Golf updates (and other stuff)

Sorry for the non-blogging for a while. Two big golf tournaments over the past few days. Let me try to recap:

1) Last week was the Ohio Public Golfer's Tournament at Apple Valley GC in Mt Vernon. I shot a mediocre 79-77-76 for a 232 (+16), missing the cut for the 4th round by a few strokes. I finished 80th or so out of 240 that started.

I made one birdie in 54 holes, with 6 3-putts (some were 60 footers from the fringe) in the first 27 holes. Couldn't make anything.

The highlight of the tourney came in the 2nd round on my last 9, when I was fighting to make the cut after 36 holes. It was set at 156; I knew I needed a 38 on my last nine (the front nine) to make the cut.
We were playing with a high schooler who could bomb the ball but had no short game whatsoever. He shot 89 the first day, and 5-putted the 11th on the 2nd day. We come to the 5th hole, our 14th, a 140 yard par 3 over water. He pulls out a driver - yes, a driver - and half-swings it. It goes into some trees on the right, and kicks out but rests up against the retaining wall for the hazard. Two whiffs later, he elects to go back and drop; he thins the drop over the green into the trees behind the green; he makes an 11 and withdraws. He loses my card in the process. Classic high-school immaturity.

Another guy we played with was a college golfer at Cedarville. Here was his card for the final nine:

Par 445 435 344 - 36
Score 434 254 235 - 32

A double and a bogey, and still shoots 32. Amazing.

2) Then yesterday was the US Mid-Am Qualifier at TPC at River's Bend here in Cincinnati. Course was set up at 7200 yards, with almost all pins tucked. 95 people fighting for 5 spots that will go to the national event.

Don and I talked beforehand that 73 or 74 may be good enough to make it - a perfect scenario for a grinder like me. Well, after a bogey on 1, a 3-putt bogey on 2, a bogey with a wedge from the rough on 4, and a double on a par 5 (no penalties), I was +5 after 6. A birdie and a bogey later, I made the turn in 41.

But I was convinced the course was playing even tougher than we thought, and I remarked to my caddy that "hey, shoot 34 this nine, and we may have a shot".

I started with a 9 iron to 8 feet on 10, made the putt for birdie; I got screwed on 11 witha good approach but still made par. I had to shoot at a tucked pin on 12 and made bogey.

The next three holes were par 4's of 430, 465 and 470. I parred 13, shot for the pin on 14 and made bogey, and made a great par on 15. I bogeyed 17 - again, shooting at the pin - but birdied the easy par 5 18. 41-37= 78. I felt pretty good as I left the green - played very well on the back nine, shooting 37 on a tough nine.

Then I saw the scores. There were many withdrawals out there. I saw nothing but 80s on a couple of pages of the leaderboard. With about 40% of the scores in, I was in 4th place.

My heart sank, and I felt sick. Dammit, why did I waste all those strokes on the first 6 holes?

I ended up in 13th, 2 shots out of a playoff for the 5th spot. Last year, in Chicago, I finished 2 out of the last spot as well (with a double on 3).

One of these years, I will make a USGA national event. I'll keep plugging.

(One of Derek's co-workers was in the Columbus qualifier today. If the results are good, I will post).

Other topics:

1) How many fantasy football leagues are too many? I'm going for 3 competitive leagues this year - 3 leagues that are serious and require a lot of attention. Too much? Not enough? I think this is about right.

2) Went to the Ohio State Fair this weekend. That is a fascinating place for people-watching. What an amazing amalgam of hoi polloi. Every section of society was represented there. Too many obscene/random/weird t-shirt slogans to mention. A Tim Couch jersey was spotted.

We were in the cake exhibit (don't ask - purely Janice's idea) and there was a contest for the "ugliest" cake decoration. Some cakes were decorated like a garbage can, complete with the rats; others were decorated as a sewer.
One cake in this category was a well-designed, colorful cake; it was a blue cake with yellow trim. There was one letter onthe top of the cake - a neatly designed letter "M".
I'm sure this cake will be the winner of the ugliest cake contest.

3) What the hell is Final Fu?

4) I'm now addicted to Project Runway. And, thanks to Instapundit, here is an unofficial Project Runway blog that skewers everybody (even my girl Bonnie! I was sad to see her go.)