Denson and Allen Stop Wininger and Wininger

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

Bits and Pieces

-Scramble at noon today.

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

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

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

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

Bits and Pieces

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bits and Pieces

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

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

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

Sounds great. 

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

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

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

Bits and Pieces

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

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

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

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

She's funny...

-Another good day for golf.  Get to it.

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

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

Bits and Pieces

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

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

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

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


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





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