I’m working as hard as I can to get my life and cash to run out at the same time. If I can just die after lunch on Tuesday everything would be perfect.
Doug Sanders
Money Management
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Stealing The Crown
There is no one in the golf world at this moment other than Adam Scott who should be wearing the emperor’s clothes. Building on his Master’s victory in April and his win at The Barclay’s this fall, he has been on a run of good form the last month that has all the best players shaking their heads.
Until the very last hole at the Australian Open at Royal Sidney yesterday he was staring at a folkloric accomplishment, winning the Australian Triple Crown. This was set up by his wins the previous three weeks in Australia including the first two legs of the Australian Triple Crown-the Australian PGA Championship at Royal Pines on the Gold Coast and the Australian Masters at Royal Melbourne. He threw in a third team victory for good measure with Jason Day winning the Two-Man World Cup at Royal Melbourne last week.
As you can read in this Boston Herald account of the final round of The Australian Open, Scott did everything he had to do to add his name to the distinguished list of Australian Open winners and become only the second player in history to win all three legs of the Australian Triple Crown in the same year. That is everything except account for Rory McIlroy who was apparently closer than he appeared in the rear view mirror.
After an emphatic statement shooting 62 on the opening day, Scott just played as good as he needed to keep the field well at bay. McIlroy, who has slowly been regaining his own swagger the last month, had a 65 on day two to make his presence known.
At the start of the final round Rory was four back of Scott and the two seemed to feint and parry their way through the first four holes until Rory unleashed his mojo with four straight 3’s including an electric eagle on the seventh to Scott’s par 5. Rory got within one at the turn and they went back into fencing mode over the back nine with Scott failing to convert a number of 10 footers that would have given him more breathing room.
Side-by-side in the 18th Fairway it came down who would blink on the final approach shot. Rory stuck it to 10 feet while Adam’s effort meandered over the green leaving a dicey up-and-down to save par. His pitch wandered away from the tin and he missed a long come back putt to settle for bogey. Rory did what Rory does and just calmly make the decisive birdie putt on the last revolution to effectuate a two-shot swing and steal the Crown from Adam’s crown.
Great TV drama….two young champions pushing each other to the limit….the stuff of major championship golf.
(Click to read the Boston Herald account of Rory’s final round in the Australian Open)
Boston Herald
November, 2013
Dead Solid Perfect
The game of golf provides inspiration to many of us through simple lessons we get from a weekend walk, or a roll, in the park. The story of Mike Reeder’s sojourn to the Old Course at St. Andrews is so full of inspiration you may need a travel trunk to store it all.
Mike poses for the standard tourist shot on the Swilcan Bridge…just not standing. (ESPN.go.com)
As you can see in this ESPN E:60 piece called “Dead Solid Perfect” Mike Reeder was a veteran who lost both legs during his tour of duty in Vietnam. After meeting his wife Debbie he carved out a new life in the music business. His travels took him to a suburb of Nashville where the fickle finger of fate pointed him toward a run-in with a five-wood that started an unlikely dedication to the game of golf.
Most of us can testify that the relationships we make on the golf course, especially with regular playing buddies, are very special and unique. Mike was blessed to meet his friend Mike Bilbrey who became his golf foil for the next 20 years. They played golf, cajoled, and shared a pact that some many golf buddies share-they would someday play St. Andrews together. They both got there, though not exactly how they had planned, and Mike Reeder became the first man to play the Old Course at St. Andrews from a wheel chair.
Set aside 15 minutes and enjoy this moving and inspirational tale of golf friendship and personal dedication to the purest elements of the game. You will want to share this with others.
(Click to view the E:60 piece on Mike Reeder called Dead Solid Perfect)
E:60 Dead Solid Perfect
July, 2011
Appearance Money
On the $110,000 appearance money at the 1995 Dubai Classic:
To an oil prince it’s emir pittance.
John Walters
Sports Illustrated
Swing Surgery
Dividing the golf swing into its parts is like dissecting a cat. You’ll have blood and guts and bones all over the place….but you won’t have a cat.
Ernest Jones
Wecome Back!
About 20 months ago Jarrod Lyle, an Australian pro of considerable physical size and commensurate ability, was told that the leukemia he had battled to a draw as a teenager had returned. Given the fact that historically a second bout with leukemia has a much lower chance of success, it had to seem to him very unlikely that he would ever play a professional golf tournament again.
Yet yesterday, standing on the first tee of the storied Royal Melbourne Golf Club for the first round of the Talisker Australian Masters he heard those cherished words, “From Victoria, please welcome back Jarrod Lyle”. To Jarrod and the throngs of supporters who poured out for his homecoming return to professional golf it brought tears of joy to their eyes…….this is the feel good golf story of the year.
As you can read in Matt Murnane’s account in the Sydney Morning Herald Jarrod Lyle’s begins a new journey in his fight to regain his career after his successful second round of treatment has once again put his leukemia in check.
The pictures in the article say it all, his wife and young daughter and hundreds of others wearing the supportive yellow of the Challenge cancer network. They had come to provide a cloud of support for a local golf hero, playing the course he holds dearer than any other, in one of the big three events on the Australian golf calendar.
His opening par-birdie start was as much a release of pent up emotion than golf skill but it set in his mind that he was back where he belonged. The golf gods did not issue him any free passes though. On the ninth hole he pulled his drive and his Titleist wedged itself into the fork of a tree down the left side of the fairway. “I think it was the same tree we were under in the Heineken (Classic in 2005, when he came to prominence),” said his father John Lyle. “He knows that spot well.”
Showing the grit he is known for with a resurgence on the back side Jarrod shot a one-over-par 72 and has positioned himself to meet his goal of making the halfway cut after tonight’s second round.
You can follow his progress as the Talisker Australian Masters is being broadcast live on the Golf Channel late this evening. Great coverage with a cast of Australian announcers handling the duties with full Aussie jargon. Ian Baker Finch is on the crew and is by far the most understandable accent in the booth. Go figure!
Needless to say half a country and plenty of interested bystanders around the world are pulling for him to do just that.
Round 2 Update: Jarrod Lyle shot even par today to make the halfway cut at one-over. Those yellow Challenge Hats will be sold out for the weekend. Great Stuff!!
Round 3 Update: Lyle had three birdies and two bogies on his way to a one-under 70 and and even par standing through three rounds. He is currently 29th and positioned will for a top 25 finish with a sub par round on Sunday.
Final Round Update: Rough day for Jarrod starting off double bogey, bogey, and other in the first four holes. He did make three birdies on the way to 79 and and T-57 finish. Great to make a check….great to see him back.
(Click to read Matt Murnane’s article on Jarrod Lyle return to pro golf)
Matt Murnane
Sydney Morning Herald
November, 2013
Fourteen Club Limit
Most golfers carry fourteen clubs for the same reason that a painter’s easel can accommodate fourteen or more brushes: they are not too many for the delicate, varied, and agonizedly solitary and introspective making of strokes.
Peter Black
No Rules-Just Right
Mike Keiser continues to astonish with a simple rule prevailing at his properties in Bandon-just go out an enjoy golf. Whether it is the 13-hole Bandon Preserve par 3 playground or his new mega putting facility Punchbowl he continues to break the mold of modern golf resorts by providing unique opportunities to enjoy the game.
In this article by Ron Bellamy for The Register-Guard you can read about one of Keiser’s most innovative concepts, one of the best kept secrets in Bandon, a DIY golf course that anyone can play-the Bally Bandon Sheep Ranch. No clubhouse, no golf shop, no practice facility, not even a bathroom with running water. This is an unirrigated piece of kept golfing land with 13 greens where you can pretty much make your holes up as you go playing your own unique design.
Keiser’s business partner from the greeting card business, Phil Friedmann bought this land about a dozen years ago and had Tom Doak build him 13 greens on this piece of land he had purchased on the north border of Bandon Dunes. It was basically his personal golf course and is not part of the Bandon Dunes Resort.
Yet it is totally accessible if you know the secret process for getting to play it. Actually pretty simple, just call Bandon Golf Supply where they will put you in touch with the course superintendent. He will arrange a day and time to meet your group at the course, it is available weekdays between November and June, the course is closed during the hot summer months. He will collect a fee of $100 a man hand you a scorecard and a suggestion for a routing and where to begin. The rest is up to you.
This is a fantastic concept for any devout golfer with a strong opinion on course design. It is a golf equivalent to backwoods helicopter skiing without the chopper. Imagine an open canvas of stellar golfing land overlooking an ocean where you decide where to tee it up and where the green will be on each hole. No complaints about the design being unfair especially because the designer is looking back at you in the reflection of the glass face of your watch. This is the ultimate in the Play It Forward concept. Just decide what distance is comfortable and put a peg in the ground.
Don’t forget to bring a grill and plenty of refreshment….there will be no visits from a cart girl or a halfway house at the turn. In fact there is no turn…..nor end to your round until you decide it is over. What a concept…..leave it to Keiser and his buddies to break the mold once again.
(Click to read this fascinating article by Ron Bellamy’s about Bally Bandon Sheep Ranch)
Ron Bellamy
The Register-Guard
November, 2013
Natural Selection
After lightening had postponed play at the 1983 Masters…
We don’t want to get anybody killed. Of course, if we could pick which ones, it might be a different story.
Hord Hardin
The Cross Country
Indian Summer, or fall as we call it in the east, offers a unique opportunity for our season ending annual Cross Country event. Through the quasi-capable efforts of Ben and Bill of Dwinkoff Associates nine new and original holes were plied from the landscape of one of our two courses. Using alternative tees and approach lines to existing greens they presented a test that required creative tactics, patience, and a smidge of luck.
In a Step-Back Four-Man Scramble format 32 of our members participated in this gross competition. Three par 3s, two almost par 5s, and four par 4s made up a 35 par 2844 yard field of play. On every tee they got a photo of the hole, the hole name, and yardage….with the modern yardage technology in hand there were few mysteries, other than having never played these holes before.
There were tempting short par fours like “Range Rover” which was a 250 yard uphill carry across the environmental abyss and few other architectural features (click on the photo to see full detail)…..at a stroke average of 3.25 to the par 4 this proved to be a pivotal hole in the competition.
“No Peeking” was a unique Par 3 of 170 yards which required an obscured shot over a stone shelter to a two-level green with the pin tucked into a phone booth. Like the “Redan” from North Berwick this will be copied by next generation creative designers who can think out of the box.
The “ICC” (inter-county connector) required a blind tee ball across pond, trees, and rough to the landing area….
…….what was left was another 220 yards plus uphill into a stepped green with a hidden flag.
The scores were better than expected with all 8 groups shooting gross par or better. More often than not it came to driving it in play and making putts.
After a couple of four under 31s had the mingling troops conjuring up a playoff hole
(everyone is an arm chair designer) the team of O’Neill, Zweig, Gordon, and Greenbaum posted a five under 30 to put all the conversation to rest.
They had five birdies and an eagle on the “Range Rover” against one bogie on the 234 yard Par 3 Bird House on their way to the winning tally.
From the left are those to whom the spoils were conveyed….. Mr. Clean, The Deer Whisperer, Zowl, and Book Em Dano……they sure look happy pointing out the obvious.
November, 2013
moegolf 