Bits and Pieces

-Scramble this afternoon at 3:30.  Awfully nice weather we're having.  Too bad we had to change time and lose that after work light.  Did have some golfers come in a 4:45 last night; expect they got an hour's play.

-Both George Templin and Short Jeffers have Lakeview scramble winning streaks going, each with two.

-And for the second week in a row, Jack Lents yesterday walked off with a bunch of quarters from his playing partners - Jack Butcher, Ken Hudson and Dick Lemmon; the majority of them have come from his winning every one of the flags (that would be closest-to-the-pin shots on the par threes) over the 36 holes played.

-Thursday's scramble will start at 12 noon.

-The banged up Colts were surprisingly competitive against the Eagles Sunday.  With another catch or two, they would have won that game.  Dang.  Lot of parity in the NFL this year.  Any team can lose on a given Sunday; any team can win, even the lowly Cleveland Browns - they spanked the Patriots two days ago.  Now who would have predicted that?!

-Talking about predictions:  Did you see that Bob Kravitz congratulated himself for his right on the money 26-24 last Friday prediction of the Colt game?  That would have been with his Monday morning column.

-Tiger in Melbourne this week defending what was his last victory, the Australian Masters.  Hope he fares a bunch better than he did in the skins match he played in Thailand.

-The Wie Lass is in Mexico defending her title at Lorena's tournament.  Michelle is highlighted here at lpga.com with a recap of her win in last year's event, her very first on the LPGA.  From the article:

She leads the Tour in driving distance, averaging 275.4 yards off the tee, ranks third in greens hit in regulation and T16 in scoring average.

-Time for breakfast here at the Bird House on the Hill.  See if you can get out and enjoy some of this super November weather we're having...

Bits and Pieces

-Jiyai Shin has a bogey free round, tops Yani Tseng by 2 strokes to win Mizuno Classic.  The 'Final Round Queen' wins this battle over the 'Come from Behind Queen'.  Cool.

-Tiger outclassed by Molinari and Westwood.  Well, it wasn't only Tiger.  The #1 and #2 players at the HSBC Championship finished in another time zone with scores of -19 and -18.  Two, Richie Ramsey and Luke Donald  were tied for third at -9, Rory McIlroy in fifth at -8, and then several, including TW, tied for sixth at -7. 

-Time changed around here last night.  'Fall back' if you need help in getting your time pieces right. 

-From John Clayton at espn.com on the Colts:

Survivor, Indianapolis: The Indianapolis Colts, who play the Philadelphia Eagles Sunday, have stretched their roster thin because of injuries. More than a dozen key players are hurt. Wide receiver Anthony Gonzalez suffered a PCL knee injury on Monday night from a cheap shot by Texans safety Bernard Pollard. The Colts could be without Gonzalez, Austin Collie and tight ends Dallas Clark and Brody Eldridge. Their backfield is missing Joseph Addai and Mike Hart. Donald Brown is also banged up. Injuries have forced the Colts to add six replacement defensive backs since camp, and they could be without cornerbacks Jerraud Powers and Jacob Lacey Sunday. Peyton Manning may be having another MVP season, but at some point the Colts could run out of bodies, and even Manning might not be able to save them.

Holy Cow!  Sounds like the Colts are returning from a war where there were way too many casualties.  

-Looks like a nice day for golf.  Yes, I know it's November 7th but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy at least one more round of golf.  Btw, Tuesday's afternoon scramble is going to start at 3:30 for those of you who can make it.  Sunny and in the low 70's is the forecast for Tuesday.

-Okay - heading to the gc for a walk and to pick up the tractor with front end loader and blade.  Going to move dirt around up here on the hill today, at least for a while.

Saturday Morning Golfer Transformed

Travis Brett wore a couple of hats yesterday: Morning golfer and evening basketball player. Note the second photo where he sports a bit of hair. Nick Wininger also did the two hat trick yesterday, playing with Travis on both occasions.

Men About to Relive Past Glories

The Loogootee and Shoals basketball players from years past were over at the Shoals gym last night having fun with the round ball. Saw a lot of guys getting winded real fast and taking themselves out of the game. Not surprising. The big guns, at least in the first half, were Jeff Bledsoe for Loogootee, and Travis Brett for Shoals. Left before halftime and wandered down memory lane looking at the photos and records of Shoals athletes over the years. (Three of our kids, Eric, Dani, and Marty, were on the wall for Blue Chip honors.)

Jeffers and Bird Triumph at Saturday Scramble

The cold weather kept all but the hale and hearty (?!) away from the just-over-freezing conditions out at Lakeview Saturday morning.  Of the six who braved the elements, Short Jeffers and Mike Bird fared the best in the scramble of the day.  The two shot a nifty five under thirty to best two other teams, Dave and Lee Wininger, and Nick Wininger and Travis Brett, with identical scores of thirty-three.  Jeffers short irons and putter were as hot as they were in his and George Templin's similarly scored win in the Tuesday Afternoon Scramble four days earlier.  His pitching and chipping got the team birdie close on the first two holes, and his putter drained ten footers at both #5 and #8 for two more birds.  Mike Bird's rim out chip for eagle on #4 and tap in putt accounted for the team's other birdie of the day.  Each of the contending teams bogeyed early to dampen their chances of coming in with the low round.

Bits and Pieces

-Tiger needed to shoot seven or eight under to keep pace with Molinari and Westwood over in Shanghai.  Instead he birdies three and bogeys four to fall eleven off the pace.  Not so good with only 18 holes remaining.

-Up in Japan, Jiyai Shin is on top at the Mizuno Classic going into the third and final day.  She had better watch out for Yani Tseng of Taiwan. From lpga.com via Mostly Harmless:

Come-From-Behind Queen meets the Final-Round Queen? Shin's formidable play on Sundays has earned her the nickname Final-round Queen, while Yani Tseng, who has captured four of her five career LPGA victories by coming from behind, is the Come-from-behind Queen.

-Sun is up and shining bright.  Temperatures following.  Scramble at 11 this morning at Lakeview.  Basketball tonight at six - Shoals/Loogootee Nostalgia game - ladies first, then the men.  And, finally, the Irish are safe from embarrassment today - they have the day off.

Riprappers Riprapping

Still working around seven o'clock last night out at Boggs Lake. They dropped the rock just this side of #9 teeing area and bobcatted it down to the area along the dam just south of #7 green.