Another Kitsap Trip, Another Seattle Team Loss

Yesterday Cheever, Norman, Benezra and I took the ferry out to Kingston to play Port Ludlow Golf Club. This was a follow-up trip to our White Horse trip last week. We wanted to play a decent course on the Kitsap Peninsula.

Different result, same result.

The Cheever/Cheuk defeated Benezra/Jenkins 1 up. We were four down through five, gladiated back to get to 1 up after 12, then lost three straight. We won 16 and I had two ten-foot birdie putts on 17 and 18, each of which would have won the hole. Missed ‘em both. (I seriously need a new putter and/or putting stroke.)

A few photos:

Proof we were there.

Norman and Cheever looking for Norman's game.

Me and Benezra, the latter in his hunting shirt.

My new Etonics were, aside from Benezra's shirt, the bright spot of my day.

These Guys Are Still Good

Yesterday Steven, Norman and I headed east to the Boeing Classic. It was the first tournament I’d been to live in roughly seven years and the first senior event I’d been to in probably twenty.

Steven and I at the range. That's Bernhard Langer in the background.

These guys are still very, very, very good. To say they stripe it is a serious understatement. Even guys who aren’t known for their length — guys like John Cook or Nick Price, for example — bomb it by me a good forty yards.

Me and Steven by the 14th tee. That's Dan Forsman in the background, next to Mark O'Meara.

We spent a good deal of time following Messrs. Price and Cook, who were paired with John Jacobs. We also followed Mark O’Meara around. I spoke briefly with Hal Sutton — “hey Hal, how far is to carry over to that bunker?,” and he responded with an analysis of the hole.)

Mark O'Meara strutting down the 14th fairway -- tough life.

Maybe the coolest point was when we were leaving. We get in the car and who’s getting out of the car in front of us but John Cook himself. So I rolled down the window and asked him how it is that Tour players get all their free clothes. It turns out the companies (in his case, Nike) send big boxes of clothes to them at home about 3-4 times a year. From there, they actually have to pack their own bags.

Norman behind the 18th green. A few minutes after this, Loren Roberts got up and down to take a one-shot win over Mark O'Meara.

Sounds tough, I know.

John Cook is officially my favorite Champions Tour player.

Our Day Out to White Horse: The Trip Was Worth It, But Not the Destination

Today Norman Cheuk, Greg Cheever, Jeff Benezra and I took the Edmonds ferry out to Kingston to play White Horse, just outside of Kingston.

It did not go well.

The ferry ride, as always, was pleasurable. I think it was my fifth Kingston ferry rider of the summer (Port Gamble for reenacting, LaPush for surfing, White Horse for golf, Forks for the Twilight “tour”).

The golf, however, was a different story.

I shot a cool 93 to follow up the 92 I shot there a month ago. Benezra, Cheever and Norman shot 94, 91, and 96, respectively (off 7, 6 and 9 handicaps). The World Team beat us 3&2. I lost $15.

Suffice it to say, White Horse will not have to worry about seeing any of us again. Not a level lie on the property, greens like trampolines, some sort of gravel in the bunkers.

Fortunately, we caught some good grub on the way back at a cool little pub in downtown Kingston:

Next up — Port Ludlow. And a little payback time.

Mulligans Are There For a Reason

This weekend I played in the Royal Oaks Member/Guest with my good buddy Paul Sharkey. This was the fourth time we’d played together in the annual event. In years past we hadn’t made much noise.

This year, however, we did quite well.

Yesterday we fired a two-over 74 (net 62) in alternate shot to finish at 128. Our round featured my first ever, semi-well executed driver off the deck, Alvaro Quiros style. We won our flight gross by like eight shots. We tied for first low net in our flight (128) and tied for second overall, two strokes behind Casey Ribera’s team (Greenspan ‘07).

Other than the par 5 6th, which we double bogeyed, we played like a couple of Tour stars. We missed a handful of birdie putts inside of ten feet. Had we made even half of them, we would have won the whole thing.

And it’s not like we didn’t have the chance.

At the beginning of the tournament we bought mulligans — one each per person per day. On Friday we flat forgot about them. We ended up shooting a respectable 66, but if we make good use of one of our two mulligans it’s a 65. I remembered them on Saturday on the second tee. We ended up using mine but not Paul’s. So we used ONE of our FOUR mulligans. Put two of the four to good use and we tie for first.

Still, it was a great event and we had a blast. We knew we were within shouting distance on the back nine on Saturday and we played in in one under. Pressure was on, we got it done. Big time.

Not unlike a certain Mr. Woods.

The ‘09 Greenspan Cup: This One Didn’t Go So Well

The ‘09 Greenspan Cup is in the books. The Paul Sharkey-captained World Team defeated my Seattle Team 21.5 – 14.5 to take their second straight Cup. It was the second most lopsided win in Cup history.

The red guys won.

The Cup was great fun as always, but basically a disaster on the course for the Emerald City boys. I won’t belabor the point, but we were down 9-3 after Friday and just couldn’t catch up. I played some of the best golf I’ve ever played at the twelve-year old tournament. I won three matches with my longtime bud Joel Aro and went 4-1 overall, including a year-best 74 on Sunday to beat Tim O’Brien 5&4 (thereby ending the latter’s nine-match winning streak). Unfortunately it was all for naught.

Beating the heat with Joel, Sharkey, Waldner and Adam.

What a guy looks like ten minutes after hitting a 380-yard drive on a 670-yard par 5 (downhill, admittedly).

By the end I could only laugh.

Like Cheever before him, World Captain Sharkey tasted champagne.

Next year we’re off to Bandon Dunes. New state — hopefully a new result.

Benezra-Jenkins Win the Glendale Member-Guest Putting Contest

Last night Jeff Benezra and I won the Glendale Member-Guest putting contest. We qualified for the final ten after Jeff cozied a lag up to 9 1/2″ in afternoon qualifying. Once in we didn’t exactly roll it like Tiger/Phil, but we rolled it good enough and, somehow or another, ended up the last team standing. Second place went to Bacon/Carlson, the defending champs and the team that beat us on the last hole in ‘08.

The champs, the day after, in purple Tiger stripes.

I can’t say this was my biggest win of the year, or even my second or third. Winning the Betcha case has to win the gold, killing the two Kill Betcha.com Acts (1I2) in the state legislature the silver and bronze. It was pretty darn fun nonethless, and for a guy whose GHIN number is rising like the American deficit, it’s nice to win something on the green once in a while.

The irony, of course, is that I may be the worst putter in the field. Most days I return home from the course feeling like I could have putted better with a 2×4. Benezra has an $1,800 putter, but half the time he looks like he’s half drunk on his takeaway. Give us a crowd, however, and I guess we get it done.

Reese Picks Up the Sticks

Ok, she may not be this guy yet . . .

but Reese’s golf career has officially begun:

Dig that clubhead speed.

Shaft may be a tad long and the alignment a bit off, but she'll get it.

Going to be a crafty wedge player -- unlike her dad.

Greenspan 2009 Details

Seems no one keeps their Greenspan e-mails printed out in a nice folder.

No one except Cheever, I’m sure.

The Greenspan boys are returning to Suncadia/Chelan after a two-year absence.

Details of the 2009 event are as follows:

Golf
Thursday July 30 — practice round at Suncadia starting at 11:30 am
Friday July 31 — Bear Mountain Ranch — 8 am and 2:10 pm
August 1 — Desert Canyon — 8 am and 2:20 pm
Sunday August 2 — 11 am singles at Suncadia

Accomodations
Park Pointe, 808 Manson Highway, Chelan, WA (emergency contact numbers 509 670 4698 and 509 670 4697)
B202 – 2 queens, 2 aero beds
B203- 2 queens, 1 queen sleeper couch
B204- 1 king, 1 queen, 1 queen sleeper couch
B301- 1 king, 1 queen, 1 queen sleeper couch.
Fifth unit — World Team only

The Eleventh Annual Greenspan is in the Books

The eleventh annual Greenspan is history. The World Team prevailed 19 1/2 — 16 1/2, their first win since before 9/11. That’s September 11, 2001 — seven years ago.

A few pics (the rest being here):

Sturtevant, me, Waldner, Deandre, and Benezra.

World Captain Greg Cheever in the World's victory celebration.

Me handing the cup over to the champagne-soaked Worlds.

Congrats due to the World Team. They outplayed us from start to finish. We did, however, outdress them. While the Seattle Team sported smart high-end shirts from Greg Norman and Tiger Woods . . .

the Worlds appeared to have picked their uni’s in the dark:

Their Saturday whites from Antigua featured scales on the back and had players dubbing themselves “Team Sockeye.”

Whose bright idea was it to put scales on the back of a shirt?

As bad as they were, they may have been eclipsed by Sunday’s disco brown bubble jobs:

Part Native American totem pole, part '70's wallpaper.

Not sure what the thinking was there, but either one has to go down among the ugliest uniforms in sports history.