SYBASE CLASSIC

WYKAGYL COUNTRY CLUB

NEW ROCHELLE, NY

My player this week is Natalie Tucker

I'M BAAACK! Will explain later.

Sunday: Took off early for my 900+ drive but the prospect of making it all the way without coolant problems was misconceived. The water pump gave up the ghost in Henderson SC. I pulled off at an auto parts store for a quick check and it was dumping out. No way of getting it fixed so I purchased a couple gallons of coolant and off I went. If I could make it to Wilmington DE, my plans were to get it fixed in the morning if Natalie was in the tournament. She wasn't in as of Saturday but she hired me none the less. Again it sopped leaking and made it with ease.

Monday: Somehow my reservation at the Mamaroneck Motel, which is only four and a half miles from the course, was not to be found as I discovered last Saturday, so finding a decent place at an affordable rate was my first priority. The qualifier was at 1:30 so I had plenty of time. When it rains it pours, but a ray of sunshine finally broke through. Natalie called and we were in. No qualifying necessary. The next call was from Tom Borwick just checking to see if I made it OK. By chance, he was at the Mamaroneck and I asked him to check if something was available. He's tight with Carmela, the owner, and they just had a cancellation. I was in! No searching necessary.

Met Natalie for a late practice round I put in a lot of chipping and putting on the course. It took over 5 hours but if you haven't played here before it's worth it.

Tuesday: Headed for Springfield MA for the first stage of The Open qualifier scheduled for the following day. It was a 140 mile trip and I took one more chance on that ailing water pump. I planned to drop it off at a Pep Boys and pick it up after our practice round. No problemo. Didn't start leaking until I arrived. We couldn't get out till after 3:30 and played all eighteen. Cool and windy but this course needed seeing. Plenty off 3 metals off the tee and a few blind shots. No yardage book so we lasered one or two sprinkler heads on each hole and I drew a rudimentary likeness of the green with hump locations, general slope and any carries needed. Didn't need something worthy of Picasso, just a throw-away yardage book with the necessary info.

Now for the explanation of my recent respite. My laptop slowed to a crawl and a virus scan, spyware check and repetitive system restores failed to rectify the problem. I figured the last resort was a total restore with the original software. This wipes out all data but luckily, it was backed up on an external hard drive, mine is a LaCie, and saved my butt! If you have anything on your computer that you can't do without, back it up. Stuff happens.

Dropped my Presario 2700 at a local Circuit City, extended warranty still in affect, and was fixed by the end of the day. Seems the registry was corrupted but the onsite tech ran a few diagnostic utilities and managed to insert the correct values. Running like a peach right now. The bad part is, it'll take over three plus hours to restore all the programs and customize it the way I want.

Wednesday: Took the low score medal with a -2. Being the first stage, many of the not-well established players tee it up and we had a couple of them. You just stay in your game and try not to watch. One notable qualifier was Pam of The Big Break III. She shot a respectable 72.

It is a small world. Hope Kelly, the pro at The Ranch, recognized me from a couple years ago. She caddied for Angela Buzminski (Buz) for eleven events.

Thursday: Played well for a while but a case of the 'lefts' caught up with Natalie. Shot +6. You just can't play this track out of the rough. It's brutal! The greens are wicked also and in the best shape I've seen in years. 'Bikini wax' fast and even pin high is an adventure. In fact, the whole course is in superb shape. Heard they dumped a bunch of cash into the maintenance budget. You can transform an outhouse into the Taj Mahal with enough dough. Not that I'm comparing Wykagly with a toilet.

• Interesting local rule this week. Stones in the bunkers are movable obstructions.

• In honor of the 'Big Apple', the pin placement sheets reflect apple shaped greens. The number on the bottom left is the green depth.

• Jeff Jones (Shadow) is the latest ailing cadero. An aching back sidelined him today. A local was put on Jimin Kang's bag in lieu of the veteran looper.

• I doubt if a bad anything was the reason Chris Birdseye didn't show last week. Chris, Heather Bowie's regular caddie, was a no-show and no-call on Sunday. His roommate said  his bed wasn't used Saturday night and didn't know where he was. The sad part is, his parents were in town to follow them around. Wasn't the first time he pulled this stunt. Stuck Silvia Cavellari at Q-School one year.

• I'm not the only caddie with car problems. Rick (The Nerd) had trouble starting his high mileage Toyota yesterday. Maybe the fact that it was down three and a half quarts of oil had something to do with it!

• My motel lacks phone service so I decided to use the hot-spot provided by Sybase at the course.

Friday: Played a whole lot better and made it on the number. After yesterday's round I had to relate to Natalie the difference between her demeanor at the qualifier and Thursday's round. Nice and loose versus trying to be too precise. You get too methodical in an effort not to make mistakes and a little tightness creeps in. You don't realize it but any extra grip pressure and you're steering it around all day. I love Rosie Jones' philosophy on playing golf. "Relax but attack".

As we made the turn I noticed that +6 was tied for 60th so I figured 7 would be the cut. After making birdie on number eight, our 17th hole, we were back to 7 over and par should get us in. A monster drive left us with a lob wedge and Natalie stuck it pin high about 15 feet. We read putts together and when she remarked that this putt was up hill I was taken aback. An optical illusion makes it look that way but, after taking her to the side for another look, it was obviously a downhiller. Good thing too. That sucker would still be going! I found out afterward that she believed the TV projection of a plus six cut and she figured she had to make it. That may have played a part in her knocking it three feet by. Never ever believe a cut projection especially at the beginning of the day and form those brainiacs on TV.

• The sixteenth green is absolutely diabolical. Must be the toughest on tour. It's way too fast for the amount of slope so they slowed it down for the rest of the week. It will be mowed only once per day, as opposed to two for the others, and not rolled. 

• Shadow was a no-go again. His auto is ailing also with a shot tranny. It's in a shop somewhere in Philly racking up a huge repair bill, I presume. 

• Love that wireless connection at the course. Updated Windows which would have taken an absurd amount of time on dial-up.

• Naree Song had the cut made on the number also till and errant tee ball on the last hole, number nine, cost her a bogey. Hitting out of deep rough to a severe uphill green is all but impossible. She fought hard all day just to let it slip away at the end. 

Saturday and Sunday: Tough weekend for us to score. Too many shots in the rough but Natalie hung in and never gave up. Onward to corning.