July 2007 – The Golfchick

Month: July 2007 (page 1 of 2)

Congratulations, Natalie!

I knew she was more than a pin-up girl. I was certain she was not doomed to Anna Kournikova status. If you let Natalie’s charming smile and on-course strut fool you into thinking there wasn’t a fierce competitor under there, you probably didn’t bet on her like I recommended.

Natalie Gulbis victorious

Okay, it wasn’t a prediction to literally bet on her in the Evian Masters this year, just a general “Natalie’s not just a bikini model” type of statement. Buy her calendars, look for those sexy upskirt shots during play and wish to be her bicycle seat all you want, just don’t count her out of competitions. She has a competitive spirit and a winning attitude in addition to a relentless marketing team and now she has a trophy to prove it.

So congratulations, Natalie. You’re a champion.

I just wish I could have seen the playoff. When I got home late last night after avoiding seeing the results of the tournament, I watched the coverage on TiVo. But I’m an idiot and didn’t set it to record beyond the allocated time slot. Natalie was in the clubhouse preparing for a possible playoff with Juli Inkster or Jeong Jang, who both needed to birdie 18 to force the playoff and were both in the middle of the fairway. Ding! Delete now? Damnit! I had to look it up to find out Inkster three-putted for bogey and Jang chipped up for a tap-in birdie. The sudden death playoff started on 18, where Jang had birdied all four days and Gulbis had only birdied twice. But the playoff went no further. Jang made par and Gulbis sank the victorious birdie putt. I’m sorry I missed it, Natalie. I would have loved to watch you win.

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Earning First but taking home Second

July 25, 2007 / golfchick / 4 Comments

It’s bittersweet. But mostly sweet. I’m just glad to bring home a plate.

SCGA Affiliate Team trophy plate

Here’s the story:

Every year, the president of the golf club I’m in plays in the SCGA Affiliate Team Championship tournament. Every year, he takes a different person to be his partner. (He jokes that he can’t get the same person to play with him more than once – and he is quite a character.) It’s a two-day event for any SCGA Affiliate golf club that wants to send a team to represent them to compete for the title. The first day is a two-person best ball (not to be confused with a scramble – you both play your full round and the best net score between you is the score you take on each hole). The second day is a modified Pinehurst format, where you each tee off then hit your partner’s ball for the second shot, then choose one ball and alternate hitting it until you hole out. It’s a much more difficult format than best ball and can really test a friendship.

Bruce, the prez, convinced me to play with him this year. He won the event in 2000 with a partner he had experience playing with in this format. He loves that plate. I mean LOVES it. I think he polishes it in a daily prayer. Other than that year, he hasn’t earned a trophy there in the rest of the 13+ years he’s participated. They give out plates to the top 5 teams. He desperately wanted another one. They are nice – I have one of my own from the only other SCGA event in which I’ve played. It’s shiny and pretty.

Day One

They gave Bruce 14 strokes and I got 18. On the first day, our scorecard showed me with a 91 and Bruce with a 92. Scores are kept by the other team in your foursome, and when we exchanged cards at the end of the round, we noticed the scorer had inverted a few of our individual hole scores but had the team net score correct based on the dinks we each got for the holes. Bruce and the scorer made corrections to the individual scores and we turned in our card knowing we shot a net 64. When the SCGA officials posted our score on the leaderboard, it said 65. We asked what was up and the official showed us the card. Hole 11 is a par 5 on which I got a stroke but Bruce did not. Our scores showed me with a 7 and him with a 5 but we had a 4 in the net column, so the official had adjusted it to a 5, increasing our score by one stroke. Well, that was MY hard-fought scrambling par with a dramatic one-putt that dropped in on an agonizing final revolution. Oh no! We had missed a correction on one of those inverted scores! So I actually shot an 89 and Bruce shot 94 and our net score really was 64. Thankful they didn’t DQ us for turning in an incorrect card, we accepted the erroneous 65 and hoped it didn’t come down to one stroke. There were five teams with lower scores.

Day Two

Low scores are rare in this format and we figured we’d be in good shape if we finished at 2 or 3 under. We played really well as a team, and if one of us hit a bad shot the other one made up for it on the next one. My putting was in rare form and what I call my “all day long zone” which is usually anything within 5 feet extended to 10 feet. I was draining ’em. I had a confidence standing over putts that I’ve never had before. We finished at 6 under which was the best score of the day, with a 66. Obviously in this format there were no individual hole scores but we checked and rechecked our card a gazillion times before turning it in. No discrepancies.

Our total two-day score was posted as a 131 instead of the 130 it should have been. We waited and watched as we enjoyed the banquet and the SCGA officials updated the board as cards came in. One of the teams with a 62 on the first day shot a 68 on the second, for a total of 130. Damn! It came down to one stroke! They card-off for ties in all places but first, in which case they give co-champion titles. We tied for first place but had to accept 2nd. We got up and graciously accepted our 2nd place plates. I had thoughts of hitting the scorekeeper of the first day over the head with my plate but I knew I had to accept that it was our own fault. We had every opportunity to fix the mistake and just missed it.

We learned our lesson and while disappointed to have the smaller second place trophies, we still felt great leaving there with plates at all and felt really good about the way we played. We’ll always know we tied for first and at least Bruce got his plate and I have more hardware for my own trophy collection, which now includes 14 pieces.

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Everything’s fine in private and women are always fair game

July 20, 2007 / golfchick / 4 Comments

Sorry, Sergio. Gary Player’s comments about the use of performance enhancing drugs by some Tour players was, for a moment, a bigger story than the golf at the Open Championship at Carnoustie.

Now taking over those headlines is the story of Royal & Ancient official Graham Brown who made racist jokes during his speech at a dinner for the Association of Golf Writers. Those jokes made him seem both Royal and Ancient and apparently some people were offended.

Boy, where do I start with this one?

From The Guardian about Brown’s speech:

…included jokes about “Nips” and “all Japanese looking the same”, another about black caddies at Augusta and a story about two disabled golfers. The speech followed a toast proposed by the former BBC golf correspondent Tony Adamson which included a joke about a player punching his wife in the mouth.

Hilarious! Tony Adamson threw a good one in there, too. What isn’t funny about spousal abuse? I guess BBC golf correspondents aren’t expected to live up to the same high standards as R&A officials, because no one seems to be up in arms about that gem. Or maybe it’s just so embedded in golf tradition to belittle and trivialize women that no one was offended by that little nugget. I wonder – does the AGW include any female writers? Are women even allowed in that tent?

I guess it’s at least progress that people are upset about the “jokes” regarding Asian, black and disabled people. It’s probably safe to assume all the people at the butt of those “jokes” were men, hence the attention.

Wait, did I say something about “high standards” of R&A officials? Ahem.

Brown was removed as an official at the Open Championship, but not asked to resign.

So how did the R&A CEO Peter Dawson respond to the heat? From an AP story:

Dawson distanced the R&A from Brown’s jokes but said he would not be asked to resign.

“First of all, this was a private dinner. Graham was a guest invited in a private capacity and was speaking as such. He was in no way representing the R&A,” Dawson said. “We know Graham Brown very well, and I can say absolutely that he is certainly not a racist as an individual. But I have spoken to him today. He is horrified at the impression he has left and horrified at learning the effects of some of his remarks.

“The R&A would not wish to be associated with that kind of thing.”

Yeah, I bet they wouldn’t. As for Brown not being a racist, I’m not sure that argument flies. Sure, maybe you don’t have to be a stupid person to do stupid things, but I’m pretty sure you have to be a racist to make racist jokes. And what’s that part about not being a racist “as an individual?” Dawson just said Brown wasn’t representing the R&A, so what else but an individual was he when he made those remarks?

And I don’t think a “private dinner” allows for offensive remarks the same way “private clubs” can pick and choose which individuals or groups can join.

A lot has been written about golf being an elitist sport and that it has come a long way since the days of the white boys club. I think this is a big step backwards. Just because a tradition is “time honored” doesn’t make it right. That no one seems to care about the “joke” about a player hitting his wife, that the R&A seems to want to protect this bozo, and that only some people were offended proves we haven’t come far at all.

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Paula Creamer runs

July 18, 2007 / golfchick / 1 Comment

Paula Creamer bleeds? Fades?

However you want to put it, Paula’s so pink she should only be washed with like colors. Look what happened to this poor dolphin after Paula got in the water with it.

paula creamer dolphin

Before.

After.

H/T to William Wolfrum.

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Gender confusion?

July 15, 2007 / golfchick / 3 Comments

Why do people insist on including gender when describing some professions or activities?

“What does he do for a living?” male nurse

“He’s a male nurse.”

We’ve already established we’re talking about a male. Do they think if they just say “nurse” we’re going to assume he magically turns into a woman when he goes to work? Do male and female nurses provide different care?

“He’s a male model.”

Oh, if you would have just said “model,” I would have assumed he was cross dressing because there aren’t enough female models to go around.

Then when it comes to women, it seems these types of qualifications are often used for the sporting professions. Lady golfer, woman soccer player, female wrestler. Okay, the wrestling might actually be a different sport, especially if there’s mud involved, but you get my point. You might find yourself under attack if you said “female neurosurgeon,” “lady firefighter,” or “woman plumber.” But for sports, it seems to be accepted.

Let’s examine how it should be done. If you’ve already established gender, there is no need to throw the adjective in there. He’s a nurse. She’s a CEO. He’s a model. She’s a golfer.

But but but… what about Golf Chick? Don’t get your feathers all atwitter. The word “golf” describes what kind of chick I am, instead of the other way around.

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Seems like a different tournament without Wie

July 13, 2007 / golfchick / 1 Comment

Or is it just me? The whole production, the vibe of the event… it all actually seems like a golf tournament instead of a circus with a sideshow.

Without Wie around, we actually got to see some footage of Jesper Parnevik at the John Deere. In fact, had he made that putt for his third birdie in a row, I was going to dub him Jesper Birdienevik. He missed it and birdied the next hole for 3 out of 4, but that didn’t cut my mustard. Three in a row, Jesper. That’s the deal.

Another fresh face is on the scene and we were treated to some coverage of this little cutie:

philip francis

Philip Francis, the 18 year old amateur out of Scottsdale, AZ. Will he really play for UCLA or will he get the pro bug and bug out?

The kid looked like he was just having a blast out there. He shot 3 over in the first round with what looked like his buddy on the bag. They were all smiles and chit chatting along the way. He nailed a great second shot on 17 to give himself an eagle opportunity and both boys just looked psyched. He missed it and tapped in for birdie and they headed off to 18 as if they were just going out to hook up with some girls at the movies. Very relaxed and carefree. Not that seeing Duffy Waldorf making a run with his fancy golf balls and watching Billy Mayfair actually sink putts with that crazy stroke wasn’t interesting, but the addition of this Francis kid really brightened things up. He’s T129 and probably has to shoot under par today to make the cut. I’ll be rooting for him.

I was going to switch over to the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic today and watch the women play, but here on the west coast, it’s on at the same time as the John Deere. I have old school Tivos so I can only record one thing at a time. So today, both Tivos will be rolling so I can root for the kid as I bloop-bloop my way through the coverage and still not miss the women’s event.

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A tip from my favorite caddie

July 12, 2007 / golfchick / 1 Comment

Probably my favorite golf blog to read is The Reluctant Jam Boy. No filler posts, no reviews, no gratuitous keyword whoring, just good stories from his life as a caddie. Tom’s writing is funny, clever and entertaining and I truly enjoy every single post.

His last two posts are of his experiences caddying for Ian Baker-Finch and the CEO of Ritz-Carlton and then meeting Mr. Baker-Finch at the CBS Tower at Tiger Woods’ tournament at The Congressional. With his new promotion to caddie master and the stellar job he did as IBF’s caddie, it looks like he’s going to be the new caddie master at the new private Jack Nicklaus course where it took place. Congratulations and best of luck, Tom! Just please don’t go getting all professional on us, stop smoking rocks and start taming down your writing.

The first of those two IBF posts was 22 pages long! Of course, it seemed like 4.5 pages because the first page seemed like 1/4 page, then the next five pages started seeming like 1/2 page then they blended into the next 10 pages which seemed like 2 pages then the next page was really on its own so that just seemed like a page and the rest of the 5 pages only seemed like 1.25 pages. You’ll have to read it to understand. It’ll only take a minute. You might even find your “special purpose.”

So what’s the tip?

Anyway, within one of those pages I found a brilliant little nugget I just have to share. He talked about being sure to put bug spray on the brim of his hat! I can’t believe I’m such an imbecile that I never thought of that. Actually, yes I can.

bug smear hat

I couldn’t really get a clear photo of it no matter what lighting/flash combination I used and this is the best I got. For some reason, little bugs like to fly up under the brim of my hat and land there. Then I go to swat them away and inevitably end up with a smear like this I’m stuck staring at for the rest of the round, distracting me from my game.

Bug spray on a hat – duh! Thanks, Jam Boy – I owe you a tip.

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The Golfchick Chronicles are back

July 12, 2007 / golfchick / 0 Comments

When I was on blogger, I had a feature called the “Golfchick Chronicles,” so people could read my entire blog starting with the very first post. Yep, people actually do it. Since I moved to this domain and my new host, I’ve had that feature disabled because it relies on permalinks within every post that link to the next sequential post. It was a hassle to get them all switched over, but it’s finally done, so the feature is back and listed in my right sidebar column.

Phew! I deserve a(nother) margarita. Oh yeah, that was a lot of tedium so if I glazed over and messed up on any of them and you happen to notice, please let me know! And I apologize if your feed readers went bananas as I updated them all.

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