Bits and Pieces

-Saturday Morning Scramble will start at 10 tomorrow with the low overnight temps.

-Medora.  Most of you know about Medora.  Go here and watch a five minute vid about a documentary being made (produced) about the Medora basketball team and their quest to win just one basketball game.  Son Marty forwarded it to me last night.  It's cool and you get the opportunity to be a backer of the project if you want.

-Another video, this one from Bangkok Bobby and has some cute LPGA players bouncing golf balls off of their clubs.  Very nifty and makes you want to be able to do the same.  My golfing skills lie elsewhere at the moment but I'm up for learning how to do that.  Think it has something to do with eye and hand coordination, timing, rhythm.

-Tiger bogeys #17 and #18 on opening day and ends up shooting par for the day.  From the stats and reports, looks like he was pretty darn good at recovering from not so good lies.  Hard to believe that he has been under par at the end of day one on only one of his 18 trips to the Masters.  McIlroy, on the other hand, birdied the same two holes and walks off at one under.  Leader: Lee Westwood at five under par.  More good stuff today from Augusta.  Note to guys playing down there:  Watch out for quadruple bogeys at the last; does nothing good for any part of your game.  Just ask Henrik Stenson (he was 'leaking oil' coming down the stretch with bogeys at 14 and 16 to go along with a birdie at 15 and a par at 17; plus four at the last couldn't have been any fun).

-Several of the Thursday Match Play League teams showed up for a 10am game but decided against going out in the suddenly and drastically much cooler weather - mid 40's (with wind).  That might be ok for most early Aprils but this year we've had summer already for several weeks.  Going from playing in 80+ degree weather the day before to something forty degrees less - hmm, gives one reason to pause and think a bit.  Five of the group did go out for fun; the rest of us, including me, put our golf off for a bit.

Photo: Stan Graber and Marvin Graber finishing up a par at #8.  The two, playing their preseason scramble for the Tuesday Men's League, finished up with a 37.  Marvin, returning from his glory days with brother Norman (they won the team championship back in 2000), will be pairing up with cousin Stan this season.

Bits and Pieces

-Holy Cow!  April like weather in April!  Dang.  Would have been nice to have a little sun and ten more degrees of temperature this morning when the Thursday Match Play Leaguers meet (at 10:00).  But isn't it also nice to have a little relief from all this early heat?  :)    The League members are reminded that they can get their pre-season scramble in the books anytime this week (through Saturday) - it doesn't have to be this morning.  Same thing next week though we will again have a 10am gathering where there will be a game - weather permitting.

-The Masters:  Want Tiger to win but he has to go do it and he has lots of other pretty good golfers out there wanting to slip into that green jacket come this next Sunday afternoon.  Robert Garrigus got off to a rough start with a +3 on the first hole (came back with a birdie on the par 5 2nd hole).  Ouch.

-Looking out the window here on the hill and the wind is really whipping the trees and bird feeders around.  My oh my.  See some of you at ten?  Off to get ready.

Bits and Pieces

-The Irish women were desperately good for about 25 minutes of last night's 40 minute championship game.  Al Lesar of the South Bend Tribune pretty much sums up what happened with just over 15 minute minutes to play in the 2nd half.

Despite the foul trouble, despite four missed open layups, despite
Griner, Notre Dame trailed by just six at intermission. Five minutes
into the second half, the Irish were down three and possessed the
ball.

Turnover. Odyssey Sims 3-pointer. Look out, the roof's caving in.

 Got to believe that roof did cave in and with all the Irish players inside the house and not being able to do anything about it.  From then on, it was all Baylor and Brittany Griner with more than able help from her fellow players.  That particular turnover was the 4th foul on Devereaux Peters, a hard pick on a screen where she raised her arm and sent the Baylor player to the floor.  Skylar Diggins scored 20 and had her game intact;  But Devereaux Peters, Natalie Novosel (zero for eleven in shooting) and Brittany Mallory were shut down.  That's not good when they were so much a factor in the Irish success.  Hats off to the Baylor team - they just kept coming and coming and coming against the Irish.  Final score: 80-61.

-Results of yesterday's Tuesday Afternoon Scramble:

	Tuesday Afternoon Scramble		Team	Gross	Net
	4/3/2012		H'cap	Score	Score
1	Jones, Danny	Hawkins, Lonnie	5.33	34	28.67
2	Jeffers, Short	Divine, Jack	3.67	33	29.33
3	Johnson, Kevin	Burch, Matt	3.33	33	29.67
4	Denson, Doug	Strange, David G.	4.00	35	31.00
5	Byron, Jr	Byron, Kevin	3.67	36	32.33
5	Boyd, Jon	Hart, Paul	2.67	35	32.33
7	Butcher, Terry	Padgett, Colin	2.33	36	33.67

-Standings in the 1st Mixed League (Tuesday Men and Thursday Match Play) pre-season scramble:
Note: League players have through Saturday to get their scramble score in; your league entry fee includes fees for both the pre-season scrambles as well as the mid-season scramble.

					Wk1	Wk1
Wk1	Team	Player 1	Player 2	Team	Gross	Net
POS				H'cap	Score	Score
1	6	Jones, Danny	Hawkins, Lonnie	5.33	34	28.67
2	10	Jeffers, Short	Divine, Jack	3.67	33	29.33
3	2	Walton, Tyler	Johnson, Curt	4.33	34	29.67
4	9	Johnson, Kevin	Burch, Matt	3.33	33	29.67
5	3	Souerdike, Wayne	Allen, Joe	3.67	34	30.33
6	7	Denson, Doug	Strange, David G.	4.00	35	31.00
7	5	Boyd, Jon	Hart, Paul	2.67	35	32.33
8	8	Byron, Jr	Byron, Kevin	3.67	36	32.33
9	4	Butcher, Terry	Padgett, Colin	2.33	36	33.67
10	1	Albertson, Mike	Jones, Mark	5.00	39	34.00

-Thursday Match Play League:  Come on out at 10 tomorrow morning and help get the season underway with the first of the two pre-season scrambles.  We'll run the pre-season scramble concurrently with a Thursday Morning Scramble - each is optional and players do not have to play their pre-season scramble tomorrow at 10 (anytime during the week, Sunday through Saturday).

-Another good day for golf.
Photos: Top: Collage of players on the course and playing in the scramble last night.  Middle: Lonnie Hawkins and Danny Jones exiting the 8th green; they won the Tuesday Afternoon Scramble with a net score of 28.67.  Bottom: Kevin Johnson just barely missing an eagle putt on #6; Matt Burch's putt did the same thing.  

 

Bits and Pieces

-Tuesday Afternoon Scramble at 5:30 this afternoon.  The Tuesday Men's League players can also get their preseason scramble in the books today as well (or anytime this week through Saturday).  Remember, the entry fee for the league scramble is already paid for with your league entry fee this year.

-The Big Dance is over.  Kentucky rules the roost with a 67-59 win over Kansas in a game that saw the Jayhawks make a run at the last that had KY fans on the edge of their seats, not to mention the Kansas fans.  For all the running up and down the floor those two teams did, that's a surprisingly low score to my way of thinking.  Btw, Diane stayed up for the whole game and now reigns as the 'Bird Brain' Bracket Group champ.  She remains as humble as ever and, yes, she did watch the game in her usual fashion - with her lap full of a knitting project.  Photo: Diane knitting during the semifinal game last Saturday:

-Tonight the ND women go for the gold ring for the second year in a row (espn3 at 8:30).  The Irish are the underdogs - the espn poll has 82% of voters going with Baylor.   I'm going with the Irish.  :)

-I know of four guys already on their way to Augusta - DW, MA, KS and MS by initial.  Golf on the way down, golf on the way back and take in all the excitement of the Masters on Wednesday. 

-Video of I.K. Kim missing that one foot putt.  Got to feel for the kid. 

-Heading out to the golf course to do some cart/battery stuff.  Another lovely day for just about anything, including golf.

Photo:  Tony Trambaugh, Tracy Rayhill and Curt Johnson finishing their round yesterday.  Before they started, each of the three helped out up at the clubhouse by moving one cart battery about 15 feet, part of the process where 144 of them will be moved out of the carts and new ones into them.  They did awfully well.  Curt, before leaving the work area and teeing off, thought maybe this had the feel of a Tom Sawyer episode.  (Well, yes...)  Appreciated the help, guys.  Anybody else out there want to experience lugging around a pretty hefty piece of go power?

Bits and Pieces

-Notre Dame women beat UConn women in OT, 83-75, and advance to the Tuesday evening final against Baylor.  Baylor advanced after taking care of Stanford, 59-47.  If you look at the stats on the ND game, it would appear that the Irish should have dominated the Huskies.  The team from South Bend led in every single one of the categories except free throw percentage (the Irish made up for that by making 20 of 27; UConn was 10 of 13), and blocked shots where it was 8 to 7.  Cudos to the Huskies for staying so close and for their almost come back in the last minute of regulation (us Irish fans died two or three times) where they scrapped and scraped their way back from six points down to tie.  They even drew first blood in OT with a three pointer.  Notre Dame was led by Diggins, Novosel and Peters in scoring (19, 20 and 17) but it was the fifth year senior, Brittany Mallory, who made the big three pointers in OT that buried that other school from the Big East.  More from the South Bend Tribune including a video report from Denver.

-Interesting notes from the NCAA report on the Irish-Huskie game:

Taking notes
• Notre Dame has played in just two overtimes games this season, both against Connecticut.
• The last time a national semifinal game went into overtime was in 1997.
• Notre Dame is 11-0 all-time as a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.
• The Fighting Irish is the only team to score 70 points on Connecticut, doing so three times this season.
• Connecticut is 0-3 on the season when allowing more than 70 points.
• The Huskies are 33-2 on the season when leading at halftime.
• Connecticut was outscored in the second half by Notre Dame, 34-31, just the sixth time in 76 halves this season that UConn has been outscored in a half.
• Sophomore guard Bria Hartley’s 18 points pushed her above the 1,000-point threshold for her career (1,005).

-Yani Tseng does not win the Kraft Nabisco Championship.  Sun Young Yoo won on the first extra hole against I.K. Kim.  Those two tied at 9 under after Sunday rounds of -3, Kim missing a one foot putt on the 72nd hole to fall into the playoff.  Yani's Sunday round was +1 and included a par at the par 5 18th hole; she finished one shot back.  Brief story and lots of photos from Bangkok Bobby, including one of Kim after her devastating miss on 18.  (Guess we have all felt that kind of pain before if not for such high stakes.)

-Hunter Mahan won down in Houston making him the first two time winner this year on the PGA.  That's cool.  Now on to the Masters.

-Guess what.  More good weather today.  Wow.

Photo:  The gas station/bait shop just up the road across from the park entrance.  It's under new management - Heather and Rob Douglas.  They've done a pretty good job of cleaning it up and opening up the interior.

Bits and Pieces

-The Big Dance:  Two pretty good ball games yesterday with Diane's teams coming out on top and going to the final game on Monday night.  That would be Kansas and Kentucky.  On the message board for our 'Bird Brains' group, Diane posted this early in the campaign:

Can't get much lower than rock bottom... sigh.

And that was followed by this earlier this morning:

Remember this??!   Can't get much lower than rock bottom... sigh..  stated by current leader and soon to be winner!!

Oh how sweet it is sometimes, isn't it, Diane?! Looking for at least a dinner for all the non-help I gave you in your selection process.

-Susan Fee has a set of Lady Cobra Irons (4-SW) with graphite shafts and Winn grips for sale at $125.  She can be reached at 812-486-9289.  Sounds like a great deal for some lady out there wanting to get started right, with a quality set of irons.

-Reminder:  First pre-season league scramble starts today and runs through next Saturday.  League members:  your scramble fee is included in your league entry fee - get out and get in on the fun!

-Looks like a possibility of rain this morning and then more sun and warm this afternoon.  Like yesterday, near perfect conditions for golf.  Come out and enjoy!

Johnson and Allen Find Gold in Saturday Scramble

Kevin Johnson and Joe Allen found six birdies to go along with two pars and a bogey to fire a five under 30 and capture the Saturday Morning Scramble yesterday.  Along with the 'given' birds at holes two, four and six, the duo rolled in birdie putts at holes five (Johnson), seven (Johnson) and eight (Allen).  Their only blemish came on the often tough par three third hole.  Dave Wininger and Kevin Byron took second place with a score of 32 while Mike Seals and Mike Arvin placed third with a 33.  Mike Bird and Lee Wininger fired a 34 and Wayne Souerdike and Colin Padgett closed the scoring with a 36.