Lakeview Golf Course News

Bits and Pieces

2012-01-27T09:53:00.000-05:00

-Tiger looking good through two days down in Abu Dhabi. Five under and tied for 4th two back of the leader. Saw the last few holes when I got up just a bit ago. Btw, I'm living on Loogootee time; not so hard to do since Danielle and family are living on that time as well - early up and early to bed for them.

-Phil Mickelson not looking so good at the Farmers. His +5 on the day gets him a whole fifteen strokes behind the leaders. Wow.

-Watched a bit of the IU-Wis ballgame last night. Hoosiers lost something like their 15th in a row up there; what's with that?

-Manning and the Colts - issue heating up. Break-up just around the corner?

-Spent a second day over in Seattle, walking along the waterfront and then back down through the business district to the International District. Sun peeked out a couple of times in the afternoon, something much appreciated after a pretty constant dose of gray and gloom and even rain.

-Heading up to breakfast with the kids...

Bits and Pieces

2012-01-26T10:05:00.000-05:00

-TW looked like one of those boring golfers last night (I watched him through the first nine holes): down the fairway and onto the green. Only thing is he didn't have too much success with his putter after making his first birdie of the year on the second hole. Even missed a short one on 7 or 8 (the par 5). Imagine he spent some time on the putting green after the finish of his round. Three back after one. Not bad but as one of the guys said on The Golf Channel, the 70 was the absolute worst he could have shot. He hit 17 of 18 greens in regulation and was nothing like the Tiger of old - all over the place and making amazing recovery shots. Guess he was letting the Rory kid do that last night, have the old style Tiger round.

-Colts have a new coach. Man, what a sea change up in Indy the last few months.

-From Golf Babes: Maiya Tanaka.

-And that reminds me: LPGA starts its season in a little over a week. The Australian Open in Victoria opens on the 9th of February.

-Time to wander upstairs here in my daughter's house. The kids are stirring - 8 year old Naomi, 6 year old Leah and the almost 2 Jane. Little wonders. Yes, it is a bit different here rather than on the hill there in Loogootee.

Bits and Pieces

2012-01-25T22:42:00.000-05:00

From Seattle/Kirkland, Washington:

-At my youngest daughter's house (Danielle) and watching the run up to The Golf Channel's coverage of the golf tournament over in Abu Dhabi. Tiger, Luke and Rory tee off in about 30 minutes. Holding off on a prediction but, yes, I do want TW to make it two tournaments in a row. (10:40pm: Tiger just teed off on the 10th hole - a good one!)

-Two wins in a row is what the Notre Dame women's basketball team have now over Tennessee after demolishing the Vols, 72 to 44, on Monday night. After 20 straight defeats, the Irish notched their first victory over the Pat Summitt team in the NCAA tournament last March. Monday's game wasn't a thing of beauty in the 1st half (I watched the replay on espn) but the Irish made up for that in the second half with Skyler Diggins having herself another exceptional game (27 points, 5 of 7 3 pointers).

-Diane told me weather hasn't been any too good back there and didn't think there was any golf. That's not good. You guys waiting till I get back to bring back the good weather? Appreciate it.

Photo: In Seattle looking south from the Pike Place Market. The Seahawks stadium is the prominent structure in the center.

Bits and Pieces

2012-01-23T08:57:00.000-05:00

From snow-on-the-ground and gray-gloomy Kirkland, Washington; my daughter and her family bring a bunch of brightness so it really doesn't matter what it's like on the outside:

-Scores:

HS Boys:

BR 33 ND 20 on Saturday. Took down Wood Memorial 67-26 on Friday.
Lions beat Bloomfield, 50-44 on Friday and stop NE Dubois on Saturday, 68-45.

HS Girls:

BR 61 Pike Central 39 (Stay undefeated and now with a record of 17 and 0.)

Lions 40 NE Dubois 52 on the 19th. Beat Linton on Saturday, 56-21. Record: 11-6.

College:

Notre Dame men beat #1 Syracuse in South Bend Saturday evening, 67-58!
Notre Dame women beat Villanova, 76-43, earlier in the day, also up in South Bend.

Pros:

Patriots survive as Ravens now live with a dropped pass and a missed (tying) field goal in their storied history. Rinal score: 23-20.

Giants beat the 49'ers in OT, 20-17.

(Record on weekend predictions: 4 winners, 1 big loser (Ravens)

Anybody play golf yesterday?

Photo: Just like at Lakview, a little cold weather does not stop these New Yorkers from their games. Wind chill must have been around 20 degrees - I kept having to stop my photo trekking with warm up places - Staten Island Ferry Terminal, bus rides, a Chinese restaurant.

Bits and Pieces

2012-01-20T06:54:00.000-05:00

-From Jamaica and the Doubletree Hotel next to JFK Airport in New York - good Friday morning! As promised, the weekend predictions:

-Ravens at Patriots (3pm on CBS): No question that Brady is the better QB but it's all about defense at this stage, right? Going with the Ravens.

-Giants at 49'ers (6:30pm on FOX): Giants continue their amazing ways as Eli gets to go to his 2nd Super Bowl, this time in his big brother's back yard (Indy, for those of you who might have forgotten).

-Lion Boys BB get back on the winning path tonight in a close one at Bloomfield.

-Lion Boys BB win another at JBA on Saturday, this time against NE Dubois.

-Lion Girls BB win on Saturday afternoon at presently winless Linton.

- The Notre Dame Irish Ladies beat Villanova up in South Bend tomorrow afternoon and move to 19 and 1.

-See that the Viking girls remained undefeated after a win on the 17th over State Champion Vincennes Rivet, 44-43, in a hum-dinger which saw them down big during the game. Lindsey Graber scored ten of her 24 points in the 4th quarter to lead the Vikings. Tya Harmon, who was out with mono, did play (that's good). First time in a long time the Vikes have been able to come out on top in several years of going toe-to-toe against the Patriots.

-Why I'm in New York: Diane took me up to Indy yesterday morning where I was supposed to fly to Detroit and then onto Seattle. I had printed out my boarding pass the night before so didn't do anything (mistake) before trying to board the plane at 12:30. Hmm, said the young lady scanning the boarding pass - looks like somebody's already in your seat - step over here for a minute while I board the rest of the passengers. Turns out the Detroit to Seattle flight had been cancelled around 10:30 in the morning and I had been booked onto a flight to JFK at 1:30 and then out of there to Seattle at 5:30 (the original time I should have been landing in Seattle). Ok, what the heck. Went on down the way a piece and got on the Delta connect and arrived in NYC at 3:15. Waited two and a half hours (watching people from all over the world), had something to eat, walked around with my two bags, read some, then got up to board at around 5:45 for the delayed to 6:30 flight. Five minutes later that flight was cancelled due to bad weather in Seattle - been snowing all day. Stood in a couple of lines for about two hours and then spent another 45 minutes with an angel (Faith) who got me all squared away with a Saturday flight to Seattle and a place to stay till then. Going to take advantage of this very unexpected delay (snow in Seattle?! come on; that's a once every 25 year event, just about as often as I've made plans to fly out there...) by heading into Manhattan for a walk around a some photo taking. Looking forward to it...

-See that Sunday is going to be in the 50's there in Loogootee. Hope you all get to play a little golf. Think I'll be in the Northwest then but no promises. Just might find myself in Miami or Dallas as Delta takes me on a tour of these Unites States of ours. Whatever...

Bits and Pieces

2012-01-19T07:38:00.000-05:00

-Hoosiers lose third straight, fall to Nebraska in Lincoln, 70-69. Thirteen points ahead at one point. Not good. Come on , guys.

-Stephanie Wei reporting that Sandra Gal is prettier than Rickie Fowler. Gotta agree with that (she's commenting on Golf Digest's Hottest Golfer article). Another photo of bikini clad Sandra Gal at the Hooked on Golf blog.

-Travel day for me: early afternoon flight out of Indy, into Seattle (with all sorts of winter weather lasting through today) around 5:30. See that they revised downward the next ten days here in southern Indiana. Still not bad though with temps in the mid to upper 40's.

-Tomorrow, from Seattle, my predictions on the weekend games.

Bits and Pieces

2012-01-18T09:52:00.000-05:00

-Caldwell no longer Indy coach. Not surprised one way or the other. Expect Manning to be a casualty of the house cleaning as well. Too bad. Bob Kravitz has conjecture.

-Irish women swamp Pitt, 120-44. Sounds like a take-no-prisoners campaign for Notre Dame this year. Think they are still feeling the agony of the Finals loss in Indy last April? Know that South Bend native Skylar Diggins feels it; she now has two finals loses there having also lost the high school state championship game with South Bend Washington three years ago.

-More good golf weather coming to our area. This weekend plus most of next week. Too bad I'm not going to be around. Mid 40's and showers in the Seattle area.

-Diane just gonged, signaling breakfast time. Best go.

Bits and Pieces

2012-01-17T08:31:00.000-05:00

-My suggestion for this morning (once the storms in the area pass): get out to the golf course! Temps in the 50's. Yea, I know, some serious wind but what the heck. Sometime later this afternoon, things take a big change and it's back to winter-time again.

-The state of golf - not so good. From Geoff Shackleford.com and golf digest.com:

•Fewer people play golf, and Baby Boomers don't have the time, money or interest in the game their parents did. The number of golfers in the U.S. has fallen by 13% in the past five years, according to National Golf Foundation statistics. The number of golf rounds played nationwide last year through November was down 3.5% from the previous year, according to the foundation.

That doesn't sound any too good and, yes, our Lakeview Golf Course has seen a downturn in the last few years. Those of us who still get out there and play are still crazy about it. Just need more of 'us'.

-Romo paired with Woods at Pebble Beach in a couple of weeks. Was there bidding? First time TW has played the former Hope classic since 2002 and he replaces John Daly as Romo's partner. Hmm...

-Loogootee boys and girls both play basketball later this week but away from home. No JBA for me this week. Dang. Oops, almost forgot. Not going to be here as I fly out of Indy on Thursday to Seattle area for a week with my youngest daughter, Danielle, and her family.

-Three LPGA tournaments coming up in February (know you've been wondering - none in January): the Handa Women's Australia Open in Victoria starting the 9th; the Honda LPGA in Chonburi, Thailand starting on the 16th, and the HSBC Women's Champions tournament in Singapore starting on the 23rd. Seems like it's been forever since the ladies last teed it up. Way too long in any case. Expecting big things from Michelle Wie this year with her studies finishing up at Stanford. Wonder if she'll be making some side trips to Indy to watch her fellow classmate, the Luck fellow, once he suits it up for the Colts. (Question: is that really going to happen? Is Payton going to be traded? Leave on his own? Dreary thoughts for a Tuesday morning for Manning fans.)

-Getting on with the rest of the day.

Barr-Reeve Fans Whooping It Up

2012-01-16T20:06:00.000-05:00

Viking bench and fans at the Lion-Viking game last Saturday night. I see a lot of familiar faces in there.

Bits and Pieces

2012-01-16T11:48:00.000-05:00

-NFL results had the Giants upsetting the Pakers (that's fine with me even though it's a minus in my prediction chart) and the Ravens beating the Texans. That makes my weekend record a not so good 2 and 3. Over the two week period, still ahead of the game. Next weekend's predictions coming up on Friday. The winners do make for some interesting possibilities for the Super Bowl, like for instance a family affair between the Harbaugh boys, Jim and John. Or we could have a rematch between the Giants and the Patriots. If you want something new, go with the former; something old, the latter.

-Hoosiers didn't fare so well over in Columbus yesterday, losing to OSU, 80-63. Like one of the Indy Star headlines: IU notebook: Crean's in-laws have a good weekend at least. That would be the Harbaughs.

-Sony Open winner: Johnson Wagner. He won with a -13 over the four rounds, two better than Charles Howell III, Carl Pettersson, Sean O'Hair and Harrison Frazer. The winner sports a big mustache which he says has given him a lot of confidence (?!). He says it's staying.

-It's 49 degrees and windy here on the hill just south of the golf course. Looks like the rain has passed south of us. Golfing conditions? Hmmm. For the moment, think I'll just throw another log on the fire and maybe read a bit more (almost done with Kevin Phillips' 2004 New York Times bestseller American Dynasty). The golf course, at least for a walk, a bit later.

Photo: A moment in time at last Saturday's Lion-Viking game. See yourself in the home crowd?

Bits and Pieces

2012-01-15T11:53:00.000-05:00

I know two teams that would love a redo of the last ten seconds of their games yesterday: The Loogootee Lions and the New Orleans Saints. Each managed to lose their games, the Lions to the Vikings after an errant in-bounds pass and then a missed lay-up, 50-47, and the Saints to the resurgent 49'ers who got a touchdown, 36-32, in the final ten seconds. That made me zero and two in my weekend predictions. Fortunately, the third of the Saturday picks was a winner: New England with a near perfect Tom Brady, completely dominated Denver and a befuddled Tim Tebow, 45-10. That was not surprising - Denver managed just an 8 and 8 record during the regular season. Note 1: Bryant Ackerman's floor length desperation shot as time expired in the Lion-Viking game nearly went in, bouncing off the rim. Nice try, Bryant, and, btw, nice game - 22 points and stellar all around performance.

Today, more football with my picks being the Packers over the Giants (would rather have the Giants win) and the Ravens over the Texans. In basketball, IU is in Columbus taking on the Buckeyes who are looking for revenge. IU needs to win after losing to Minnesota a couple of days ago.

Tomorrow we might just see the return of weather appropriate for golf, at least for some of us. Maybe not.

Last night Karry Stoll was telling me about electronic golf down in Ferdinand. Some enterprising individual had purchased (for $75000) an electronic golf game where you can play one of dozens of courses virtually. Says they even have leagues formed and up and running. Guess it's one way of getting out of the house.

Going to turn on the pregame and then watch some football.

Lakeview's #2 Green

2012-01-15T10:26:00.000-05:00

Yesterday afternoon.

Bits and Pieces

2012-01-14T10:17:00.001-05:00

-Saturday Swing Tip: Strong left side at impact. Vid with Stina Sternberg. (Thinking of you, Joe. Too bad we aren't having a scramble to try it out. Maybe in the living room?)

-The Big Boys are playing this week - the Sony Open over in Honolulu. Matt Every (who?) is the 36 hole leader with a score of -10.

-Hoosiers going for two in a row over OSU in Columbus this afternoon. Any hangover from the Minnesota loss? Wouldn't be good for them to lose a second straight ball game, would it? Best they win then.

-Notre Dame women at Cincy this afternoon at 3. Go Diggins and company.

-Already predicted a win for the Lions tonight against #1 Barr-Reeve. How come the Lions had such an easy time against the Hatchets and the Vikes lost to them? First game jitters for Barr-Reeve?

-The Cougars lost to Shakamak and Steve Brett last night, 60-40, at home. Not good.

-Temps back up in the mid 40's on Monday. Golf weather? Maybe...

-Time to throw another log on the fire and have some breakfast. Oatmeal and berries today - something warm.

Loogootee-Vincennes Rivet Girls Basketball Photo Collage

2012-01-13T11:37:00.000-05:00

At JBA on January 12th. Rivet prevailed, 36-31.

Bits and Pieces

2012-01-13T10:06:00.000-05:00

-From espn golf: LPGA season has 27 events worth $47 million. That's good news after the downturn last year. It was also announced that the Golf Channel will be televising the weekend play in the US live. That's great. (Need them to offer streaming for us guys out here without cable or dish.)

-The Vincennes girls basketball team beat the Loogootee girls last night by a score of 36-31. The Lions, relying on the long ball and a zone defense, actually had the lead at the end of the first half, 20-15, and the third quarter, 26-25. The Patriots, a shadow of the 1A champion of a year ago but still good enough to be 14 and 2 at the moment, used full court pressure plus a hurry up offense to grab the lead and win the game in the fourth quarter. The Lions continue to impress and deserve much more support than they are getting - the Rivet crowd was larger and louder even though it was a home game for the Lions.

-The #8 Hoosiers celebrated their highest ranking in quite a while by losing at home to Minnesota, 77-74. Dang.

-Weekend predictions:
     -Saturday night at JBA: Lions take down a second straight #1 team. Wonder when the last time that was done? in any sport? IU came close in recent weeks with victories over #1 KY and #2 OSU.
     -Saturday 4:30pm in San Francisco: Saints beat the 49'ers. New Orleans playing great ball.
     -Saturday 8:00pm in New England: New England and Brady take down Denver and Tebow. One of the worst passers in the league versus one of the worst pass defenses. The Patriots have the bigger gun, by far.
     -Sunday 1:00pm in Baltimore: Ravens top the Texans. Houston's run ends.
     -Sunday 4:30pm in Green Bay: Packers send the Giants packing. Too bad - would have been nice to have at least one Manning with a shot to go to Indy for the Super Bowl.

-No scramble at Lakeview tomorrow. Dang.

-Time for breakfast with Diane. Stay warm.

Colin Nelson Last Friday Night Against North Daviess

2012-01-12T22:28:00.000-05:00

Lakeview golfer Jim Bateman's grandson.

Our Girl Hannah

2012-01-11T20:48:00.000-05:00

Hannah LaMar under the basket playing against Wood Memorial last Thursday at JBA.

Brown Gull at Boggs Lake

2012-01-11T20:38:00.000-05:00

Spotted on Monday, the 9th, on the lake near the clubhouse.

Bits and Pieces

2012-01-11T10:35:00.000-05:00

-Yucky weather has arrived - cold and rainy with more cold on the way. Guess we get to take a break from all the winter golf we've been getting in. Thank the golf gods and goddesses.

-Lovely out there yesterday. Played 18 holes with the Boys (Ken Hudson couldn't make it so I got an invite). They play skins and flags as well as a team game with two points available on each hole, one for low total and one for low score; partners switch every six holes. The team games had scores of 6-2, 12-0, and 7-2 with good neighbor Jack Lents and I pitching the shutout over Dick Lemmon and Jack Butcher. Dick and I each had two flags with the two Jacks splitting the other two; Jack B. and I had birds, Jack's being a honey of a putt from just off the green at the 15th hole, some 20 feet uphill and winding to the right.

-Also out taking advantage of the mild weather: The two Toms, McAtee and Walker, Denny Wagoner, Chuck Baker, and a guy who was getting ready for an Orlando trip and golf with a couple of Lakeview regulars. Curt Johnson was out late to wrap things up.

-The Lion girls beat Pike Central last night, 43-33, and take on 1A State Champs Vincennes Rivet tomorrow night. I plan to be there to see if the Rivet girls are as dominant as they have been the last several years - their record is 13 and 2, the losses coming to 2A teams South Knox and Evansville Mater Dei. Think Barr-Reeve at 13 and 0 is very much looking forward to their game with the Patriots on the 17th. Too bad it's over in Vincennes.

-Did ask Jack Butcher and Dick Lemmon (35 years as teacher and coach over in Montgomery) if they had any kind of governor's bet on the Saturday game between the Lion boys and the Viking boys. Not yet.

-#2 Lady Irish beat #17 Georgetown last night, 80-60. No letdown after the UCON victory last Saturday for the Irish.

-Hoosier basketball team - climbing in the polls - still for real. Amazing and nice.

-Time to throw another log on the fire and go have breakfast with Diane.

Bits and Pieces

2012-01-09T09:51:00.001-05:00

-Well, Denver and the bomb turned back the Steelers yesterday afternoon in an upset that spoiled my prediction record for the weekend. Overall record: 4 and 1 (includes the Lion win on Friday night). Expect most bettors would take that and run every week, even every day. More predictions coming on Friday on next week's NFL games plus the Lion-Viking game on Saturday night. Expect that will be a #2 vs #1 match.

-Do you think the Steeler coaches had anything to say to their secondary? I watched the first half off and on and saw the first three (?) long completions. Watched a movie with Diane after dinner and didn't see the exciting conclusion (?!)

-Steve Stricker still on top out in Hawaii. He finished his round with four birds after going even up to that point. Seemed like everybody else was going red and closing the gap. He leads Martin Laidr, Webb Simpson and Jonathan Byrd by five strokes. Late notice: The eagle-eagle finish by Kevin Na on Saturday, apparently the first time in tournament history. Pretty special.

-From Golf Girl's Diary, the story of a first professional win by Joanna Klatten. The 26 year old non drinking French golfer from Georgia State was in the clubhouse celebrating with a beer after finishing with a two stroke lead over her closest competitor, South Korea's Haeji Kang, who was in the 18th fairway finishing up her last hole. Kang then dropped in an eagle from the fairway to tie. Klatten immediately started drinking lots of water to get back to a playing state. She won with a par on the second extra hole when Kang missed a one meter putt for par. More detailed report from theage.com/au's Klatten Goes From Beers to Cheers.

-More January golf weather today. Hurray! Time for breakfast with Diane...

Bits and Pieces

2012-01-08T10:12:00.000-05:00

-Irish women take down the UCON women in OT, 74-67. Got home from the golf course in time to see the last three minutes of regulation and all of the OT. The defense pretty much shut down the Huskies for the last ten minutes of the ball game (no field goals for the last 3:49 of regulation and all of the overtime). Skylar Diggins and Natalie Novosel led the scoring with 22 and 20 points. That makes it two in a row for the Irish over their Big East foe. The earlier win came in the Final Four last April with an almost-the-same score of 72-63. What a great win for the Irish! More from the South Bend Tribune. Side note: Later on Saturday and down in Louisville, the Notre Dame men took down #11 Louisville in double overtime, 67-65.

-In the NFL: As expected and predicted, the Texans beat the Bengals and the Saints throttled the Lions yesterday. That makes it 3 and 0 in my weekend predictions (includes the Lion victory over the Cougars Friday night). Later today: Steelers over the Broncos, and the Giants take down the Falcons.

-At Lakeview yesterday: Doug Denson, Travis Brett and Joe Allen won the scramble with a 30. Short Jeffers, Stan Graber and Curt Johnson shot a 32 while Dave Wininger, Mike Bird and Kevin Byron finished with a 33. In a 15 hole game after the scramble, Dave and I took the scramble portion and tied Doug and Short in a 'reverse' scramble - the other team deciding what ball you would play. That was pretty ugly especially coming at the end of the day when most of the good shots have already been played and the possibility of an errant shot is pretty high. It was different...

-In Big Boy golf: Steve Stricker has taken a five stroke lead out in Hawaii after firing a ten under 63 in his Saturday round. Btw, the tournament has a Monday finish. Is that the Golf Channel's answer to the NFL playoffs on Sunday? I don't know why the Monday finish. Anybody?

-In case you haven't noticed: More beautiful golfing weather for the next several days. That's okay with me though I sure came home tired last night. Made for sleeping like the dead.

Bits and Pieces: Lions Win,

2012-01-07T08:08:00.000-05:00

-Lions beat the Cougars last night, 45-37. Liked what the Lions did in coming back from an early 14-7 deficit. Liked what Colin Nelson did coming off the bench: took the temperature of the game and then stroked three consecutive three pointers. Added a drive-down-the-middle lay-in and a foul shot for 12 points. Very impressive play by the youngster. Very impressive play by the Lion team in coming back and shutting down their opponents.

-The Big Boys are playing golf over in Hawaii at the Tournament of Champions. Jonathan Byrd leads Steve Stricker, Webb Simpson, Martin Laird and Michael Bradley by one at six under par.

-Talking about the Big Boys: How about Elin turning a very expensive mansion into a pile of kindling?! It's the place she bought for a cool $12 million plus change after the divorce.

-Don't forget - Notre Dame women go up against the UCON women at four this afternoon in South Bend. Probably be the best game in any sport today.

-Don't forget 2: Scramble at noon today.

Around The Arena: Loogootee-North Daviess Boys Basketball Game Last Night

2012-01-07T05:17:00.000-05:00

Getting after the ball with 8 seconds left on the clock and the score tied...

2012-01-06T10:04:00.000-05:00

Bits and Pieces: Predictions -NFL playoff games plus Lion Boys vs Cougar Boys

2012-01-06T09:46:00.001-05:00

As promised, my NFL playoff predictions:

-Saturday games: Houston, with a third or fourth string qb, beats Cincy with its rookie qb. New Orleans steamrolls Detroit. Home field advantage for each of the winners.

-Sunday games: Pittsburgh runs all over Denver in Denver, with or without their #1 qb. And the Giants with Eli at home top the Falcons.

And in tonight's battle at JBA, the Lions top the Cougars. Btw, for those of you who missed last night's girls' win against Wood Memorial - it was a dandy. Wood Memorial had to rely on its bench late and that just did not work. The Lions worked well as a team and were surprisingly aggressive, bumping and shoving and letting the opposition know that they were in their neck of the woods at every opportunity. Btw 2: Was shocked at how little support either team had in the stands. Made for plenty of good seats, but really...

Btw 3: Another good, make that great, day for golf. Best take off a bit early and get yourself out there.

-Scramble tomorrow at high noon.

Lion Girls Win In OT, Beat Wood Memorial in a Thriller, 55-51

2012-01-05T23:38:00.000-05:00

Bits and Pieces

2012-01-05T10:10:00.001-05:00

-Lion BB Girls play Wood Memorial at JBA tonight at 7. Boys tomorrow night vs the North Daviess Cougars.

-The Notre Dame women's bb team beat Seaton Hall last night, 74-36, quite a comedown from the 128-42 pasting they gave Mercer down in Macon on the 30th. The #3 Irish are the top scoring team in the nation and take on #2 UCON at South Bend this Saturday. That would probably be worth the five hour ride to my old stomping grounds. You remember the last time they met - the NCAA Final Four up in Indy. ND beat the Huskies to get to the championship game. Go Skylar Diggins and company!

-An espn article by Scoop Jackson talks about Skylar, her beauty, her confidence and her skills. What an amazing young lady.

-Golf weather today: sunny and near 50 degrees. Even better tomorrow. Probably good enough Saturday for a scramble as well.

-Time for breakfast with Diane.

Bits and Pieces

2012-01-02T13:10:00.000-05:00

-My prediction status for 2012: zero and one. Colts did not win the game yesterday (want you to know it really held my attention - closed my eyes at the start of the fourth quarter and woke when the two coaches were meeting in the middle of the field to wish each other a happy off season). That makes me zero and two for the last week with the Irish bumbling their way to a loss in the Champs Bowl. My predictions on next weekends NFL games coming up at the end of the week.

-Guess we're going to have a bit of winter the next few days but looks like we get another chance to play golf this next weekend. Gotta love this weather.

-Golf resolutions for 2012:
     -Stay healthy so I can continue to play.
     -Longer off the tee: put a little more turn and speed in my swing. (That means staying flexible. Could also get a longer stick...)
     -Play more and play better. Played a lot in 2011 with partners in each of the three Lakeview leagues.   Also had a rough beginning - way too many rounds five plus strokes above my handicap in the early months. (That goes back to staying healthy as I suffered through a long bout with bronchial troubles last spring and even into the summer months.)

That's enough to think about for the moment. Know that at least one golfer is working on his balance and using a Wii game to help. One other thing: The short game. More practice, I guess, and maybe a helpful hint from the internet, or one of you guys, like the vid that showed Tiger holding his head still well after he putted that I posted a while back. That helped me a bunch, continues to help.

-Going to throw another log on the fire and watch a movie with Diane. Watched Big with Tom Hanks again last night. Great fun.

Bits and Pieces: Denson and Souerdike End Year With a Win, etc.

2012-01-01T09:37:00.000-05:00

-Saturday Scramble on the last day of 2011: Doug Denson and Wayne Souerdike birdied the first five holes and added another on the ninth hole to fire a very nifty six under par to beat playing partners Short Jeffers, Curt Johnson and Kevin Byron by a stroke. Dave Wininger and Mike Arvin were third at three under while Travis Brett and Mike Bird finished at two under and Nick Wininger and Tracy Rayhill at one under.

-Doug continued his winning ways when he paired up with Travis Brett in a second nine holes. They played Short and Mike in a 3-3-3 game. They lost the scramble but came back to win both the alternate shot and the best ball.

-Another win over a top two team last night for the Hoosiers. They took down #2 Ohio State, 74-70. Indiana hasn't been very nice to their neighbors so far in this basketball season.

-Okay, Colts play their last game of the season today against Jacksonville. And yes it is meaningful. Lose and they get the #1 pick in the draft who just might be the next Payton Manning. Win and maybe we get to see Manning have a great two, three or even four more years. I, for one, am not ready to let go of the Manning era. Prediction: Colts, building on the momentum of the last two weeks, win a third straight, miss out on the #1 pick and get saddled with one of the best qb's ever for the next several years.

-On winning, from Pat Angerer of the Colts (from Paul Richards in the Indy Star yesterday):

"Yeah," Angerer said. "After a win, you're better-looking, you have more money and your wife loves you more."

We can all relate to that, can't we?

-Happy New Year everybody.

Scramble

2011-12-31T11:02:00.002-05:00

In an hour. Might want to bring a sweater. The 50 degree mark isn't supposed to get around to us till around four this afternoon.

Saturday Morning Scramble Start Time

2011-12-30T20:05:00.000-05:00

High noon for all of you who want to tell your grandchildren that you played golf on the last day of 2011 at Lakeview Golf Course!

Bits and Pieces

2011-12-30T08:18:00.000-05:00

-The Irish go into the fourth quarter leading 14-3 and lose 18-14. Dang. ND qb's threw three interceptions, two of which were picked off in the end zone. Big ouch. Shouldn't have been a loss what with the Irish having the ball deep in Seminole territory with less than four minutes on the clock. But then: Holding penalty and then a pick in the end zone. So much for Irish football for the time being.

-The boys (Jack, Jack, Dick and Ken) were at the golf course today. Saw them all par hole #15. Jack Lents thought that was pretty special and wanted me to mention it. He's right, btw. Winter golf, sloppy conditions. Good job, guys. Btw 2: Asked Ken Hudson if he was responsible for all this good weather. He said yes...

-I did some practicing after finishing my walk. Now you all know that I've been looking for that hole-in-one at #7 to get my trifecta at Lakeview (already have aces at #3 and #9). Well, today I did get a ball to go into the hole from the tee box out there. Only trouble was that it was my 9th ball. Second time I've done that in a practice session, the first time being at hole #9 back in the mid 90's.

-Happy Birthday to Tiger Woods. Today is his 36th.

-Barr-Reeve did beat North Daviess in the Graber Post Tournament last night. Don't know the score.

-More golf weather today.

Barr-Reeve and North Daviess

2011-12-29T09:51:00.000-05:00

Just talked with Eric (who is on his way to Williamsburg, VA with his family for a vacation): BR plays ND tonight at 7:30. He's pretty sure of that. Expect both the Viking fans and the Cougar fans were anticipating the two meeting in the second game...

Bits and Pieces

2011-12-29T09:30:00.001-05:00

-Bob Karvitz and one of the reasons that you know Pacer basketball is on its way back:

The Good Looking Females Quotient. There is a direct correlation between the quality of Pacers basketball and the number of good-looking females in the joint.

Really.

-Notre Dame women rout Longwood, 92-26, yesterday afternoon up in South Bend. The men beat #22 Pitt the night before in a game that saw them losing at halftime by a point. Final score, 72-59, making it 28 in a row for the Irish on their home floor.

-The Irish football team makes it two bowl games in a row against a Florida team. Last year they had no trouble at all against Miami. Later today they go up against the Florida State Seminoles. Prediction: The Irish make it two wins in a row in December bowls, again in a surprisingly easy fashion.

-So, do the Colts bench their starters against Jacksonville and go for the loss to ensure the #1 pick? The admin folk have a precedent - they sat them two years ago, going for a super healthy team for the run to the super bowl rather than continuing the possibility of a perfect season. It didn't work out then and I don't expect their decision this time will work out any better. Btw, what do you think their decision will be: go for the loss? or go for the win? Will we know one way or the other? Btw 2: Jacksonville has good reasons to let the Colts win so they don't get that #1 pick. What do they do? Could end up in a tie with neither team wanting the W.

-IU men's basketball gets a dose of reality in Big Ten opener against MSU, lose 80-65. The Spartans countered a 25-2 run by the Hoosiers with a 20-0 run of their own. Wowzer on the runs! This ain't 3rd grade basketball, is it?

-Barr-Reeve and North Daviess both won in the Graber Post Holiday Tournament. BR beat Clay City, 58-47, while ND beat North Posey, 59-46. They play each other today, don't know which game.

-Anybody watching the weather? Looks awfully good for some golf at Lakeview. Should see some golfers today, tomorrow and Saturday. Hurray! Watch for the Saturday scramble time. Love this mild winter we're having.

-Thursday Photo: Morning ware on the Carnival Liberty:

Bits and Pieces

2011-12-26T09:02:00.000-05:00

-Great video recap of the 2011 LPGA season at Fairways and Forehands. A must for the lady golfer lovers among us.

-More golfing weather: sunny and 47 today.

-Watched the Packers run that slant left pass on the Bears last night, seemed like about ten times, several of them for touchdowns. Bears already half in hibernation? Packers win easily.

-NBA got started with its season yesterday. Guess there are some folk paying attention.

-Hope you all had a warm Christmas day. Number One son Marty with Laura surprised us by showing up mid afternoon; Kayla came in later after spending some time with Shoals friends and family. They are here for today's dinner plus at our place this afternoon. Eric and his family will also be down from Odon.

-Getting on with the rest of the day - will head out to the golf course for a walk around a bit later - letting that good old sun work its magic on the frosty morning.

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-25T08:47:00.000-05:00

Happy Holidays to all of you out there! And, yes, it is a golf day with temperatures getting into the 50's. My oh my, what a difference from last year when the Christmas week was full of blizzards. We appreciate the variety, right?

Day Before Christmas Golf Scramble

2011-12-24T08:55:00.000-05:00

Noon today. Might want to bring an extra sweater...

Bits and Pieces

2011-12-23T09:01:00.000-05:00

-Lions win down in Washington in a low scoring affair, 43-33. Who pulled the plug on the scoring?

-Colts win up in Indy against the Texans with a last minute touchdown, 19-16. That's two in a row (Colt fans are going wild!) and throws them into a tie for the #1 pick in the draft. But then who cares - Irsey says Manning will play in Indy next year if he plays anywhere. That's good news, right?

-Wonder if we could convince the weather goddess to pump up the temps just a little bit tomorrow. Gonna be sunny and low 40's. How about sunny and low 50's? A day before Christmas scramble?

-Christmas shopping today up in Bloomington. Son Marty was down yesterday for the Mason Read viewing over in Shoals. Diane and I had early dinner with him at Los Bravos where we saw, among others, Jeremy Wildman, who had a big smile and a wave; and Chad Wade's little sister, Leslie.

Photo: North-of-the-Border Miami Latina with a smile for the camera:

Bits and Pieces

2011-12-22T10:01:00.000-05:00

-In case you didn't go back and see my correction about the Lion girls playing the Cougar girls tonight... No game tonight between those two - that actually took place on November 22. Wouldn't mind seeing them play again - missed the first one. The Lion boys play tonight at Washington, the Zeller-less Hatchets. The Hatchets beat the Vikings by ten but lost to the Cougars by eighteen and have a record of 3 and 4. Lions come in at 6 and 1. Lions should win, right?

-Did get out to the golf course yesterday but just to walk around and bring in the tee blocks. Dick Lemmon was also walking around. Sun never did come out as it was supposed to.

-Question: Are you keeping your weight down as we head into the holiday season? Or do you just let it go and take care of it with some serious dieting once the holidays are over? My intention is always the former but find it almost impossible to not enjoy, usually in excess, all the goodies that magically appear during this time of the year. (Diane just came in and asked me if I wanted pancakes and eggs for breakfast rather than the usual oatmeal. Yes, I said yes.)

-Question 2: Are you staying halfway in shape? Stretching and lifting weights and walking? You should and yes, I do, except for the lifting weights. Sit-ups - yes - almost daily. Walking and stretching - daily.

-Today's south-of-the-border photo: Cozumel women with smiles and a wave:

Bits and Pieces

2011-12-21T11:49:00.001-05:00

-Lions and Cougars win in boys basketball last night. The Lions routed VR, 63-38, while the Cougars had a more difficult time with Tecumseh, 43-32. Barr Reeve also won beating NE Dubois, 78-42. Shoals did not play. Loogootee girls play North Daviess girls tomorrow night at JBA. (p.s. 5:45 pm: No, Mike. That was a month ago...)

-Mild weather today (57 degrees at midnight last night). Sunny this afternoon - sure doesn't look like that right now. Golf? Maybe here in a bit. Probably a bit wet out there with the constant drizzle we've had these last few days.

Photo: Girls from south of the border hamming it up for the camera. Belize City girls on the left, Cozumel girls on the right. Lots of other photos of girls, etc., at Birdman Photos.

Bits and Pieces

2011-12-19T09:29:00.000-05:00

-At Lakeview Sunday afternoon: Yes, we had golfers and a game! Jack Butcher, Ken Hudson, Frank and Susan Fee and Chuck Baker were out taking advantage of the unusually mild weather. And then there was the game: It was again a 6-6-6 with Dave Wininger and I winning the first event, a scramble, and the alternate shot and best ball events ending in ties. Doug Denson paired up with Short Jeffers and Nick Wininger had Travis Brett as a partner. Always fun and we finished before dark by skipping #5 the second time and playing #6 as a par 3. No hole-in-one's. Dang...

-Women's basketball: Muffet McGraw's #3 Irish beat #7 Ky on Sunday afternoon, 92-83. Would never guess that these two teams are among the best defensive teams this year. Expect ND to move up a notch as #2 UCON lost to #1 Baylor, 66-61.

-Colts win their first of the season, Orlovsky wins first of his career, beat Tenn 27-13. That was a surprise as, guess what, they were losing at halftime when we started golfing. Nice surprise though, I guess. What happens if they win another and lose out on the #1 pick in the draft? Does Payton Manning then return as a viable option for the Colts? And you did notice that that other team with a '0' in its record when the day started saw it changed to a '1' by days end: Kansas City took it to the undefeated Green Bay Packers, 19-14. Okay, so which was the bigger surprise, the Colt win or the Packer loss? Packer loss would be my guess. Who didn't think they were invincible?

Saturday Stuff:

-Lexi Thompson claims her second pro victory with a four shot win in Dubai. The new youngest pro (there is a younger amateur who has won, Amy Yang at the 2006 ANZ Ladies Masters) to win on the LET finished at 15 under, four shots clear of Lee-Anne Pace. The Wie Lass had an even par day and finished tied for 12th ten strokes behind the new phenom in the ladies golfing world. She is also the longest lady at the present, hitting it around 275 yards down the fairway. Wie, by comparison, averages 266 yards, which isn't all that shabby...

-Butler boys basketball team takes down Purdue in the last minute after not being ahead at any point during the game, 67-65 (upset). Second game at Conseco Fieldhouse saw Cody Zeller and the Indiana Hoosiers throttle the Irish, 69-58 (not an upset). Again, I ask, what's with the Hurrying Hoosiers?

-Another mild day in December with rain maybe later. Golf anyone?

Bits and Pieces

2011-12-17T09:20:00.000-05:00

-At the Omega Dubai Ladies Masters, Lexi Thompson still in the lead after three rounds. She's one up on Sophie Gustofson at -10 and five up on Michelle Wie who is in 8th place at -5. The Golf Channel has the final round today starting at 3pm. Lots of photos and the scoreboard at bangkokbobby's Fairways and Forehands.

-See that the Loogootee boys stuck it to the Pike Central team last night in the homecoming game. Final score: 59-27. North Daviess (#1 team in 1A) and Barr Reeve also won.

-Went up to Bloomington yesterday to do some shopping. On the way stopped in at the Donut Barn in Odon and go myself a blueberry cake donut. Yum. Been a while since I've had a donut so it was especially good. Brought an apple fritter home to Diane. She says yum, too. Btw, it's now located next to the Odon Locker right on the highway. Easy to get to. Might want to get on up there this morning and get yourself a goodie or two..

-Don't know about golf today. Did see that it's going to be in the forties and sunny. Only trouble with that is that the forties part comes late in the afternoon. Too bad. Wonder it there is any football later today.

Carnival Liberty Cruise Collage

2011-12-15T17:18:00.001-05:00

Collage of photos from the ship, both day and night shots. It was fun and both Diane and I would recommend a cruise. It was our very first cruise and we did enjoy it. Btw, even with all the food we ate, including dessert at every meal (yes, even breakfast had a sweet thing or two) and ice cream in-between, we managed to hold our weight at an even keel - Diane even lost three pounds. Go figure...

p.s. Lexi Thompson leads in Dubai with Michelle Wie four shots back after two rounds.

Bits and Pieces

2011-12-12T20:55:00.040-05:00

-Na Yeon Choi wears a dress for the third time ever and looks smashing! Photo here (the girl in the maroon form fitting dress about a fifth of the way down the page) at Seoul Sisters. Here's how she usually appears. NYC, as she is nicknamed, was playing in the Swinging Skirts tournament, an invitational charity event played in Taiwan this past week. Winner: Taiwan native and current lady golfing phenom, Yani Tseng.

-Read the Loogootee Trib's write up on the boys basketball this past weekend (Dec. 2nd and 3rd). Terrific win for the Lions in the holiday tournament and even more terrific display of basketball skills by Bryant Ackerman, the grandson of avid Lakeview golfer Skip Ackerman. Bryant also plays golf at Lakeview but not near as much as Skip.

-Golf at Lakeview yesterday with temperatures in the 50's. Really very nice for a December day. The Boys (Butcher, Lents, Hudson and Lemmon) were already playing when I got there some time after one. Heard that Jack B. got the big prize when he picked up five flags at hole #16 (#7 the second time around). His tee shot managed to be the first one that stayed on a par three green, and that by a mere inch. Good neighbor Jack L. bemoaned that fact as his shot on the concluding hole won him the last flag.

-Golf today? Looks like we're in the middle of a great big green area that's going to be with us for a while. Better chance tomorrow; higher temperatures as well.

-More on the trip: One of the best things of the whole trip for me was the people watching. People from all over the world speaking a multitude of languages and coming in every shape and size and age (lots of youngsters, apparently playing hookie with their parents consent). And that made for lots of photo opportunities.

Back Home In Loogootee

2011-12-12T07:30:00.001-05:00

Home again! Rolled into Loogootee last night just before eight after starting the day out in White Springs in northern Florida (just south of the Georgia line and north of US 10). Had dinner at the Telford Hotel in White Spings Saturday night (Diane and I felt we had slipped into a Twilight Zone segment, being set back into the 1950's, not only with the dining but also the stay at the America's Best Value Inn, an older motel which nonetheless provided a great night of rest; the dinner at the Telford, a bed and breakfast, was buffet style and also excellent). We got off the ship, the Carnival Liberty, Saturday morning after a seven day cruise that included stops in Cozumel, Belize, Mahogany Bay and the Cayman Islands.

Photo 1: Another NFL city skyline. We went through four of them. Can you correctly identify the above? Hint: It's either Tampa Bay or Atlanta.

Photo 2: The extent of the golfing experience on board the Liberty: A couple on their way up to the top most deck to get in some putt-putt golf. I failed to take advantage of the opportunity...

Btw, did get into our motel room Saturday in time to catch the last two minutes of the IU-KY basketball game on tv. Pretty nice ending for the Hoosiers (okay, a really great ending for the Hoosiers). Also, did get to watch Tiger win the Chevron Challenge (hurray squared!) last Sunday afternoon as we steamed away from Miami and down toward the Yucatan Peninsula. Great drama with TW having to catch Zach Johnson, go up two, get tied and then even go down one only to birdie the last two holes to win by one. Good stuff to say the least. And yes, I loved it.

It's good to be back - will have more later. And thanks for taking care of one of our cold weeks of winter. A little warm up this week and maybe even some golf.

Bits and Pieces: Skyline Test 2, More Tiger

2011-12-02T23:10:00.000-05:00

Ok, should be a no brainer here what with Diane and me in Miami tonight (embark tomorrow). Anybody not know this skyline now? If you don't know, then go to question #2: Who's buried in James Brown's tomb? Dave W. was correct with yesterday's photo being of Jacksonville. (Been there Dave?)

-See that Tiger did well today and again has the lead after two rounds of golf. No 75 tomorrow, right? Right. (Think the ship has internet access so should be able to see what's going on later tomorrow afternoon. Wonder if they have tv reception? Like NBC between 3 and 6?)

-Hope you all are getting together for a golf game tomorrow morning. And, yes, I already miss it. And no, I haven't touched a club since we left. Maybe some putt-putt tomorrow evening or Sunday. Not sure that even counts.

Bits and Pieces: Skyline Test 1, Tiger

2011-12-01T21:24:00.000-05:00

Can you identify this skyline? Hint 1: The city has an NFL franchise.

-See that Tiger got off to a great start today and then struggled to finish at -3. K.J. Choi leads TW and Steve Stricker by three after the first round of the Chevron World Challenge where only six of the eighteen players finished in the red.

Bits and Pieces

2011-12-01T06:01:00.000-05:00

-Our travels: Made it to Macon, Georgia with our first day's drive. Dip into Florida today and head to the east coast to drive south to Miami. Not road weary yet...

-See that the Hoosiers - men's basketball - won last night - caught a little bit of the game on espn in the motel room. The IU team now 7 and 0. Are they back? The Irish men are not back; lost their senior leader (Abromaitis) for the season with an acl tear the other day and lost big to Gonzaga last night, 75-53.

-Tiger playing this week at his own tournament, the 18 player Chevron World Challenge. But you knew that, right? I expect him to win this one. No excuses, TW.

-See you all got sunshine today and tomorrow, high 40's. Would probably play golf if I was back there. Cloudy and 53 on Saturday in Loogootee - definitely golf weather.

-Gonna go have one of those free breakfasts with Diane and then get on the road by 7. At least that's the plan. (In bed before 9:30 last night and up just after 4 this morning. Expect I'll catch some shut eye in the car later today...)

Our very first snow of the winter season...

2011-11-29T13:30:00.000-05:00

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

2011-11-27T13:00:00.000-05:00

-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

2011-11-25T21:36:00.002-05:00

10am.

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Day!

2011-11-24T08:05:00.000-05:00

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

Bits and Pieces

2011-11-23T10:22:00.000-05:00

-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

2011-11-21T08:59:00.000-05:00

-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

2011-11-20T09:02:00.000-05:00

-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

2011-11-19T09:35:00.001-05:00

-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

2011-11-18T09:12:00.000-05:00

-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

2011-11-17T09:37:00.000-05:00

-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

2011-11-16T09:54:00.001-05:00

-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

2011-11-15T09:39:00.000-05:00

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

Bits and Pieces

2011-11-15T09:24:00.000-05:00

-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

2011-11-14T09:42:00.000-05:00

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

Bits and Pieces

2011-11-14T08:48:00.001-05:00

-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

2011-11-13T08:02:00.000-05:00

-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

2011-11-12T21:11:00.001-05:00

-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

2011-11-12T06:48:00.001-05:00

-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

2011-11-11T08:48:00.000-05:00

-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

2011-11-10T09:03:00.000-05:00

-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

2011-11-09T08:30:00.000-05:00

-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

2011-11-07T07:53:00.000-05:00

-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

2011-11-05T22:19:00.000-04:00

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

Saturday Scramble Photos

2011-11-05T21:54:00.000-04:00

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

2011-11-05T21:41:00.000-04:00

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

2011-11-05T10:24:00.000-04:00

-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

2011-11-04T12:45:00.001-04:00

-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

2011-11-03T11:56:00.000-04:00

-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

2011-11-02T10:35:00.000-04:00

-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

2011-11-02T10:09:00.000-04:00

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

2011-11-01T10:19:00.000-04:00

-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.

-

Bits and Pieces

2011-10-31T11:01:00.000-04:00

-Tseng wins #11, triumphs at the 2011 Suzhou Taihu Ladies Open. Read the other day that somebody convinced her to ware a skirt during a round; it lasted for nine holes and then she put her rain pants on. Reminds me of my youngest daughter, Dani, who felt pretty much the same way about girl's clothes and went through much of kindergarten without declaring her sex by the outfit she was wearing.

-Big Boys playing in Shanghai this week at the HSBC Champions Tournament (Luke Donald has withdrawn - wife having a baby soon). LPGA playing in Mie, Japan, at the Mizuno Classic. Btw, what's with Sergio Garcia and winning two weeks in a row? Some suggest a new love interest. Ah, the wonders of love though seems to me it would be more of a distraction than an inspiration to greater glory. Of course, if he was moping about thinking about lost loves...

-Speaking of loves: After the volleyball game on Saturday night, Diane and I came home and watched Lucy Liu in Lucky Number Slevin. She's my honorary golf babe of the week seeing as I don't know whether she plays the game or not.

-Btw #2: During the Saturday afternoon scramble, Joe Allen commented approvingly on the instructor in the Saturday Swing Tip I posted the other day.

-Did notice that the Colts lost another one yesterday. Even watched some of it - the early part. Didn't they almost get to the halfway point being down by only three? Also noticed that one of the three zero win teams dropped from the race for the top pick in next year's draft. St. Louis dropped out by beating New Orleans in one of the big surprises of the year. Guess there's something in the air in St. Louis this week - first the Cardinals win the series (after an improbable dramatic win in game #6), and now the Rams turn the tables on the team that a week earlier had walked all over the Colts (guess some would say that's no big deal, at least this year).

-Getting on with the rest of the day. Golf later this afternoon.

Bits and Pieces

2011-10-30T10:20:00.000-04:00

-Had six players for Saturday's 2pm scramble. Dave Wininger paired up with Kevin Byron and shot a four under 31 to win the contest. Wayne Sauerdike and Joe Allen birdied three of their last four holes to finish at 34 while Mike Bird and Dick Lemmon finished with an even par round of 35. Dave's on a roll, having won four of the last five scrambles (Saturday and Tuesday), each with a different partner: Wayne Souerdike, Joe Allen, Curt Johnson and Kevin Byron.

-Irish dominated a sub par Naval Academy squad by a score of 56-14. ESPN recap here.

-Colts playing the Titans today. Expect they will be better than the team that got shellacked down in New Orleans last Sunday night. Well, the score should be closer though don't think the result will be any different. Zero and eight - yuck.

-Very sorry to see the girls lose to Trinity Lutheran last night. The two teams were evenly matched and split the matches they played - the Lions won the first one, 3-1. Unfortunatley, there is no rubber match. The Trinity team goes to the state final to face the Wes-Del girls. Bracket here.

-Good golf weather this afternoon. Little chilly this morning. Best have some breakfast and head on over there.

Saturday Volleyball Collage

2011-10-30T09:49:00.000-04:00

Lions Lose To Trinity Lutheran In Semi-State Final, End Fantastic Season at 31-6

2011-10-30T09:17:00.002-04:00

Photo: Lions on a victory stride during their Saturday morning game with Hauser (25-19, 25-23, 25-13). They triumphed over Hauser, 3-0, but fell to Trinity Lutheran (26-24, 18-25, 25-23, 25-22) in the final Saturday night by a score of 3-1.

Congratulations to the Lady Lions on a fantastic season.

Bits and Pieces

2011-10-29T09:49:00.000-04:00

-Scramble at 2 this afternoon.

-Volleyball game at JBA at 11 this morning. Go Hannah and all the Loogootee girls. Take the semi-state!

-Cardinals win! Improbable, glorious. Expect Cardinal fans died several times over the course of the last thirty or so days. And then a couple of more times Thursday night when the St. Louis team got down to a single pitch of do or die. And they did. Impressive. Have to admit, I was pulling for the Rangers to get their first Series ring. Oh well. Maybe next year. Any team ever lose it three years in a row?

-North Daviess Cougars beat Wood Memorial last night, 21-14. Take on Linton next Friday for the sectional championship. Linton walked all over them, 80-21 (?), during the regular season.

-Irish play Navy at 3:30 this afternoon. They need to get their manhood back.

-From LInksLifeGolf, the Saturday Swing Tip: Coil for Power (video). In brief: Coil, don't sway; keep that right knee pointing towards the ball.

-Diane is stirring in the kitchen. Best go get something to eat, then go to the golf course, then down to the JBA. See some of you at the game, some of you this afternoon at the scramble.

Bits and Pieces

2011-10-28T09:04:00.000-04:00

-Saturday Scramble: Start time 2pm. Going to try something different what with the expected low temperatures tonight and the 11am volleyball game tomorrow. You do remember that the Lions are playing at the JBA. Up against 28 and 8 Hauser. Go Lions!

-Shiho Oyama beats Paula Creamer in the JLPGA Masters GC Ladies tournament. Bangkokbobby has a video of the long putt by Oyama on the 18th hole to get her into a playoff with Creamer and then the three hole playoffs. Good stuff. Did notice that Creamer walks off the distance of her putt. That's the second time I've seen that in recent days. Think it was Dick Lemmon who did the same several days back when he and I were playing his son-in-law Karry Stoll and JD Simmons in a friendly 'old guys' vs 'young guys' scramble.

-Yes I did watch the ball game last night. From the early fumble dance to the late heroics of the batters. You did notice that the triple that tied the score in the bottom of the 9th should have been an out, right? Impressive stuff by the hometown hero. More good stuff tonight, I expect.

-Hoosier Jeff Overton has a share of the 36 hole lead at the CIMB Asia Pacific Classic over in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

-Local golf: Not much the last two days. Maybe a little more today with the sun expected out this afternoon. And then maybe even more between volleyball games tomorrow afternoon. Irish are playing Navy at 3:30 but the season's goal, a BCS bowl game, was scrapped with the loss to SC last Saturday evening. There playing won't keep me from playing golf...

-Getting on with the rest of the day. One last thing: Blast from the past golf babe here. That from New Media Man's Top 20 Female Athletes blog. (How many would be on your list?)

Bits and Pieces: Wininger and Johnson Win Scramble, Lions Win Regional, etc.

2011-10-26T08:30:00.000-04:00

Photo: Lion students taking it easy during Lion's 'easy' win over the Tecumseh Braves last night.

-Dave Wininger and Curt Johnson shot a two under 33 to tie Paul Hart and Jon Boyd in the Tuesday Afternoon Scramble. Wininger and Johnson won the contest on the tiebreaker, a card draw. Two other teams participated: George Templin and I couldn't make a putt (unlike last week when we, meaning George, couldn't miss a putt) and posted a 37; Short Jeffers and Joe Allen also played and finished at something over 33.

-The Lady Lions volleyball team triumphed over the Tecumseh Braves last night in regional action at JBA. Scores: 25-16, 25-19, 25-11. The Lions (30-5) next meet Hauser (28-8) at 11 am on Saturday at JBA. Trinity Luthern (30-5) plays Clay City (19-10) in the second game. Winners play Saturday evening at 7 for the chance to go to the state finals. Go Lions.

-More golf: How do you like the PGA changing the rules for the POY? At the last minute, they decided to add another tournament (the HSBC) and Luke Donald, the guy who outdid Webb Simpson at the Disney last week in a fabulous shootout between the top two contenders for both the money title and the POY, is just a little ticked. Me thinks he has every right to be. PGA - you get the bonehead award of the year for your actions. Hope the Tour members let their administrators know how wrong that decision was.

-Spend time on your short game or your long game? Ruthless Golf helps you decide how to determine where you should put your practice time. In brief: If you are within 30 yards of the green in regulation (after two shots on a par four, three shots on a par 5), choose the short game practice routine; if not, go for more time on your long game.

-Baseball: Didn't realize the Rangers were going for their first World Series title. Cardinals have plenty in comparison. What say we root for the Texas team - I mean, they are just one win away. You Cardinal fans wouldn't be all that offended, would you? Ok, maybe not root for the Rangers but just not be all that disappointed if they happened to beat the Cardinals in game six or game seven. Of course, would be happy for the Cardinals to win as well, to come from behind. (My heart is with the Cubbies so...).

-Rain in the area but nothing serious. Temps up in the 60's. Good October golf weather.

The 'Hoot Girl' And Her Buddies

2011-10-25T10:49:00.000-04:00

Lakeview's Golf Is A Hoot Girl of 2011

2011-10-25T10:43:00.001-04:00

One of the young ladies who participated in the St. John's Youth Scramble in September.

Bits and Pieces

2011-10-25T10:31:00.001-04:00

-Scramble today at 4:30.

-Lady Lions (29-5) take on Tecumseh (23-8) at 7pm at JBA for the regional volleyball championship (bracket). (Complete sectional bracket here).

-POY voting going to take place soon in the Big Boy Tour. Luke Donald gets my vote, hands down. What he's done this year on two tours, the PGA and the European, is amazing. And you already know who's dominant on the Big Girl Tour (here).

-Had the World Series on in the background last night. The Texas team again came from behind late to beat the Cardinals. That's not supposed to happen, is it, all you Cardinal fans out there?

-Today is going to be another good day for golf. Ended up yesterday playing six holes with Kevin Byron. No hole-in-ones. Maybe today.

Bits and Pieces

2011-10-24T09:59:00.001-04:00

Lakeview golfer Curt Johnson found a free app for finding ranges at the golf course. From Curt:

Your comment yesterday "U mean u don't have a app?" got
me to looking and found a decent one for free. I had to map the
course (used info from your website and their Google maps) and then
one of their admins had to approve it before it became available; it's
avail now. The website to view ( and edit once u create an account
with them) the course is www.swingbyswing.com. It offers more
functionality for users, which I'm not interested in (just the free
range finder).

Curt had it out yesterday afternoon and tried it out and reported:

Got working; I just didn't have my iPhone gps set correctly.

Results were good. It gave pretty good data; used once when needed where no yardage market easily visible (ie, 172 yards out from hole 4 while in #6 fairway); was handy and gave good info.
It had some "change hole location" markers that I set to change too early between holes; sometimes couldn't get back to hole I wanted. May just need to tweak those (and/or operator error?).

So, for all you iPhone users. An opportunity to cash in on some free service and to help out your buddies on the golf course without a range finder.

-Watched some of the Colt game last night after returning home from the golf course - had to finish up 18 holes with Dave Wininger, Doug Denson and Short Jeffers (Doug and Short took on Dave and me in a 6-6-6 game: scramble and best ball to the good guys, alternate shot to the other guys). We didn't get to it after dinner but rather watched Empire of the Sun, an excellent Steven Spielberg movie from 1987. Just as well 'cause the Colts were stinking it up down in New Orleans and setting all sorts of negative records in losing to the Saints by a score of 62-7. Jeesh, who would have thought that this team with so many winners is now being talked about as one that may end the season at 0 and 16?! Incomprehensible.

-Luke Donald, the #1 male golfer in the world, did himself proud yesterday with a glorious and torrid back nine 30 to win at Disney. He came to town to win so he could take the money title away from Webb Simpson, waited till the last minute, then turned on the afterburners, shot that closing 30 and won by two strokes over Justin Leonard. Simpson tied for 6th four strokes back. Donald will probably get the POY award to go along with the money title. Neat stuff.

-Lady Lions are playing for the volleyball regional championship tomorrow night at 7 at the JBA. The IHSAA bracket: they play the winner from the Tecumseh sectional which is Wood Memorial. Winner advances to Saturday's semi-state, also at JBA, with the champion going on to play for the state title the following Saturday. Go Lions!

-Golf weather today. Think I'll head over there.

Volleyball Photos

2011-10-23T08:25:00.000-04:00

Bits and Pieces: Wininger and Allen Take Saturday Scramble, Lions Win Volleyball Sectional, Tseng Wins, Irish Lose

2011-10-23T07:59:00.000-04:00

-Joe Allen and some of the other guys wrapping it up after the Saturday Morning Scramble. Joe and Dave Wininger edged the team of Greg Potts and Wayne Souerdike and the team of Mike Bird, Curt Johnson and Kevin Byron by a stroke. The victors had three birds and a bogey to finish with a 33 while the vanguished each had two birds and a bogey.

-The Loogootee Lions won the volleyball sectional last night at JBA in convincing fashion with a score of three games to one against the #1 ranked Barr Reeve Vikings. Earlier in the day, the Lions dispatched the North Daviess Cougars while the Vikings beat the Shoals Jugrox.

-The most dominant golfer in the world right now, Yani Tseng, hoisted another trophy when she blew away the competition with a six birdie, no bogey final round of 66 at the Sunrise LPGA Taiwan Championship. Her final score of 16 under par topped Amy Yang and Azahara Munoz who finished tied for second at -11. The win was her seventh of the year.

-Came home after the volleyball game to the Irish/Southern Cal game with the Irish down by 14 points. They did come back and were driving for the tying touchdown when Dayne Crist fumbled the snap way down in Trojan territory - it was returned for an 80 yard touchdown by the bad guys. Dagger in the heart. They did come back again to score a touchdown to give Irish fans hope but then lost the ball again on a errant backward pass. Final score was 31-17 in a game dominated by the Trojans both on offense and defense. Ouch.

-Temps up near 70 today. Now if we can get the showers to go somewhere else...

Bits and Pieces

2011-10-22T08:34:00.000-04:00

Photo: Barr Reeve senior volleyball standout Tya Harmon during warmups last Thursday evening. She is the granddaughter of Lakeview golfer Patty Bowling and neighbor Sam and Freida Harmon. The Vikings play Shoals at 11 this morning while the Loogootee Lions take on the North Daviess Cougars in the second game.

-Scramble at 10 this morning.

-Cougar football team wins, 27-20.

-Yani Tseng jumps into the lead in Taiwan at the Sunrise LPGA Taiwan Championship with a five under round of 67. Shoots the only round in the 60's, leads Anna Nordqvist by two strokes and Azahara Munoz by three.

-How about a start of birdie, birdie, birdie, birdie, hole-in-one. It was done yesterday over in Korea by native Ki-sang Lee as he vaulted into the lead in the CJ Invitational. Anthony Kim started the day in the lead but now trails by a stoke. Expect we've had several four under through five starts at Lakeview; six under? Never would be my guess although it's quite possible with eagles at two and four and then a few more birds from the other three holes.

-Golfing weather yesterday. Each of my league playing partners was out there - Tom Walker, Larry Wininger, Jack Lents. Played a few holes myself late in the day but stopped when my back let me know that we just had a three day layoff.

-Gotta get ready. See some of you in a bit. Good luck to the volleyball players.

Bits and Pieces

2011-10-21T11:32:00.000-04:00

Photo: Hannah Lamar watching the action at last night's opening round of the volleyball sectional here in Loogootee. The Shoals Jugrox upset the Vincennes Rivet Patriots in the first game and the Barr Reeve Vikings trounced the Washington Catholic Cardinals in the second.

-Saturday Morning Scramble will start at 10am - bring a jacket - supposed to get down below freezing tonight and only up to 46 degrees at tomorrow's 10am tee time. We should finish in plenty of time for people to get over to JBA for the Lion-Cougar volleyball game.

-Did watch some of the world series the last two nights - first baseball I've watched this year. Guess there are a lot of Cardinal fans in the area and no doubt they were disappointed (to say the least) in last night's ninth inning where the Cardinals gave up two runs and lost a game they had in their hip pocket. Oh well...

-The girls playing in Taiwan: Yani Tseng is two back heading into the third round. A couple of Euros are in the lead: Azahara Munoz and Anna Nordqvist at seven under par. More details of the second round at the Asia Pacific Golf Group. I have no favorite though it would be nice if Yani could win one in her own homeland. Another Taiwanese player, Candie Kung, is also in contention. She's tied for third with Tseng.

-Sun's up as are the temperatures. Might be a little cool for the average golfer, but for those of us reluctant to see the season end, conditions are more than adequate. Breakfast first though.

Bits and Pieces

2011-10-20T09:49:00.000-04:00

-Brent Kelley reminds Greg Norman of his controversial pick of Adam Scott in 2009 who, Kelley says, was playing more poorly than the 2011 TW. Norman recently said he would never have picked Tiger and that Freddie Couples was wrong in picking him. Expect Norman would respond by saying that's ancient history and has nothing to do with what's going on now. Beg to differ, Gregory.

-Big Boys are playing down in Florida today in the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals Classic. The big story: the race for the money crown between Luke Donald and Webb Simpson.

-Big Girls are playing over in Taiwan at the Sunrise LPGA Taiwan Championship. Yani Tseng, the World's #1 and playing in her home country, shares the lead after the first round with Ai Miyazato. Each had four under rounds of 68. Photos and videos at Bangkokbobby's Fairways and Forehands blog. Btw, Michelle Wie is not participating in this tournament.

-Us local guys get to take another day off with rain, wind and low temperatures sticking around for yet another day. Better stuff tomorrow with sunshine returning and a high of 58.

-Volleyball sectionals kick off tonight at the JBA. Vincennes Rivet plays Shoals at 6 with Washington Catholic taking on #1 ranked and undefeated Barr Reeve around 8. The winners play Saturday morning at 11 with the #3 Loogootee Lions facing the Cougars from North Daviess around 1pm. Championship game Saturday night. More here from the John Mullen article at the Loogootee Tribune's website.

-The Cougar football team goes up against Tecumseh in the first game of the sectionals tomorrow night.

-And here's something to spend some time on as you wait for the weather to clear, or whatever: The top 50 lady golfers of all time.

Bits and Pieces

2011-10-18T09:04:00.000-04:00

-Not so good weather today for golf: wet and cool. If it lets up at all, expect a few golfers will scramble with a start time of 4:30 (or thereabouts).

-Again finished the day by golfing with Curt Johnson and Tracy Rayhill along with Tony Trambaugh. Tracy sprained his wrist Sunday night with one of his swings and was obviously hurting at times as he swung his club. He adapted and continued to play and surprised himself and the rest of us by getting the closest to the pin shot on #3 and tying Curt for the same thing on #9. The par threes are usually where Tracy takes a back seat and lets his competitors equalize things. Might want to rethink your plan of attack on the par threes, Tracy, once your wrist is feeling better.

-Forgot to mention that Na Yeon Choi's win down in Malaysia this past weekend was the 100th by a woman of South Korean descent, 96th by a South Korean woman. Pretty impressive. Se Ri Pak started it all with her storming of the LPGA in 1998 - winning two majors in her rookie season and has a total of 25 to date (actually Ku Ok-hee in 1988 and Ko Woo-soon in 1994 and 1995 had the first LPGA victories). Girls in Korea took note and then took up golf and the rest is history. Pretty amazing story. Wonder if Ireland with its recent success in the majors on the men's side is having a similar golfing revival among young Irish lads? Expect not.

-Think I'll head over to the golf course for a bit. Diane is heading up to Odon to do some baking at the new location of the Donut Barn - it's right on the highway next to the Odon Locker. Which reminds me: Have you had your weekly donut yet? I haven't as Colleen had the shop closed last week with the move into the new digs. Maybe Diane will bring one or two home with her in a few hours.

Bits and Pieces: Colts, Michelle Wie,

2011-10-17T10:51:00.001-04:00

-Watched the Colts lose another one yesterday and again they had the chance to win with a pass completed here and a stop made there. Really do think they are a better team than their 0 and 6 record. Question: Does anyone in the Colt organization miss Payton? How about the NFL?

-The Wie Lass didn't fare too well in the fourth round of the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia Tournament (won by Na Yeon Choi at -14 who beat the world's #1 lady golfer, Yani Tseng, by a stroke). She posted a 75 (with an 8 on the second hole) and finished at -2 in a tie for 18th place. Michelle, Michelle...

-There is a new Michelle Wie friendly forum up and running here. I like.

-Finished yesterday with a round of golf with Tracy Rayhill and Curt Johnson. This was after five when the wind died down a bit. Several other golfers also came out at that time after a pretty slow day. Imagine the wind kept some away in spite of the 80 degree sun filled day. Not so windy today and not so warm either.

-Time to move. Town, golf course, breakfast.

2012 Membership Rates

2011-10-17T10:23:00.001-04:00

The 2012 membership rates for Lakeview Golf Course are posted here and are on sale now. The membership covers green fees, is effective immediately and runs through December 31, 2012. Any purchase of a 2012 membership before the end of this year (midnight on December 31, 2011) will receive a $10 discount.

Wininger and Souerdike Survive Bird and Templin Charge, Win Saturday Scramble at Lakeview

2011-10-15T14:07:00.001-04:00

Wayne Souerdike and Dave Wininger wrapping up after winning the Saturday Morning Scramble at Lakeview with a score of 32. Photo by Mike Bird.

Dave Wininger and Wayne Souerdike fired a three under 32 to win the Saturday Morning Scramble at Lakeview this morning but not without having to withstand a late charge by Mike Bird and George Templin. Wininger and Souerdike eagled #4 (Wininger's approach shot to fifteen feet and then Souerdike's putt) and birdied #6 to go along with seven routine pars in their round. Bird and Templin, after shooting themselves in the foot with a first hole double bogey, clawed their way back into contention on the strength of Templin's golden putter as they posted a bird at #2, pars at holes three through five, and then ran off three consecutive birds to get within one of the leaders with one hole to go. Alas, the magic ended with the ninth hole offering just routine pars for both the leaders and the contenders. A third team, made up of Junior Byron, Lee Wininger and Kevin Byron, also played in the scramble and finished with a one under round of 34.

Bits and Pieces

2011-10-14T10:26:00.001-04:00

-You probably saw in the Loogootee Tribune that the volleyball sectional games will be played at JBA next Thursday and Saturday. Expecting a lot of Barr Reeve fans in attendance.

-Not much going on at the golf course yesterday except the on again off again rain that lasted all day and into the night. Did get out and play between the raindrops from one to three. A couple of other golfers did as well. The rain sure is greening things up. Nice.

-Saturday scramble will start at 10am.

-Michelle Wie doing well down in Malaysia at the Sime Darby LPGA Tournament. Through 36 holes, she is six under and three back of the co-leaders Brittany Lang and Stacy Lewis.

-No Irish game tomorrow - a bye week for the Domers. Next week, USC comes to town.

-Cougars play Springs Valley at home tonight. Grandson Lucas left the team last week for personal reasons. Eric is still involved with coaching so he'll be there. Expect Lucas will be too, helping out in some way.

-Best get up and move around - been sitting here way too long. Do I hear the golf course calling? I think I do.