.  Turned out yesterday was not so good for golf: gray, breezy, and then rain around five.  Think Curt J. was the only one out there at the time and even he might of got in before the heavier stuff.  I had left before the rains came, finishing up a couple of holes at nine with Denny Wagonner and his son Greg.

Photo:   Somewhere between Seattle and Minneapolis - a little over an hour in the air after takeoff.  Any ideas?  Snake River in Idaho?  Sawtooth Mountains?  Maybe the Columbia River and the Grand Coulee Dam...