July 2011 Archives

In the annual battle for bragging rights between the private clubs (CWGA) and the public/private clubs (SNEWGA), CWGA recaptured the trophy Thursday, July 28th, at Rolling Hills Country Club in Wilton with 93 1/2 points to 86 1/2 points.

Twenty players from each organization play a two-ball better-ball match play format.  Groups are  broken up by handicap range with 4 players in each range with all matches played with gross score.  A total of 18 points can be earned in each match.

In todays matches, Debbie Johnson and Linda Lyons got SNEWGA off to a good start winning 11 of 18 points.  Jean Sennett and Nicolle Coffey charged back for CWGA besting their opponents 12 to 6.  The next two matches each went CWGA's way at 10-8 in each match.  With a 7 point lead, anything could happen with so many points available.

In the next handicap bracket Jen Kaplan and Jeanette Chagris gained a point back for SNEWGA but Toby Schuman and her partner Pat Goldstein quickly added another 3 point advantage to their side.  CWGA was now in the lead by 9 points with four matches left to play.

Group 7 ended split at 9-9 but CWGA tried to ice the matches when group 8 posted a 10-8 victory.

The last two SNEWGA groups tried to rally picking up 1 and 2 point advantages over their competitors but it wasn't enough to let SNEWGA retain the cup they took from CWGA in 2010.

Well done ladies, a great day for golf and friendly competition.

I want to extend my deepest sympathy to Rich Crowe, head pro at Rockledge.  Rich's wife Sandy passed away after battling cancer and more recently pneumonia.  Thoughts, prayers and hugs go out to Rich and his family.

Below is the obituary from The Hartford Courant:

CROWE, Sandy

Sandy Elizabeth Crowe (Grabchuk), 55, of Kensington, CT, passed away on Saturday, (July 23, 2011), surrounded by her family. Sandy was born and raised in Avon, CT, and graduated from Avon High School and Post College. She was the daughter of the late Alexander and Mary Grabchuk of Avon, CT. She was the beloved wife of Richard F. Crowe (35 years) of Kensington, CT. Sandy was a devoted and loving mother of Michelle and Brendan Bartley of Somerville, MA; Jennifer M. Crowe of West River, MD, and Michael T. Crowe of Kensington, CT, and grandmother of Zander M. Bartley of Somerville, MA. She also leaves her sister Teresa "Tisa" Knight of Jacksonville, FL, with whom she shared a special bond and her sister Gemma Garland. Sandy also leaves behind her loving mother-in-law Dorothy M. Crowe of Unionville, CT, as well as many devoted relatives. She also leaves behind her Best Friend and shopping buddy, Alice Mitchell, with whom she shared countless "Memory Days." She was an active member of the Berlin Community. She was a member of Sacred Heart Parish, serving on the Parish Council as well as being a Eucharistic Minister. Sandy shared a special bond with Father Ed. As a long time member of the Berlin UpBeat Program, she served on the UpBeat Community team and the UpBeat Core Team. She was the UpBeat Director of the volunteers at the Hospital for Special Care. "Ma" Crowe's involvement with the UpBeat Peer Leadership Program impacted the lives of thousands of Berlin Youth. Sandy was the recipient of the Berlin UpBeat Peronace Volunteer Award and the "2010 Celebrate Berlin! Award" presented by the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain. As a cancer survivor, she was involved with a documentary on Stem Cell Transplant by Harvard Medical and Dana Farber. Please take a moment to view her story at www.hsci.harvard.edu/finding-cure-leukemia-stem-cell-story. The Crowe family would like to extend their gratitude to Dr. Corey Cutler and his Stem Cell team at Dana Farber, as well as all of the doctors and staff at Hartford Hospital. The Berlin Community and most especially the youth of the community have lost a shining star in their beloved "Ma Crowe."
Friends may call at The Ahern Funeral Home, 111 Main St., Rt. 4, Unionville on Tuesday (July 26) from 4-8 p.m. The Funeral Liturgy will be celebrated Wednesday (July 27) at 10 a.m. in the Church of St. Mary Star of the Sea, Unionville. Burial will be in St. Mary Cemetery, Avon. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Berlin UpBeat Program c/o Berlin High School, 139 Patterson Way, Berlin CT, 06037.

With all that's been going on in Tiger's life the last 18 months, is it a surprise that he and long time friend and caddie Steve Williams are going separate ways?

Tiger's not playing so obviously that would have a major effect on William's pocketbook.  William's has been looping for Adam Scott while Tiger was recovering from personal drama in his life and injuries that have had him sidelined.  William's announced that he will now work permanently for Scott.

To me it's another case of Tiger resenting his caddie being in the limelight.  When Tiger was first starting his career as a pro and skyrocketing to fame, he had Fluff Cowan on the bag.  Success was theirs.  Well, until Fluff starting getting asked for autographs at events and getting commercial endorsements of his own.  Tiger didn't like that and quickly fired the looper for taking a miniscule amount of notoriety away from the superstar.

Stevie is doing well with Adam and even got him to a 3rd place finish.  Was Tiger jealous of Stevie helping Adam to the top of the leaderboard.  Interesting that right after that finish, Tiger banished his caddie.

It will be interesting to see who will be on the bag when Tiger decides to return and if Stevie can do for Adam what he did for Tiger, especially when it comes to majors.

Tiger has lost his wife, coaches, sponsors and now his caddie.  All that seems left is his manager.  Since they both went to another management company, we'll have to wait and see if that relationship can endure.

Being part of the media, I have mixed feelings about this topic.  Do we have a responsibility not to ruin the outcome of an event?

On Sunday, I planned on watching the British Open when it was broadcast at 3 p.m.  It's always an exciting tournament because the venues are so different from what you find in the States and the weather can be so unpredictible - sunny one minute, downpour the next, and 30 mph winds at any time. 

I decided to check my e-mails and Facebook in the morning and was so bummed when I read a TaylorMade announcement claiming that Darren Clarke had won the Open!  What!  It wasn't even broadcast yet - it was many hours away.  Then Bridgestone posted their "win" announcement on FB.

Of course I realize that there is a major time difference and it's a lot earlier on the other side of the pond but now the dilema was do I still watch knowing the outcome.  Will it diminish my enjoyment of the tournament.  It was kind of like going to the new Harry Potter movie even though I knew the outcome from reading the book.

I tuned in anyway and got really excited when I saw Phil Mickelson make his charge on the front nine and tie for the lead, but then reality hit and I had to wonder if Darren pulled away or did Phil collapse.  So even though I knew the outcome I didn't know how it happened.

Since I was watching live, and Phil was now starting towards the back nine, I posted on FB my comment about how excited I was to see what he was doing but knew that Darren had won.  Next thing I know I get a FB message from a friend saying Thanks for ruining the outcome.  Oops, I had done exactly what the advertisers had done, spoiled the outcome for someone.

Do we need to preface our posts and media announcements with Spoiler Alert when we know that the event won't be shown until much later due to time differences?  It's a simple thing to do, then people just don't have to read that post.  This sort of thing happens to people on the West Coast all the time with TV broadcasts that are shown in "time slots" rather than broadcast live. 

Who shot JR?  Oh I can tell you, I saw it three hours ago.  Who got kicked off American Idol tonight, oh just check in with your East Coast friend or FB and we can tell you.  And of course the advent of the DVR means that more people watch less during real time and watch at another time with the benefit of skipping commercials too.  How many times have you decided to go play golf on a Saturday or Sunday and figured you'd watch that weeks Golf Tournament on the DVR only to have someone call you up and say, Hey did you see how great so and so played today to win?  Gee, maybe I won't watch that now.

So do we have a responsibility to not spoil an outcome?  Or is it the responsibility of the viewer to realize with todays array of media outlets not to tune in to them if you don't want to know?

It was a battle of the Korean's as So Yeon Ryu forced a playoff this morning tieing Hee Kyung Seo at 3 under during regulation play which seemed to never end because of all the weather delays. 

Se Ri Pak was the first Korean to win a US Open (1998), and has helped to spur a wave of excellent Korean golfers.  This will be the 5th win of a US Open for a Korean golfer.

As the players started off on the 16th par-3, both had opportunities for birdies but ended up with pars.

Seo hit her tee shot on the par-5, 17th into a fairway bunker on the right while Ryu striped one down the left center, giving her a slight advantage.  Seo's lie up against the front of the bunker made it impossible for her to advance her ball more than 100 yards leaving for a long third to the green.  Ryu left herself with a pitching wedge to the green and another birdie chance.  Seo bogeyed this hole the night before and needed to pitch her 4th shot close to avoid another bogey out of the heavy rough.  With a long putt left for par and Ryu in closer there was a good chance for a two shot swing.  Seo's long putt looked like it was going in all the way but just trickled over the right edge, resulting in another bogey for Seo.  Ryu, who played this whole perfectly tee to green, sank her putt for birdie putting her up 2 strokes in this 3-hole stroke-play playoff. 

As Ryu prepared to tee off on 18, the bells from the Will Rogers Shrine began to ring again.  Was this a good sign?  Her tee shot was perfect as was Seo's.  Advantage to Ryu again with what seemed like very relaxed play.  Neither player showing the tension one would expect in a U.S. Open playoff.

The 433 yard par-4 18th green awaited the approach shots of the players.  The chimes go off again.  With water short of the green, will one player choke on her shot?  Seo hit first with a running shot that ran off the back of the green.  It seems that all Ryu needs to do is get it on the green for the win.  Again the chimes are ringing as though to welcome the future champion.  Ryu stiffs it close to the hole and the championship is in her grasp.

Seo hit a magnificent putt that almost went in for birdie.  Her tap in for par wasn't enough to catch Ryu who topped off the playoff with a birdie on the 18th.

With her first major win, Ryu now has decisions to make.  Does she continue with her schooling, does she join the LPGA and play more golf in the USA?  Congratulations to So Yeon Ryu for her excellent play yesterday to force a playoff and to play perfect golf this morning to win the championship.

Lots of speculation about what Tiger is planning on announcing tomorrow (Monday) at 11 a.m. on the Golf Channel.  The former #1 golfer in the world hasn't played much golf this year due to injuries, so is he going to take off the rest of the year to get better?  Tune in Monday to the Golf Channel or follow the breaking news stories on Facebook, your local papers or TV stations, or right here at ctgolfer.com.

Big whoop - Tiger is changing management firms.  He and his agent are heading to Excel Sports Management.  Do I care?  Did you really need a big press announcement for that?  Groan.

Guess if you're not playing golf and you want some press, you need to create your own buzz even if it's a non-event to most of us.

LPGA U.S. Open - July 7th - July 10th

So who's going to be watching the LPGA in action this week?  The ladies will be playing one of their greatest and longest running majors starting July 7th - the U.S. Open. 

Paula Creamer is set to defend her title at The Broadmoor, East Course in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  Besides Creamer, fan favorites Julie Inkster, Laura Davies, Betsy King, Natalie Gulbis, Pat Hurst, Se Ri Pak, Christina Kim, Cristie Kerr, Morgan Pressel, Michele Wie and Karrie Webb will be in the field.

ESPN2 will be following the action on Thursday and Friday from 5-9 p.m.  NBC will handle coverage on Saturday and Sunday from 3 to 6 p.m.

If you're going to be out in Colorado this week, tickets are still available for this great event - check out prices at http://www.2011uswomensopen.com/ticket-info.php.

Not going to Colorado - well, womens golf is coming to Bloomfield, CT July 15th to 17th for the Ing New England Classic.  The LPGA Futures Tour will be playing at Wintonbury Hills Golf Course and this is your chance to see upcoming LPGA players upclose and personal.  If you don't like packed crowds like you see at the TPC in Cromwell when the PGA comes to town, opt to bring your folding chair and find a favorite spot anywhere along the course and watch these talented ladies play their hearts out with the hopes of making it to the big show at the end of the season.

The LPGA will be playing for a purse in excess of $3 million at the U.S. Open.  The Futures Tour purse is $100,000 and their charity while in CT will be Chip In For A Cure.

Want a chance to play with one of these ladies in the Community Pro-Am?

Community Pro AM
Wednesday July 13th
Time: 7:00 AM Shotgun
Breakfast, Lunch and Prizes
Contact: Kate Jollie  for more information.

Or maybe you would like to volunteer at the event or host one of the players at your home for the week.  http://www.ingnewenglandgolfclassic.com/vols.htm

For additional information about the event, check out their official website at http://www.ingnewenglandgolfclassic.com/about.htm.

Want to learn more about the LPGA Futures Tour and the players, go to http://lpgafuturestour.com/default_new.aspx

After you've come out and watched these professionals play, make a tee time at Wintonbury Hills, a premier public course in CT, and see how your skills match with theirs.