10th Time Is a Charm!

On Tuesday I qualified for the US Women's Amateur. This is biggest amateur tournament in the country! I have tried qualifying for this tournament, the US Girl's Junior Amateur and the US Open a combined 10 times and have missed by a stroke 5 of those times. I advanced to the US Women's Open Sectional qualifier in 2006 but didn't qualify for the national tournament. This is very exciting. It is probably my last amateur tournament, but definitely the last time I will be qualifying for USGA events as an amateur.

I was scheduled to tee off at 7:40am but was delayed 3 hours due to the rather large hail storm and tornado winds wreaked havoc on Green Gables CC in Denver. Nevertheless, the maintenance crew came through and cleared the course enough for the 23 qualifiers to compete. There were 3 spots available, I took 2nd, and shot a 5 over, 76.

Anyway, here's a closer look at Old Warson Country Club in St. Louis, MO where the national championship will be held next week.

Yardage: 6,468 yards (match play)/6,441 yards (stroke play)
Par: 36-35—71
Defending champion: Amanda Blumenherst (turned pro in June)
Opened: 1954
Designer: Robert Trent Jones Sr.

USGA championships: This will be the second USGA event contested at the club, the first since the 1999 U.S. Mid-Amateur won by Danny Green. Old Warson also hosted the 1971 Ryder Cup Matches.

Design notes: Jones made use of a feature that he called the “heroic” school of architecture in which he designed alternate routes around formidable looking hazards.

Missouri and the Women’s Amateur: This is the third time the Show Me State has hosted the U.S. Women’s Amateur. Both previous championships were held at St. Louis Country Club in 1925 and ’72. Glenna Collett beat Alexa Stirling in 1925, while Mary Budke beat Cynthia Hill in ‘72. Budke would later captain the victorious 2002 USA Curtis Cup team. Collett won a record six Women’s Amateur titles.

Set-up notes: The par-3 17th hole will play at 184 yards during stroke-play qualifying and 211 yards once match play begins. Depending on the location of the tee markers, the par-4 14th hole will play either 300 or 324 yards.

Port Place: St. Louis native Ellen Port is one of Missouri’s most decorated amateur players, having won three U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur titles and representing the USA on the 1994 and ’96 Curtis Cup teams. Port has played in several U.S. Women’s Amateurs, reaching the quarterfinals in 1992.

Hopefully I'll be blogging about my experience. This is kind of a big deal and I'm so pumped to play with the best amateurs in the country!

Stewart Cink

Ladies and gentleman, your 2009 British Open Champion presenting his own Top 10 list on Letterman.

Number six is my favorite one. Ha.

Sexy Golfers...Good for the Game?

This girl is a golfer? Haha, yeah. More and more over the last decade or so, women's golf has become sexy. Natalie Gulbis was one of the modern day trailblazers who glamorized golf. Her swimsuit calendars and short skirts on tour was marketed, and still is, toward the middle-aged-Miller-Lite-public golfer who doesn't give a rats ass about what goes on on the LPGA yet they buy the calendars and watch her reality shows. Now, seven women known as the Wilhelmina 7 or the W7, sponsored by the Wilhelmina modeling agency have created a new kind of gossip on tour: Who's going to be Miss January, because its not just Natalie Gulbis making calendars now! Before the likes of Gulbis, female golfers wore knee length shorts, shirts down to their elbows and lacked any kind of fashion on the golf course. Now, the women's golf industry has incorporated fashion icons to model their clothing and created en vogue clothing to sport on the course.

The other day I was approached by my employer because my golf shirt was not "fit to the dress code". My shirt was a sleeveless polo but the back was cut out like a sports bra and apparently wasn't acceptable. In somewhat of a shock, I started pondering about this whole subject. Does she not know that women's golf is trying to make ground on this subject? Women athletes, especially golfers, have been known to be "masculine" if they possess elite athletic skills. They are butch. These girls posing in their swimsuits are proving they have the beauty and the skill. For example, Anna Grzebien, pictured above, won three national championships at Duke and is now playing on the LPGA. I remember when I saw her at a tournament and I would have never thought that she would be part of the W7, but its getting people's attention toward golf.

The obvious argument is that this is degrading to women's character, making a mockery of their actual athletic skill and just using their bodies to give the sport notice. For Gulbis, the argument is that she hadn't won a tournament for the first 6 years she was a professional. She had the beauty but not the game to win. She was noticed for her good looks before her game. That kinda gets at me because being a girl playing a male dominated sport, it seems like I'm always swimming against the current. People don't want to play with me because I'm a girl, or they doubt my talent or skill just because I am female. This all really pisses me off but after I hit one, they shut up. Ha.

However, these girls are bringing that temporary glance at golf. They are showing people that female athletes, like I said before, have the skill and the good looks. However they arrive at the conclusion that they play professional golf for a living, golf is being noticed so I would think that is good for the game. In every aspect of a females life, they are more noticeable when wearing a short skirt and if that gets people's attention, maybe, and hopefully they will notice what great athletes they are as well.

Any thoughts??

The Best Time of the Year

Le Tour de France!!

What an epic event. I am so excited to watch this year's tour not only because Lance is back, but because it has been 365 days since the last one!

Greatest test in sports....

And the coolest tv spots!


What an inspiration.

Quality TV

Last night I had the honor of seeing probably one of the greatest television shows created. Allow me to explain. Tiger Woods' swing coach Hank Haney is taking on the challenge of teaching Charles Barkley. If you have never seen him swing a golf club, entertain yourself and look him up here. He is terrible. Hank Haney is easily one of the nation's best swing coaches, so this is quite a project for him.

On the show last night, Haney talks about Charles completing a Tiger day. A Tiger day consists of 6am wake up, run, lift, breakfast, on the practice tee at 9am-11am, putt for 30 min, lunch, play 9 holes, back to the practice tee at 2pm-4pm, short game practice till 5pm, putt till 5:30, play another 9 holes. Charles Barkley is by no means in any sort of shape to complete this agenda. However, he spends a solid 8 hours on the practice tee, completing over 1000 swings. Towards the end of the day Charles says, "No one can have fun working like this".

The show is brilliant. Tiger even made a cameo appearance. Here is he imitating Charles' swing.....

Haha

Snowed Out

I am currently in a quaint little Inn, in Pinehurst, North Carolina. If you are a frequent reader of this blog, you might know that I looooove Pinehurst. I have posted pictures of Payne Stewart's statue and written in adoration for this holy ground. Well folks, my luck here has run out. I am a senior and my last chance to play Pinehurst is gone. Two inches of snow fell last night and temperatures hoovering around freezing will keep us from teeing it up this week.

As for the remainder of our trip, it will be filled with good food, staring at books, typing, and studying till I fall asleep. Midterms this week.

Great Views

Memphis welcomed me back on January 11th with this beautiful view.

Basketball Season

College basketball has been outstanding lately, at least the games I have seen. I attended Memphis v Houston a couple weekends ago. Houston had a player that earlier that week stepped on some guys face, intentionally. Every time he was shooting free throws by our band, the kids would take off their shoes, place them by their face and scream. It was hilarious. Houston's jersey tops were bigger than their shorts and Memphis', being the hood team that they are, shorts look more like man-pri's than shorts. Kept me laughing the whole game.

Memphis played Gonzaga last Saturday. This game had a lot of hype because Memphis and Gonzaga were similar in rankings, and matched up pretty well on the floor. I was nervous because we have been throwing the ball away on stupid turnovers lately. The usual scenario played out. Memphis runs the crap out of the other team and they are just standing there spinning in circles wondering which goal is theirs. We killed them. Coach Cal says the boys are starting to come together and play like they know what they're doing. I would have to agree. Couldn't be at a better time either, its getting closer to March.

Last night Duke played UNC. The first 30 minutes of this basketball game was probably the best 30 minutes I've ever seen. Scoring a combined 50+ in the first 10 minutes left me speechless. Every possession was a field goal and the pace was very quick. It's always impressive when a college team gets to 100 especially in this rivalry so needless to say when UNC scored 101, at Cameron Indoor Arena (Duke's home), I was very impressed. That is not easy to do!

This year's NCAA tournament will be a good one I suspect with all of the upsets already and the teams inching closer to the top 10, like Memphis. March can't get here fast enough.

**Here is Memphis' intro video for this year. It's a little blurry but a fan recorded it. This is an awesome way to get the fans hyped up. Just imagine standing in a pitch black bball arena and this bad a video comes on the screen.

US and A

The hallowed Ryder Cup matches conclude today. The US has a 9 to 7 lead over the Europeans. The US hasn't brought the cup home since their monumental run in 1999 at Brookline CC. If you aren't familiar, Justin Leonard made like a 45' putt to win his match and lead the US to victory. This year, the US is competing without Tiger Woods. Having struggled the past two Ryder Cups with Tiger, commentators said the US wouldn't have a chance to beat the Euros especially with Padraig Harrington, a hot player in 2008, playing for the Euro team. Currently, if they win the matches they are leading, the cup will return to the US.

This is golf's most exciting tournament. It's not about money. It's all about bragging rights, national pride and raw competition. I would recommend tuning in (NBC) if you think golf is a boring sport.

7 Years Ago....

Currently, I am watching a show on the History channel taking witness, home video accounts of 9/11. After traveling to NYC, seeing what used to be the grounds for the Two Towers leaves me in utter shock after seeing it when it actually happened. Being able to gauge the scale of how widespread the effect was throughout the city is unexplainable. Seeing the huge buildings on either side of you walking down the street and imagining one of them, well two of them could possibly collapse. What are you going to do? Seeing the people frantically running throughout the streets is shocking and sickening. Imagining a rushing wave of thick, heavy dust, about to wrap itself around you and through you would be utterly frightening. Thinking about the families of people that died that day is devastating. Trying to grasp the amount of courage and commitment to service the firefighters, police officers, and other aid teams demonstrated is beyond words. Realizing the ripple effect that disaster caused is unfathomable. Seeing it year after year I understand more about the world, and more about the effects this day, September 11, 2001 had on the rest of the world.

And I am left speechless.


**This is a shot I took looking through a blocked fence at ground zero. Construction for the memorial and the new tower are underway.

No Studying Going On...

I was studying, for finals, and a friend made this video known to me. Check it out.

Feed that warrior. Get some.

A Tradition Unlike Any Other

The time has come.

The green jackets are dusted off.

The Masters starts this week.



As most of you know, I'm pretty obsessed with this golf tournament. I'm pretty sure I've devoted a blog post to it, or maybe a couple, to it every year. This is the tournament you skip class for. Instead of practice you watch the Masters. Augusta's lush fairways, super slick greens, and beautiful azaleas, have me hypnotized for a week every April.

My prediction this year hasn't been totally solidified, but my tentative pick is Tiger. After breaking his 7 tournament winning streak last week, he's probably ed (you could have thought that after his threats to the camera man, for footage go to youtube). Tiger is always hungry and Augusta is his Thanksgiving Day feast. Not to mention, most of the world is scared less of the man on those greens. Ha.

I think the Masters is the best remedy after the heartbreaking loss last night in the National Championship. Sad day in Memphis for sure...

The Curse Is Broken

After losing the past two years in the Elite 8, we finally made it.

The Final Four.

I have high hopes for this team. After watching the game against Michigan State, jumping at the tv reenacting Derek Rose and Joey Dorsey slam-down-your-throat dunks, I stand firm in my belief that we have the best team in the nation this year.

Next opponent: UCLA Bruins.

Just a reminder: Tigers are at the top of the food chain.

YouTube Find

Check that tackle.
T. Woods that was solid.

I'm Back.....From Hawaii

It's funny, I feel the sudden urge to blog when I am at 30,000 feet. After a solid 10 hours in the air coming back from Hawaii, I am exhausted. I have been up since 4:45am yesterday, played a round of golf in 40mph gusts, and about ready to really loose it. The computer screen is blurry, at times I am seeing double. My stomach is in knots and my feet hurt. But missing a week of school for the paradise known as Hawaii was well worth it. The ocean never ceases to amaze the crap out of me. That part of the world is incredibly beautiful.

I leave you with a shot from Paradise Cove, in Ko Olina.

1 vs. 2

Memphis vs. Tennessee



Tomorrow the state's elite basketball teams face off in Tiger country. The city is like, totally, so excited. I have never seen so much hype for a regular season game. There are a lot of UT fans that live in Memphis and I'll see an occasional vomit orange flag flapping in the wind, but today the flags were out in force. Random banks are hanging up signs saying, "Go Tigers!" or "Go Vols!" The energy is raw, it's exciting, it's got everyone talking. Tickets are going for thousands on ebay. The UofM team is just calling it another game, and that...is...exactly...what...it...is. People say UT is our rival, but we play them once a year.

Tomorrow's 8pm tip-off will be exciting for the state of Tennessee. I am excited to watch it. I wish I was going, the atmosphere would be amazing. We are flying to Raleigh, North Carolina for our first tournament of the season. As always, I am pumped up and ready to rock it.

I'm hoping for two University of Memphis wins this week.

Go Tigers.

Numba 1 in da Nation

Buh Bye

OUT


I'M


BACK TO


See you there?

Hope

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

The Playlist

Apoligize Remix- OneRepublic feat. Timbaland
Fidelity- Regina Spektor
Faded from the Winter- Iron and Wine
Here at the Right Time- Josh Ritter
Bubbly- Colbie Caillat
World Away- Emery
Searchlights- Falling Up from Exit>Lights album
Luven Me- Nelly
I'm For You- Toby Mac
Doe Boy Fresh- 36 Mofia
A Little More- Skillet
Soul Meets Body- Death Cab
More Than A Feelin'- Boston
Take Me Away- Lifehouse
California Dreamin'- The Mamas & the Papas
Tusk- Fleetwood Mac