The Kokopelli Golf Stance

I kept score for Steve Elkington, Michael Letzig, and Roland Thatcher.  They all had kind of up-and-down days, as golfers do.

Elk shot 68 with an eagle, two birdies and two bogies.  He hit the green in 2 on the 562-yd 4th hole and made a longish putt.  That got him to -3, but he bogeyed the 7th hole.  Did I mention that I eagled that one the first time I played it?

Roland shot even par 35-35-70, but in a most uneven way:  6 pars, 6 birdies, 6 bogeys.  At the end he said he couldn't remember the last time he had 6 bogeys in a round.  (I can't either.)

Michael shot 71 with one birdie and two bogeys.  And one eagle and one double bogey.  I guess that would be even more uneven than Roland.  On the 572-yd 11th, he hit his second shot to the fringe, about 15 feet, and made the putt.  He was -3 at the turn, having also made a tap-in birdie on the 230-yard 13th.  Then shot 39 on the last 9.

We started on 10, and at the turn we were collectively 4 under par.  On #1, Michael's approach shot hit a drain cover just to the right of the green, pin high, and bounced 40 yards into the desert, unplayable in a bush.  That led to the double bogey.

On #2, Roland sliced his drive into the desert.  He then hit a provisional, and hooked it into the desert.  Then another provisional, also hooked into the desert.  This is very tricky on the scoring system.  It can handle one provisional shot per each regular shot, but not more than one.  Fortunately, he found the first ball and was able to play it.  It was under a bush, so he took a practice swing through a similar bush, and because it was so brittle from the dry summer, he decided he could play the shot, and chipped it out into the fairway.  Then he almost holed the third shot, hit it right over the pin, and backed it up to about a foot.  "That would have been the dirtiest birdie ever", said he.  When he tapped it in for par, I gave him a blog card and told him it was a helluva par and he could read about it on the web.  Michael said "He got the exact opposite break that I got on the last hole." 

This morning's AZ Republic had a picture of Mike Weir signing autographs at the Pro-Am yesterday ... right-handed.  I saw him putting after the round, so I asked him about it.  No way.  They must have reversed the image. 

I was on TV.  Toward the beginning of the Golf Channel coverage, when we were teeing off on 16.  They showed Michael's tee shot, and then panned to a wide view of the hole from behind the green.  I'm the little red dot on the right side of the tee (left side on the screen), partially obscured by the caddies, which look like little white dots.  Not to be confused with the spectators, which are the little white dots behind the ropes.  You can't see the ropes, though.

I'm off tomorrow, walking again on Saturday.  I'll let you know how the view is from the Paddy O'.

Mr. Science

I kept score for Jeff Quinney's team today:  Anne Gallagher, Jeanne Waldron, and Tyler Meine.  Anne and Jeanne are old friends from near Philadelphia, and came to Scottsdale to play in this event.  Tyler works for Rolex.

Tyler is an 18 handicap, or at least was getting 18 strokes today.  I think they play at 70 or 80% in a team event.  He was on fire the front 9.  Jeff had 5 birdies in the first 9 holes, but was not a factor in the team score.  Tyler parred the first 6 holes, and when he hit his second shot onto the green on 7, I said to Jeff "If he's an 18, I'm Barack Obama".  He's a muscular guy, long hitter, and has a very good-looking swing for an 18.  Or for a 10.  Or a 5.

7 is usually a par 5, 498 yards form the back tees, but that's too short for the pros now so they play it as a par 4 for the tournament.  I made eagle 3 on it the first time I played it. 

So Tyler sinks his 12-footer for birdie 3 on 7, and the team goes to 8 under par.

So, Tyler proceeds to make par on 8, and when he hits his second shot onto the green on 9, I pointed to my headset and announced that the people on the radio said there was someone from the USGA who wanted to see Tyler after the round.   He made his par there, shooting 34 for the front 9, net 10-under (25).  Which would have been 11 under on 51 weeks out of the year.  The leaderboards were showing one of the morning teams leading the tournament at 15 under.  

Anne and Jean are 14 and 10 handicaps, and were hitting the ball great off the tee, but mostly not able to follow up.  Even from the ladies' tees, some of the holes are pretty long, and they often just didn't have enough juice to get on the greens in regulation.  Jeanne made a couple of pars for net birdies on the front 9, but with Tyler on fire like he was, it didn't matter.

The back 9 was not so successful.  Tyler started spraying his tee shots, but made a par along the way, while Jeff made 3 more birdies, and on the 16th tee we were 14 under par.  15 was still leading.  Tyler hit a good tee shot on 16, just short of the green, and got up and down for par to tie the lead.  Alas, that was where we finished, as nobody could make anything happen on 17 and 18, two very tough holes.  18 is another par 5 called a par 4 for the tournament, 515 yards, so the ams had little chance, especially the women.

I don't know yet how the tie will be resolved, one of the PGA Tour officials said it varies from tournament to tournament, and he didn't know how they were doing it this time.  Jeff was cordial all day, but didn't sign a ball for me at the end.  Oh, well.  He ended up with 66, and it could have been 63 but for a few mishaps on his chipping.

The effects of the economy were really showing.  There were only 40 teams, and only 3 amateurs on each.  In good times, there would be 4 per team and 52 teams.  The most common sponsors were Fry's (17 entries), the PGA Tour, and the Golf Channel, (6 each).  Not many spectators, either.

I'll be scoring again tomorrow, and Saturday.  I hope to spend Friday and Sunday in O'Donoghue's O'Bar O'Verlooking the 16th green.  They're going to have some free samples, I hear. 

Mr. Science