Posted: Thursday, September 15, 2005 12:00 am
Gregg Ratcliff/Fore!
Greetings, golfers! I have good news! No, I didn/t save a bunch of money on my car insurance. I did, however, get two brand new refrigerators.
Woo-hoo!
Yes, faithful readers will recall my dilemma of last week, when both of my refrigerators went on the fritz at the same time.
Now I/m happy to report that everything is cool once again.
That/s a sad commentary on my social life if the highlight of my week was getting a new fridge.
Be that as it may, both units have been delivered and installed, so now I don/t have to drink warm Gatorade anymore.
Now, those same faithful readers will also realize that any report of good news in this column is generally followed immediately by some equally bad news. Well this week will be no exception. But more on that later.
First let/s check in on the local golf scene.
VCC Ladies
Marge Gentile, FORE/s girl in the know, reports that the 38th Annual Valley of the Flowers Tournament took place August 9-11. Tournament Chair Thelma Broughton noted that 116 players gathered to compete in a two-day Better Ball of Partners format, some from as far away as Virginia. Member/guest teams competed in three flights, with one guest-only flight.
Overall net winners were VCC member Jan Hjelm and Connie Logeman from Cypress Ridge. Their two-day total of 126 earned them the title by three strokes.
The overall gross award went to member Susie Morey and her guest from Alisal, Tina Moniot, after a fine 148 score.
Moniot also took longest drive honors on Wednesday, as did Paula Robinson on Thursday. Wednesday/s most accurate drive belonged to Bertha Bagdasarian, with Marilyn Frazier claiming that prize on Thursday.
Then, as only the ladies of the Club could do, fifty-two "horses" competed as thirteen teams of four steeds for the honor of winning the Valley of Flowers Horse Race.
After six action-packed, stress-filled holes, Patti Homer, Vera McGee, Sharon Balfanz, and Judy Garone were declared the winners.
Vivian Sparks, Treva Cardiel, Bev Apple and Marge Elmer placed second followed by Susie Morey, Tina Moniot, Gwen Nyvold and Marilyn Stones. Kitty Collins, Carri Pothier, Martha Ainsworth and Jane Drenon went the distance to claim fourth place.
A horse race on a golf course? Wow, I bet the groundskeeper had a fit! Anyway, have fun, girls!
VCC men
This just in from Jon Wall.
The weekend of September 10-11 the VCC Men/s Association held their Ryder Cup Tournament, consisting of four different formats over 36 holes of golf. Fifty-six two- man teams participated in what was a very interesting weekend.
On the first day, the guys did a 9-hole two-man scramble, then nine holes of alternate shot.
On day two, they went with nine holes best ball, and finally nine holes aggregate score.
Wow, I/m glad I wasn/t keeping score.
Someone apparently was able to keep track of things however because the overall championship was awarded to the team of Dave Desmond and John Vass.
Congratulations, guys!
In Flight A, Ron Mau and Jim Everly took first gross followed by Bob Vosslar and Stu Twells.
First net went to Jim Collins and Tim McGee.
Leon Smith and Dale Van Deusen took second, followed by Art Hockey and Jerry Crook in third.
Flight B first gross winners were Tony Tilt and Ed Kranz, with Tony Sandrich and Jim Gerhardt in second.
First net honors went to Lenny Rodriguez and Marc Wilkerson, followed by Don Powers and Hugo Innes in second and Steve Jordan and Bruce Coggin taking third.
They do keep things interesting at the club, don/t they?
Blind golf update
Faithful readers will recall that last week we here at FORE reported on the upcoming California Blind Golf Classic.
With just six weeks remaining until the sixth annual event, Canadian champion Brian MacLeod, the California event/s headliner and defending champion in the B-1 totally blind division, is blazing hot.
Last week MacLeod shot an 86, his lowest ever, on his home course in Truro, Nova Scotia.
The next day he eagled a 366-yard par 4 hole with a driver and a sand wedge en route to a 92.
The next day he shot 93 with a near hole-in-one and the best story of the season.
"We joined up with this guy on the course," MacLeod said Sunday from Nova Scotia. "He teed off, then I teed off, then I said /By the way I/m blind./ He says /You can/t be too … blind. That/s going in the hole!" The ball did not quite fall in the hole but as MacLeod said "I/ve been birdying holes like crazy. Four days in a row."
In early July, MacLeod won the North American Blind Match Play Championship and later in the month he won the Canadian Blind Open which earned him a berth in next April/s World Championships in Japan.
The California Classic, at Rancho Maria Golf Course, is the biggest blind golf tournament in The West.
It will be held on Monday, Oct. 24, with Sponsors Day on Sunday, Oct. 23.
Sponsors who would like to play with MacLeod and other blind golfers may call event organizer Howard Shaw at (805) 735-1807 to reserve their foursome.
Scorekeepers are also needed for Monday.
Bad News
OK, I guess I can/t put off telling you any longer.
Earlier in the column I warned you of some bad news to come, so here it is.
You see, with all of the chaos, excitement and turmoil of getting two new refrigerators in one week, I … well I, I just didn/t have time to play golf.
I know, and I/m sorry.
On the other hand, my not playing golf really isn/t news. In fact, it happens all the time so it/s no news at all. And if it/s really true that "no news is good news," then my not playing golf last week is actually good news, not bad! Or not.
I/m not really sure how that all works, but I bet if I think about it too much, I might just hurt myself.
So if you/ll excuse me, I/m going to clear my mind, grab a nice, cold Gatorade and check out my new fridge, again!
Until next week, keep swinging, keep your head down and FORE!
Gregg Ratcliff can be reached at 735-8909 or10630@utech.net