Is it still fall here in Indiana? It seems like fall has passed us by, and we’ve gone directly into a rainy spring or possibly monsoon season. It’s hard to think about golf when the weather is not accommodating, but alas, this is a golf column that I write, so I must persevere.
First of all, a check on what is going on in the world of Tiger Woods, just because so many people care about that. The year 2006 was an up-and-down season for Tiger. He had great personal triumphs and tragedies. He won two of the four major championships, plus six other PGA Tour events, yet it was a year in which his father died and he missed the cut at the U.S. Open, ending his streak of consecutive cuts made in major tournaments at 39. He was the leader of a Ryder Cup team that was thrashed soundly, yet still had some memorable moments, including the moment his caddie dropped his nine iron in the water! He ends the season ranked No. 1 in the world, and No. 1 on the money list.
Woods is ranked first in scoring average also, with an average score of 68.11, but he’s not likely to win the Vardon Trophy this year because he hasn’t played the required number of rounds. The Vardon Trophy has been awarded since 1937 to the player with the lowest scoring average on the PGA Tour. The average is based on a minimum of 60 rounds though, and Tiger has only played in 55, mostly due to his nine-week lay off after the death of his father. The Vardon Trophy will likely go to Jim Furyk, whose scoring average is 68.94, and who has played in enough events.
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Ball State freshman and ex-Terre Haute South golfer Travis Smith shot a final round score of 69 to finish at seven-under par, leading his team in the Xavier Invitational on Oct. 2-3. He tied for ninth individually in that event. At the 49er Collegiate Classic at Cabarrun Country Club in Concord, N.C., Ball State finished in 11th place with team scores of 295, 318 and 313 for the 54-hole tournament. BSU will complete the fall portion of its schedule at the Herb Wimberly Invitational hosted by New Mexico State University on Oct. 30-31.
--Meanwhile, the Sycamores women’s team had a good start to their first season. They placed sixth of 19 teams in the Ball State Cardinal Classic in their first event ever. Lead by freshman Kayley Bodine with a 155 total, the ISU team total for the tournament was 632, which was 25 strokes behind the winning team of Eastern Michigan. ISU defeated Ohio (634), Ball State (635) and Butler (638), amongst others.
Their second tournament took them to Lawrence, Kan., for the Marilynn Smith Invitational. The 16-team tournament featured six Missouri Valley Conference schools, out of which the Sycamores finished fourth. ISU had a three-day team score of 917 to place 12th overall. The top finisher for the Sycamores was Mackenzie Mack, who had a total of 240, finishing in a tie for 34th place.
On Oct. 9-10, the Sycamores were back in Indiana at The Shootout At The Legends, where they place 16th as a team. The low-scorer for the Sycamores at that tournament was Breanne Smith, who had 229 for the three-day event, to tie for 35th place. Mack had a three-round score of 237, in a tie for 65th place. Aubrey Watt had a 242 (74th place), Bodine and Kelsea Ice had scores of 248 for a tie at 81st place. The Sycamores inaugural fall season concludes at the Missouri Valley Conference Preview in Peoria, Ill., hosted by Bradley University. They will begin their spring season Feb. 26-27 at the Ann Rhoads/Birmingham Southern Shootout in Birmingham, Ala. Congratulations to coach Mike Whitson and his team for getting off to a strong start!
--Time to get prepared for next season — OK, this year when I put my clubs away for the season, I’ve got to make certain that I don’t have any candies or mints in any of the little compartments. Last winter some mice were attracted to a mint in my golf bag, so I don’t want that to happen again!
I haven’t quite put my clubs away for the season, I’m still hoping for an Indian summer, or at least some sunny weather with little wind, but the season in our area is definitely dying down. I can look back over the season and remember what I did right and what I did wrong, and take note. I know that I benefited from some weight lifting in the winter months, so I plan on getting started on that again soon. I’ll never be a big hitter, but I added about 20 yards to my drives, and in high form could subtract one iron from all of my approach shots. Use the winter to recover from nagging injuries, do some strength and flexibility training, and hopefully I’ll see you on (or off) the course next spring!
Jennifer Myers can be reached by email at jfmyers@xsthe.net.
On & Off the Course
On and Off the Course: Is this really fall or have we moved onto monsoon season?
- On & Off the Course
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Death Notice: Feb. 7, 2013
• Gary R. Wright
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Donna Lynn Strahla Bown
Donna Lynn Strahla Bown passed away early Friday morning, Jan. 25, 2013, with her children by her side.
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‘The Match’ pitting amateurs vs. pros recalled 62 years later
Quote of the Day: “I play golf with friends sometimes, but there are never friendly games.” — Ben Hogan.
Bubba Watson has had a busy fall. Not only did he play all the way to the final round of the FedEx Championships, and in the Ryder Cup, he also played in an event commemorating a very famous match played at Cypress Point in 1956, pitting two of the greatest golf pros at the time against two of the best amateurs.
Come to think of it, all four were some of the best golfers of all time. This year’s event was celebrating The First Tee’s exceeding $100 million in pledges to reach 10 million new young people. It wasn’t televised and kept very quiet; only 225 people were in the gallery.
One of the people in the gallery was Mark Frost, the author of a book titled “The Match,” which is about that match played 62 years ago that was re-enacted in modern terms last week. The pros in 1956 were Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson and the amateurs were Ken Venturi and Harvie Ward. It was supposed to have been a private affair, built around a wager by two millionaires, George Coleman and Eddie Lowery. -
ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Golf from the wrong side of the brain
Imagine this scenario: a woman, small in stature (possibly freckled), walks into a hospital emergency room and says, “I have an emergency, I need a doctor quickly!” The admitting nurse, ever trying to be helpful, asks what the emergency is.
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Farmers looking at widely varying yields
Combines will roll through fields this weekend, bringing in the harvest from a summer with nearly no rain.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Golf debut in London would have been nice
As the Olympics get underway in London this weekend, I was thinking it’s too bad that the Olympic committee decided too late to add golf as one of the sports for this event; instead it will be added to the 2016 Olympics in Rio De Janeiro.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Getting to Hoosier country’s best golfing venue part of the fun
If you are looking for Indiana’s premier golfing destination, then you should look no further than French Lick.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Indiana's Pete Dye courses worth the drive
You’ve probably heard of the Robert Trent Jones Golf trail throughout Alabama, but you might not be aware that Indiana has its own “Pete Dye Golf Trail” comprised of seven courses.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Fathers typically a big influence on golfing sons
Some events fall naturally into place around holidays. The Fourth of July always falls somewhere during Wimbledon, giving all of the Yanks in attendance something to be boisterous about, to the chagrin of their hosts; The Masters often, but not always, ends on Easter Sunday, which is fitting since golfers find it such a reverent occasion.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Memorial just one of many visions of Jack Nicklaus
When Jack Nicklaus was a young man, the golfer he most admired was Bob Jones.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: With some tricky rules, golf is not a walk in the park
Golf is not a casual sport, even though it has a term called “casual water.”
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On and off the course: Sycamores seeded sixth heading into MVC golf tourney
It wasn’t too long ago that Indiana State University didn’t even have a women’s golf team.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: A hard ticket to come by
This is the weekend of the Masters Tournament, the first of the four major tournaments.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Some things on golf course are worse than steep putts
It’s not often that anything gets more scary on a golf course than a steep downhill putt, but on some courses around the world, things a little more on the supernatural side might give you a bigger fright!
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: The shot heard round the world
I don’t know if the Golf Channel will show a “Best Shots of 2011” highlight reel, much like ESPN does for baseball or football.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: The Red, White and Blue visits the Isle of Green
In 2006, the Ryder Cup was held in Ireland at The K Club in County Kildare.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Fall may be coming but golf season is far from over
Once the major tournaments are over with, what’s there to look forward to in the world of golf?
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Golf… simplified!
Golf is not a simple game. A golf course is made up of 18 holes, all different. There are par-3s, par-4s and par-5s; they all vary in length and elevation, and each has its own challenges. There can be water hazards, trees, sand bunkers, tall grass, hills, valleys — and then, if that’s not enough, there’s probably wind too.
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On and Off the Course: Northern Ireland builds on golf history
Northern Ireland is only about 5,452 square miles in area and has a population about the same as West Virginia, which is about 1,880,344.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Women’s Open at the Broadmoor
This is the weekend of the U.S. Women’s Open, and this year it’s being played at The Broadmoor, East Course, in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: The Fort Golf Course: A Walk in the Park…
Indiana has some pretty spectacular state parks, but one of them gives you the ability to “spoil a good walk” by chasing a little white ball.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Father’s Day is a good day for golfers
Most people consider the time around Christmas to be the gift-buying season.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Playing with lead a difficult task
As exciting as last week’s Masters was, with six players being tied for the lead at one point on Sunday, it was very difficult watching Rory McIlroy fall apart to shoot an 80.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Masters a rite of spring
This is Masters weekend, the grand kickoff to the golf season for a lot of golfers. Sure, there have been tournaments on TV, because the professionals have been playing in Hawaii, California, Texas, Dubai, and other areas not so affected by winter as we are here in the Midwest, but to me, watching The Masters is a rite of spring.
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ON THE OFF THE COURSE: Some history on the Ryder Cup
I fell asleep in way too many history classes to ever qualify as a history buff. However, since I have grown up a bit (not much), I enjoy learning about all kinds of history. I often have questions about how something began, or how something came to be.
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On and Off the Course: Purdue's Kampen Course a gem in Indiana's rough
About a month ago, Indiana was still heavily mired in heat and humidity, making outdoor activities such as golf less appealing than usual. At that time it felt like the repressive heat would never go away, it would never rain again, and all of the grass was just going to continue to wither and die. And the month prior to that we kept getting rained out of golf events!
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On and Off the Course: Successful golfers know ... focus is the key
I have a good friend who coached his daughter’s basketball team for a number of years, and told me that his theme with the girls was always “focus”, until it was ingrained in their brains. Now when they play high school ball, if they hear “focus” yelled from the stands, they know the source.
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On and Off the Course: Technology adds even more fun to the course
You’ve hit a drive into some brush in an area marked as a hazard, but you can’t find the ball to prove it is there. And no one actually witnessed it go in the hazard. You just think that’s where it probably is. What is the rule for this situation?
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On and Off the Course: Anthony Gonzalez First Tee Classic a worthwhile charity event
On Monday, I worked as a volunteer for the Anthony Gonzalez First Tee Classic, Golf Tournament and Auction at Eagle Creek Golf Course in Indianapolis. It was an absolutely beautiful day, with clear blue skies, just a few wispy clouds here and there and a high temperature of about 76 degrees.
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On and Off the Course: Trends show golf in decline
You don’t have to watch the news or read the paper to understand that America is struggling on the economic front. The evidence can be witnessed at the local golf course.
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Death Notice: Feb. 7, 2013
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