Bits and Pieces: Last Tuesday Scramble (maybe), Presidents Cup, Coach K

-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

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

Bits and Pieces

-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

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

Bits and Pieces

-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

-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

-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.