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Golf nirvana
mutterings
By Jeff Mayfield
[JUNE 17, 2003]
Happy
belated Father's Day to all you dads in the audience. I'm really
getting into these dads' days! Shouldn't they be celebrated a little
more often? Thirteen years ago to the day, I took my dad to the U.S.
Open in Chicago. While it was a gift to him long overdue, we had a
great time nonetheless as the ageless Hale Irwin prevailed. So,
enough of the trip down memory lane, let's get right to it…
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Is there a better man
to have as the U.S. Open champion than Jim Furyk? A consistent,
hardworking, highly respected individual just seems like the kind of
guy you'd like to see win a major. And even though the TV ratings
probably don't reflect it, I personally like it a lot better when
you turn on your TV and have no idea who is going to win. How many
times have you turned it off on a Saturday knowing that Tiger wasn't
in contention? Having guys like Furyk, Nick Price, Vijay Singh and a
host of other names that you don't follow as closely as say, Tiger,
Phil, Ernie and the boys actually makes the golf tourneys much more
exciting to follow. I think that the rest of the tournaments this
summer are going to be up for grabs and may make for one of the most
exciting summers of golf in recent memory.
Several local
residents took in the tournament festivities, but none more
conspicuous than our own Elks pro, Adam Walsh. We spotted him
following the Justin Leonard group. Perhaps Leonard should've
grabbed some tips from the pro as he went by.
This is also that
time of year when we are almost overrun by the number of scramble
tournaments in the area… Don't you just love it? I doubt that I will
ever be good enough to compete in tourneys by myself, but for some
reason I can really get focused in a scramble and hit enough decent
shots that usually I can beg a threesome somewhere to pick me up!
And pick me up they usually do, making for a lot more fun than I
usually have playing this great game.
Do the Cardinals have
the worst timing of any team in any sport? First, they meet the Reds
after they had played horribly for two months. The result was the
Reds taking a four-game sweep and also winning in St. Louis, which
has become more of a trend than I care to see. Then they played the
Astros, who had just been stinking it up everywhere. The result was
more losses. This past weekend they go into the house that Babe
built, with all the Clemens hoopla, and lay an egg for three
straight days! What's up with that?
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 However, with all of
these losses and all of this mediocre play, the Redbirds are ONLY
two games out of first place! How is that possible? This bullpen has
struggled in every way imaginable, and there seems to be no end in
sight. Will even the addition of Izzy make any appreciable
difference? I have an idea… Why not bring Rick Ankiel back? Our pen
is an adventure anyway… Maybe Rick would be motivated to be “the
man!” It's just a thought.
Through it all, the
Cubs are just a few days away from being in first place into July.
How do you like Dusty Baker now?
Congratulations to
the Spurs on winning another NBA title! On the most recent edition
of “FANdamonium” many kids out at the Railer basketball camp told
you fans that they would indeed win it all. Congrats also to Tim
Duncan on another MVP award. Any doubters now? We were thrilled to
see the Admiral, David Robinson go out on the highest note possible
-- 13 points, 17 rebounds and two blocked shots. Happy sailing,
David!
Wouldn't the Spurs be
a nice team for Lincoln's Brian Cook to end up on? We're still
hearing middle to end of the first round for Brian, with teams like
Phoenix and Utah showing considerable interest.
Still lots of
basketball, volleyball and other sports camps going on in the area.
Call your local college to find out which ones still have openings.
Have a great week, everybody!
[Jeff
Mayfield]
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