Bits and Pieces

-Scramble at 10 this morning.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bits and Pieces

-Saturday Scramble start time: 10am.

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

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

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

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

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

Bits and Pieces

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

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

-Then there's John Daly...

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

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

Bits and Pieces

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

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

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

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

-Heading to the golf course for a bit.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ethan Carrico Collage

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

Saturday Scramble Photos

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

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