FUTURES TOUR 

CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL GOLF CLASSIC

BELTSVILLE MD

My player this week is Anna Rawson

Monday: 400 miles give or take to Laurel MD and checked into our Priceline.com Ramada Inn. A bargain in this neighborhood. 

• My computer arrived on schedule but only ran for a few hours. It's still very slow so it's going back again. It's now a test of will.

Tuesday: Walked the course and it's the best of the three I've seen so far. Fairly short but tight. Plenty of trouble on almost every hole. Anna came in late and we got in nine holes before dark.

• Anna took a bite out of " The Big Apple" yesterday but got a worm instead. Everything seemed to go wrong. First she lost her Blackberry (not backed up) in a Taxi, the jug of her Living Fuel opened in her golf travel bag spewing green powder everywhere and she's coming down with a sore throat.

• Magnolia Bakery on Bleecker Street was a stop she couldn't pass up while in the big city. She was raving about their cupcakes and brought a heavily iced yellow one back for me. I wolfed it down with a water chaser. My opinion? How good can a cupcake be?

Wednesday: Hotter than Hades! Heat index over 100! Played all eighteen and without a buggy. Better to see the course walking than playing from the cart path. 

• This track was built amidst an abundance of environmentally sensitive vegetation and many of the holes are short as a result. Also, the tees were moved up due to last year's over 100 rulings during the first round. We're not going to hit many drivers this week.

• We had a 1:00 practice round due to a 10 AM TV spot Anna had scheduled but an email confirmation snafu from her publicist along with more symptoms of her pending ailment and she whiffed. They're going to try an reschedule. 

• We have a running bet during the practice rounds with a coffee or beverage of choice on the line for each bet. I usually pick a tough up and down and I was one up after last week. Today was a different story though. I gave her one for every bird and got waxed! I tried to save one on the last hole with a downhill bunker shot to a tucked pin but she almost holed it! I'm into her for four coffees now. She doesn't drink the cheap stuff either.

• It's Anna's birthday on Friday the 5th. Send her a birthday greeting through her website here. 

Thursday: Day off. Only one pro-am on the agenda so we were not included. In fact, many of the players high on the money list were bumped by players with LPGA status. There are quite a few here due to our pathetic schedule and they have priority.

• All the ESA (environmentally sensitive area)  took it's toll on the practice facility. No woods are permitted lest the balls fly into the ESA.

• Country Club Mike has made an appearance and is working for Courtney Wood.

• Shadow snagged a job for the Ladies Senior event working for Muffin Spencer-Devlin. Her partner is Amy Alcott.

• Spotted Sam on TV working for Morgan Pressel at The Women's Amateur.

• Checked on my missing camera that I won in the Corning Pro-Am and it was perfect timing. They were just about to send it to my home address but will send it here instead. Should get it tomorrow.

Friday: +1 was the best we could do. It was there for the taking but Anna was still fighting what ever ails her and just couldn't find any consistency. Made three bogies with wedges in our hands.

• Played super slow. The ESA was gobbling up pellets at a record pace.

• Since the range is so short, balls from AlmostGolf were used for the longer shots. Anna tried a few but it seemed to throw her swing off. Went to the first tee without hitting a the driver.

• The tow vehicle for The Futures traveling fifth-wheel headquarters was stolen Tuesday evening from the Holliday Inn in Beltsville but was recovered the next day. A few scrapes and emptying of the interior was the result.

• Went to Anna's birthday party, hosted by Patsy and Bob her housing for this week, and seafood was the main attraction. Maryland crabs and shrimp with a scrumptious birthday cheesecake for dessert. I found the crabs way too much work so attacked the shrimp instead.

• Received the camera as promised and it's a Nikon Coolpix 4600.

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Saturday: We just weren't firing on all cylinders. Shot 2 over and made a bunch of 6'+ putts for par. Need to go real low tomorrow to make a move. Still suffering with the remnants of her cold. Had the sniffles all day.

• Forgot to mention Anna got her Blackberry back. She received an email that it was found and wanted to return it. The funny thing is that she called it numerous times with no answer then it was finally turned off. He probably couldn't sell it so decided to Mr. Nice.

Sunday: Well the EVS did us in. Not that we hit a bunch into it today, in fact, we never teed it up. We made the mistake of hitting one out of the hazard on number five in round one. Neither one of us saw the specially marked stakes and it it's a two stroke penalty. Someone in our group must have had the same situation yesterday and notified the rules officials. That's a disqualification since we signed an incorrect scorecard.