A Weekend Without Golf?

Well, not exactly.

True; I haven't touched a club since Thursday... which has me in a slight state of withdrawal. This self imposed exile was due to a number of things, most significantly an emerging "shoulder pain thing" and a reemerging "tennis elbow issue" that I finally decided needed to be addressed with a few days off. So I'm planning to stay off the sticks for another couple of days. Then Wednesday I'll make a brief foray to the driving range, and Thursday I've got a lesson. In the meantime, I'm joining a gym to begin a regimen of core strength training. In addition to these nascent aches and pains, the weather in CT was rainy and windy and raw over the weekend so I wouldn't of played anyway...well I probably would've, but it wouldn't have been great. In the end, I did what many golfers around the state probably did: I watched. And there was quite a bit to watch.

The Chrysler title - An exciting end of season for the PGA tour. K.J. Choi won by four and was beautiful to behold, with his straight, soaring drives. I love the way he talks too. So cute and funny. Well, K.J. had pretty much sealed a win from the beginning but there were several other stories going on. Most notably the Ernie Els story. Now, I really, really like Ernie Els. I don't know what it is, but he just makes me happy. Is that weird? Anyway, it started really badly for Ernie and just got worse till it looked like he wasn't even going to make the top 30 and would be out of the Tour Championship ...and that would've sucked, to put it bluntly. But things started looking up (relatively) with an eagle at the 14th which helped get the big, South African teddy bear back in the top 30 (and the Tour Championship) with a tie for 6th. Phew.

The Champion's Tour - More great golf stories. First of all, Jim Thorpe: I feel like I know Jim Thorpe, because I sort of do. You see, he's sponsored by Foxwoods Resort and Casino where I spend lots of ...time. I play Lake of Isles there as often as I can and take lessons at the golf academy. In June I played there in the Native American Classic on a team that included Jim's brother, and sometimes caddy, Chester. It was amazing. Chester was ultra nice and funny. He kept scolding me for being cavalier with my club covers and not concentrating. I'm much better about both of those things now. Anyway, Mr. Jim Thorpe played brilliantly in Sonoma, finishing at 17-under-par 271, and winning the Charles Schwab Cup Championship by two, over Tom Kite. The nail biter subplot was all about Loren Roberts and Jay Haas who were back and forth in dramatic fashion battling for the year-long Charles Schwab Cup race, and $1 million annuity. Haas won in the end when Roberts, one of the worlds best putters, heartbreakingly missed a five foot putt on the 18th.

The Ladies in the Dessert - To no one's great surprise, Annika reigned supreme. Between camel rides, falconing and other desert kingdom activities, Annika, in typical Annika fashion, won the Dubai Ladies Masters by six strokes. The tournament was far from dull though, thanks to the glamorous and exciting girls of European golf, who are exceptionally talented and engaging to watch. They're breaking stereotypes about women's golf and bringing in a whole new audience. How wonderful is that? Anyway, I played vicariously through them this weekend and for that I am very grateful.