The world of golf - PEbner's Blog

The world of golf - PEbner's Blog - Victoria Advocate http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/PEbner Will be talking about golf Will be talking about golf en-us Bluebonnet was a success http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/PEbner/9177 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/PEbner/9177 No doubt this year's Bluebonnet Youth Ranch celebrity golf tournament has to be considered a success. I don't think any golfer that participated in this year's tournament on Sunday or Monday left disappointed. Sure not every team was a winner, but each golfer had to feel a sense of pride for having helped out such a worthy cause. Each year, and this is the 27th, the tournament is held to help raise operating funds for the Bluebonnet Youth Ranch, which is home to neglected and abused children, in Yoakum. Rob Pupi deserves a big pat on the back for his work as chairman of the event for the very first time. I'm sure everything didn't go as well as he had hoped or planned, but the event seemed to be one of the best yet. You also have to pat musician and songwriter Red Stegall on the back as well for his continued work in bring some of the finest entertainment to Victoria for the showdown and dance held on Monday night. The event even produced a hole-in-one on a par-4 that was 392 yards long, talk about a golf shot. That great shot came from Washington Nationals pitcher Ryan Wagner, one of the celebrities taking part in the event. I know Rob and his crew are already preparing for next year's event and I'm sure it will continue to be a spectacular event.   Bluebonnet well attended http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/PEbner/9157 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/PEbner/9157 Day 1 is in the books and I must say this year's Bluebonnet Youth Ranch benefit golf tournament may well be on the way to being on of the best yet. Over 160 golfers took to the Victoria Country Club on Sunday to participate in the annual event that benefits the youth ranch just outside Yoakum that is home to abused and neglected children. A number of former major league players and country & western celebrities were in the field as well and many amateurs from the surrounding of Victoria. Among the former baseball players in the field were Gary Bell, Bernie Allen, Wally Moon, Rich Rollins, Larry Dierker, Carl Warwick, Terry Puhl, Hal Smith and David Clyde, along with Jerry Devannon, a former member of the Houston Astros, that I had the opportunity to be part his team. While we didn't win, we had a great time and came in close as we were only four shots behind the winners. Of course the winning team was a friend of mine and a former pitcher for the San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants - Jeremy Fikac. To hear him tell it, he had plenty of help from his team of Kevin Krueger, Lester Colley, Jeff Bauknight, Tony Holladay and James Hoffman. And I'm pretty sure he's telling the truth about them having to carry him. His fastball is probably still better than his swing. The event wraps up on Monday with one more big event and the field looks to be almost as big as Sunday's, so no doubt this year's event will be a solid income maker for the children at the youth home. Kim may be what U.S. needs http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/PEbner/8886 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/PEbner/8886 For the first time since 1991 the united States have won the morning matches at the Ryder Cup with a 3-1 edge over the Europeans. A big part of that may have come from the energetic play of Ryder cup rookie Anthony Kim. His fist pump at the 18th after he and Phil Mickelson halved their match may just be the energy the U.S. needs to reclaim the Cup. Despite some early woes, the U.S. stood strong and fought their way back two win two of the matches and halve the other two. The biggest shocker may have been watching Ian Poulter and Justin Rose three putt at the 18th to give Stewart Cink and Chad Campbell a 1-up victory. The biggest disappointment of the day was Jim Furyk and Kenny Perry, who were 2 up with four to play and could not put Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood and eventually halved their match.  Hopefully the Americans can finish strong in the afternoon as well. LPGA pulls back http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/PEbner/8725 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/PEbner/8725 With all the controversy the LPGA Tour created over its new rule requiring players to speak English or face suspension and/or fines, it's no wonder they have backed down somewhat. I can understand where they are coming from, but to require it was definitely a little over the top. I would think that if you were playing on what is mainly an American tour, you would want to try to learn the main language that is spoken on the tour so it would be a lot easier for you. I was reading in this week's Golfweek magazine about Jean Bartholomew's five year stint on the Japanese Tour and she learned enough of the language to help her become more stable on the tour. Being the only American on the tour at the time I can imagine how difficult it was for her, but even though it took her a year, she managed t learn enugh to "converse properly." I really feel that is what the LPGA was trying to do when they instituted the rule, they just went about it the wrong way. Commissioner Carolyn Bivens says she plans to revise the rule, but the fine is still an option for the non-English speaking players. I think they should just ditch it completely. What do you think? Must speak English http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/PEbner/8584 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/PEbner/8584 For sometime now there has been a push to make English the official language in the United States. While that move hasn't transgressed into anything official, the Ladies Professional Golf Association hasn't taken steps to do that with the members of the LPGA Tour. I just read an article from the Associated Press that effective in 2009 all players will be required to speak English with players who have been LPGA Tour members for at least two years facing suspension if they can't pass an oral evaluation of English skills. For new players, the rule takes effect immediately. Is this really a fair rule considering the number of international players that represent numerous countries from all over the world? At first it looks like it targets the South Koreans the most, since so many have joined the tour in the last few years. But the tour says it is for the good of the players as well as the tour to help with interaction between the players and fans as well as the corporate sponsors. I hope for the tour's sake this is why the LPGA is making the move and not to hamper any international players ability to perform on what many feels is and American tour, especially since the South Koreans have shown their abilities to win on the tour. Two top South Korean players, Angela Park and Seon-Hwa Lee seem to be OK with the idea, so it just may work. Only time will tell. Do you agree with the LPGA's move in this direction? Local country clubs step up http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/PEbner/8496 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/PEbner/8496 For the second straight year the Victoria Country Club and Colony Creek Country Club are stepping up to help America's war heroes. Both courses will be taking part in Patriot Golf Day that is supported by the United States Golf Association and the PGA. The event will be held Aug. 29 - Sept. 1 and golfers nationwide are asked to donate at least $1 to the cause. Funds raised will benefit the Folds of Honor foundation that helps provide educational scholarships for families of those who have become disabled or lost their lives in the line of duty. What better way to say thank you to those who have helped keep America free. so, hopefully Victoria-area golfers will step up to the tee and proudly help out a worthy cause by getting in a round at one of the two courses during those three days. And if you can't, you can still stop by and make a donation or even go to patriotgolfday.com and make your donation. City championship number crunching http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/PEbner/8234 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/PEbner/8234 The one thing I enjoy about being a sports writer is having the opportunity to crunch numbers especially when it comes to golf. It's interesting to see have the numbers balance out in a lot of big tournaments and just have many strokes it takes for the average golfer to complete 18 holes. After putting together the numbers for the 2008 Victoria City Championship it doesn't surprise me to see that the scoring average was slightly higher than last year. With the field slightly larger than last year, your would figure that more total strokes would be taken this year in the three-day event and the field didn't let us down. Among the 100-plus competitors to take part in this year's event, it took a total of 27,002 strokes to complete the tournament over three days for an 87.1 scoring average per golfer. The toughest course again was Victoria Country Club with a 90.4 average followed by Colony Creek Country Club at 87.7 and Riverside Golf Course at 83.3. VCC and Riverside stayed close to their 2007 average, while Colony Creek saw the biggest jump by nearly six strokes. CCCC last year had a scoring average of 81.9. Following are the scoring averages per flight for the three-day tournament: Championship (79.8), Senior (82.7) Women (92.9), First (79.2), Second (86.6), Third (87.3), Fourth (89), Fifth (90.9), Sixth (94.5). It will be interesting next year to see how the scores will tally with the opening round set for VCC, the second round at Colony Creek and the final round at Riverside. Live from the city championship at VCC http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/PEbner/8140 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/PEbner/8140 The final round of the Victoria City Championship golf tournament is under way at Victoria Country Club and through three holes, Eric Westerman holds a one-shot lead amongst the leaders that started the day. Westerman is at even par through three holes after going birdie, par, bogey, while Mark Bazan, the defending champion, is one back at 1 over going par, bogey, par. Clay Fullick has dropped to two back after going par, bogey, bogey. All three golfers started the day at 144, five shots ahead of Donovan Dekowski, Victor Suarez and Jeff Massey. Dekowski, playing in the final group, is at 1-under on the day after sinking a long birdie putt at the par-4 third. Things remain interesting thru six holes with Westerman up by one at 1-over, while Fullick and Bazan are both plus 2. Dekowski is even par thru six, while Suarez is even thru five and Massey one over thru five.  Westerman looks to be in good shape making the turn at even par following his short birdie putt at the par-4 9th. Fullick is 3-over at the turn, while Bazan is at 6 over after having played the final three holes on the front at 4 over. Dekowski at 1-under for most of the front was unable to make up any ground after making the turn at even par, while Suarez turned at 2 over and Massey at 4 over. The shot of the day so far has come at the par-3 15th where Becky Brown holed out for an ace. Dekowski makes a run at Westerman on the back with birdies at three of the first five holes to get to 2 under, while Westerman missed an eagle opportunity at the par-5 13th to stay at even par. But bogeys at 15 and 17 by Dekowski sealed the deal for Westerman as Fullick and Bazan faded out of the picture. Westerman triple bogeys 18 to shot a three-day 218 for a three-shot victory over Dekowski and a four-shot win over Fullick. Plenty of golf action http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/PEbner/8115 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/PEbner/8115 While all eyes are focused this week across the Atlantic at the British Open, there is still plenty of golf action in the U.S. Kenny Perry continues to ride his high at the U.S. Bank Championship which has begun as the Pappas show. Deane and Brenden Pappas are both atop the leaderboard at 6 under, while Perry is in a group tied for 11th at 3 under with plenty of players still on the course. Two-time Tight Lies Tour Victoria Open winner Ron Whittaker was tied for 94th at 1-over through nine holes. A couple of other former Tight Lies tour members are making some noise this week on the Nationwide Tour. Chad Ginn is tied for third at6 under at the Price Cutter charity Championship and Mark Walker, a three-time winner on the Adams Tour this year, is tied for eighth at 5 under. And don't forget here in Victoria, the 2nd annual Victoria City Championship tees off Friday at 10:30 a.m. at Colony Creek Country Club. the 54-hole event feature a round of golf at each of the Victoria courses, with Riverside hosting Saturday's round and Victoria Country Club hosting Sunday's final round. Perry on top of his game http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/PEbner/8064 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/PEbner/8064 There's no doubt the hottest player on the PGA Tour right now is Kenny Perry. It showed that again Sunday winning for the third time in seven weeks. If he keeps playing the way he has over the time frame he may just be able to help the Americans win the Ryder Cup single-handedly. He has 11 top-25 finishes in 19 events this year including one runner-up finish and one third-place finish to go with his three wins. He also has three other top-10 finishes. He won't be playing in the British Open this week but if he was he most likely would be my pick to win.  Who will win this week's British Open? That's a tough question to answer, but I hope Phil Mickelson is right in there with a shot. Of course it would be nice to Colin Montgomerie finally win the event as well. In the meantime I guess I'll spend most of the weekend listen to the announcers talk about the field not being that good since Tiger is not there!