August 2011 Archives

What is Fred Couples thinking!  Picking Tiger Woods to play on the President's Cup team is just downright crazy.  Who want's to go into battle with one soldier basically MIA.  Maybe the euporhia of his recent win in the Senior's Championship has clouded his mind.

Let's look at the reality.  Tiger hasn't won since his well documented "accident" that has caused his career to spiral downward and turn his personal life upside down.  He's been plagued with injury and has missed cuts in majors and hasn't shown much abilitiy in the last couple years to be a real force in competitions.

He's never done well in Ryder Cups or President's Cups.  He's never been touted as a team player in these events so why would Fred handicap his team with a player who isn't performing.  Does he think that Tiger will miraculously find his game and win all the points for his squad.

A captain needs to look at all the components of the competition and to respect those in the standings who are working hard to make the team and deserve it more than someone who just barely can break the top 30 in rankings these days.

If the USA team loses and Tiger doesn't win his share of points we will all know who to blame for the loss and it won't be the team. 

Linda Lyons, Myra Macmillan, Angela Aulenti, Jenny Burrill, Kaia James

This year LPGA Teaching Pro Angela Aulenti headed off to the LPGA Teaching and Club Pro National Championship with a strong contingent of women from Connecticut for the competition.  Aulenti, Head Pro at Sterling Farms Golf Club in Stamford is renowned for her teaching skills and has a steady stable of clients who show up at her state of the art teaching facility.

Last year, in Charlotte, NC at Ballantyne Golf Club,  the team of Aulenti, Myra Macmillan, Linda Lyons, Cindy Hedge and Jenny Burrill defended the title they had won the previous year shooting 53 in the scramble format.  The previous year they shot 55.

The tournament returned to Ballantyne in 2011 but this year would be different for Team Aulenti because Hedge, sidelined earlier this year with a back injury that cut her golf season short, wouldn't be playing.  Aulenti picked up Kaia James to fill out her roster.  The question was did they have the guns to bring home the trophy for the third time in a row?  The answer is simple, YES.

Congrats ladies, was there ever a doubt?

Well, his first major as a "senior" oh wait, they don't call it the Senior Tour anymore, it's the Champions Tour.  But wait, he won the Senior Players Championship.  I'm so confused.

Fred Couples was always a champion, at least to me and his many followers.  His relaxed easy swing made golf seem so effortless.  What he could have done if he didn't have that darn bad back.  He won so many times on tour that people just assumed he won lots of majors, but he didn't.

Fred, the Masters Champion, was always so laid back and easy going.  Known as the guy who'd rather sit at home and watch TV than go out and who refused to answer the phone because he didn't want to have to chat with someone.  I can't remember ever seeing him lose his temper on the golf course the way some of the "youngsters" do today.  Fred had class and he was fun to watch.

He and Davis Love III were always playing as partners at the Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup and winning easily.  They seemed to feed off of each others success.  Hmmm, didn't see that with Tiger and Phil.

But back to Freddie, he played super this weekend and won his first major on the Champions Tour.  He was tied with John Cook after regulation play.  In sudden death it took three holes before Fred finally got the job done.

I used to watch the Seniors Tour in the days when Arnie, Lee and Chi Chi would play.  They were real characters on the course.  And they were shotmakers.  But then they stopped playing and there was a period when watching the Seniors Tour was like watching paint dry.  A lot of journeymen trying to recapture their golf careers.  Boring.  But now with more of the guys who were from my age group playing in the Champions Tour, my interest has peaked again. 

But it's still amazing to see Davis Love III and Tom Watson competing in the regular tour events and really challenging those young kids.  Golf is sure getting interesting again, and to be honest, I'm not missing the Tiger show.

Kelly Whaley proved that she inherited some great golfing genes from her mom, Suzy Whaley, who once qualified to play in the Traveler's PGA event, and was ranked 5th in the nation of Best Women Teachers by Golf Digest.  I think I know where Kelley received her training.

Kelly's sister Jenn was also in the field, shooting 80-88, T25th, and it was Jenn who had Mom as caddie on the final day.  I remember watching Ivan Lendl trying to split his time on the bags of his daughters when they competed in the amateur.  It's really tough for a parent to decide who to loop for each day.

Kelly started the round 3 shots behind first round leaders Ellie Dutch and Mia Landegren who both shot 72 on day one and finished 2nd and 3rd behind eventual winner Whaley.

Kelly shot even par 72 on day two of the rain shortened tournament while Dutch shot a very respectable 4 over par 76 and Landegren shot 78.

Kelly is the second youngest competitor to win the CT Amateur at age 14.  Liz Janangelo who went on to win numerous Amateurs before heading off to college captured her first title at age 13.  Let's just hope that Kelly follows in the steps of Liz and of course mom Suzy and has a fantastic golf career.

Wow, the race for the title of 46th CT State Women's Amateur champion is so tight that this rain-shortened event is up for grabs by whoever shoots the best score tomorrow.  Due to the heavy rains on Sunday, the first round on Monday was canceled resulting in no cut and a 36 hole tournament.  With only two rounds counting, the margin to catch up just isn't there this year.

But there are 13 players with scores ranging from 72 to 79.  The first round low score of 72 was shot by Ellie Dutch and Mia Landegren and there are six other players within three shots of the leaders.  Erica Barnes and Jen Holland, last years winner and runner-up respectively, are only 3 shots off the pace, shooting 75.

Tomorrows round looks to be a nail biter.  To win this event, the player who makes the least amount of errors will have the best shot at taking home the trophy.

Good luck tomorrow ladies.  Tee times start at 7:30 a.m. and the last group tees off at 11:10 a.m. at Timberlin Golf Course in Berlin.  If you want to watch some good golf by some very talented ladies, head over to Timberlin tomorrow for the finale.

The Connecticut Women's Amateur was slated to start on Monday, August 15th at Timberlin Golf Club in Berlin but the heavy rains that pummeled CT on Sunday have forced officials to cancel the Monday round and turn the event into a 36 hole contest starting Tuesday.  The Monday pairings will be used for Tuesday.

The Amateur Committee is seeking help from volunteers who would like to be spotters or help with the bag drop.  Contact the course for further information.

Watching replays of Rory McIlroy play with an injured wrist/arm after hitting a tree root on his follow through on the third hole of his first round made me cringe with pain for him.  The docs gave him the all clear to play today with the forearm taped up as long as he could tolerate the pain.

At 3 over par after two days, a fantastic score after the injury, he will hopefully make the cut and play in the final two rounds of this weekends PGA Championship.  His injury isn't as dramatic as when Tiger played on a broken leg, but it's still very impressive what these pros will tolerate to do their job.

Kudos to Rory for carrying on but you can tell watching him putt that the injury has effected his feel on the greens and in making those delicate shots out of bunkers.

I remember turning my ankle once on the course and continuing to play that day and wrapping it to play the next day.  Grinding it out with an injury, I find that I concentrate more and actually have played better with an injury.  Not sure why but I'm not going to favor injury over health - I'd rather give up a few strokes and stay healthy.

I hope Rory won't cause himself further or permanent injury by continuing to play, but I'm sure glad to see this great young player in the field.

Have you ever played injured?  Did you quit or gut it out?  Share your stories here.

Joyce Curran shot a four over par round of 76 on Monday, August 8th, at Tashua Knolls to take her first title in the SNEWGA Seniors event.  Curran lead the field winning by four strokes over Debbie Jamgochian.  Curran plays out of Richter Park in Danbury.

Tashua Knolls in Trumbull is a course filled with variety - doglegs, small and large greens, elevation changes and lots of ponds and creeks to capture errant shots.  The day was steamy but not as hot as Curran was with her play on the par 72, 5,454 yard tester.

The SNEWGA Seniors Championship is open to any member age 50 or older. 

Championship Flight Results - 32 competitors (handicaps 0 - 17.4)

Champion/First Gross - Joyce Curran (75)
2nd Gross - Debbie Jamgochian (79)
3rd Gross - Jo Rasmussen (80)
4th Gross - Sue Sawyer (83)
5th Gross - Mary Mesek (84 MC)
6th Gross - Tania Stenberg (84 MC)

1st Net - Kaia James (69)
2nd Net - Susan Casey (70)
3rd Net - Kathy Collier (73 MC)
4th Net - Sandy Fisette (73 MC)
5th Net - Marian Michnowicz (74)
6th Net - Diane Vieira (75)

First Flight Results - 43 competitors (handicaps 17.5 - 26.4)

1st Gross - Cindy Tulloch (94)
2nd Gross - Lorraine Pettola (95)
3rd Gross - Robin Schemansky (96)
4th Gross - Karen Debartolo (97 MC)
5th Gross - Sheridan Moore (97 MC)
6th Gross - Elaine Corris (99)
7th Gross - Barbara Depalo (100 MC)
8th Gross - Jenny Duffany (100 MC)

1st Net -  Donna Pauze (70)
2nd Net - Laurie Masciandaro (73 MC)
3rd Net - Carolee Joerman (73 MC)
4th Net - Suzanne Keyes (74)
5th Net - Janet Kalas (75)
6th Net - Marianne Roggemann (76 MC)
7th Net - Joy Brewster (76 MC)
8th Net - Fran Grant (76 MC)

Second Flight - 21 competitors (handicaps 26.5 - 40.4)

1st Gross - Norma Maclean (99)
2nd Gross - Alice Honcharik (104)
3rd Gross - Pat Archer (105)

1st Net - Kathy Davidson (71 MC)
2nd Net - Susan Seigars (71 MC)
3rd Net - Eileen Carleton (73)

Complete field results can be found on the SNEWGA website -  http://snewga.org/2011-seniors-results.pdf