TED BITS, Ted McIntyre - More Pics from Duplantis Memorial
As promised, here are some more images from the Steve Duplantis memorial golf tournament held a couple weeks ago in Florida. Steve’s good friend, Sara Watts, kindly shared these with me. She’ll be venturing north along with Steve’s daughter Sierra for the Canadian edition of the event, which will be held at North Halton G&CC in Georgetown on Monday, July 21 of Canadian Open week.
Incidentally, Sierra was unable to make it to the Florida tourney, for which money was raised toward her scholarship fund, after getting snowed in. That sucks. Looking forward to seeing her again. She was a rock while delivering a great speech at her dad’s memorial service earlier this year.

The Duplantis Gang

Sara with Steve Duplantis Sr.

Sara and PGA Tour player Daniel Chopra, one of Steve’s former employers.

Jim Furyk’s group

And finally, a shot of Steve and Sara at Jackson’s Bistro in Tampa last March.

Shanks, Whiffs and One-Irons, Laura Aiken – At Odds with the Ace.

PowerBilt Clubs and Bionic Glove fired out a press release alerting the media that their products helped vacationing Bonnie Archer score two aces in five days. That’s an impressive feat with the odds of making a hole-in-one running about 12,500 to one. Lottery luck was most influential here. I’m not saying their products are shoddy. I’m just saying this is a good example of marketing at work. If I stock my bag with Powerbilt and don a Bionic will I too become responsible for purchasing an absurd amount of clubhouse drinks two times in five days? I’m not sure I’m willing to take that risk. Then again, I don’t even wear a glove and play my equipment out of superstition. Are my odds of scoring a hole-in-one worse than any given odds? I’m pretty sure firing the ball straight at the hole would be the best start and I’ll let all the stars and moons align after that.
Equipment is vital to the game and I am a big proponent of proper fitting, especially after being 5”11 and starting the game with short little ladies clubs. Equipment will help, and the wrong stuff will hinder, but you can’t chase an ace with it. I have witnessed some strange phenomenon—my mother’s ex who used an ancient putter and held it like a hockey stick but still hovered around par or my brother and his dented driver who plays a few times a year but belts it at least 250 yards in the right direction on a regular basis (it’s infuriating). At the end of the day, hitting the target is still up to the Indian and not the arrow.

Laura Aiken is the editor of Bay Area Golfing magazine and assistant to the BAGS Junior Golf Tour. She has been a golf writer for four years, and a mediocre player and fashion activist for 10. Laura can be reached at laura@gallowstudios.com.

TED BITS, Ted McIntyre - Is it Exciting if You Already Know the Outcome?
I’ve never gotten professional wrestling. I just can’t appreciate the appeal. Steroids and bad acting aside, what is the draw when you already know the outcome?

Tiger Woods is sort of like that. Or maybe he’s the Harlem Globetrotters of golf. The script is already written. There are no other horses in the field. Tiger’s name appears on the leaderboard and the PGA Tour’s finest wipe out like tractor trailers on black ice. Vijay Singh had last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill locked and sealed by early Saturday afternoon. A top-five player in the world with a comfortable lead and his game in high gear. Until.
At just about the moment that Tiger posted three birdies in four holes to get his round going, Singh heard the roars and then gagged, going six-over in five holes…or was it seven-over?
It was very telling to see Tiger showing the level of emotion he did when he drained his winning 25-foot putt, compared to the nonchalant “whatever” shrug from runner-up Bart Bryant in the scoring booth. It showed that Tiger Woods was the only man in the field who didn’t already know what the outcome would be.

TED BITS, Ted McIntyre - BT Getting Ready to Come Home

Regular readers, however many of those you are, may remember my accidental email introduction to an American soldier stationed in Iraq. Fellow golf fan “BT” is getting ready to head home soon, but sent these pics in advance of his redeployment. Tends to put things in perspective when you think you’ve had a tough day on the job, doesn’t it?

TED BITS, Ted McIntyre - The Golf Channel’s piece on Steve Duplantis tourney

For those who missed it, there was a nice piece about the memorial golf tournament for Steve Duplantis on The Golf Channel.
It’s worth checking out. They’re planning another edition on the Monday of Canadian Open week at North Halton G&CC In Georgetown, July 21.

TED BITS, Ted McIntyre - Furyk attends Sierra Duplantis tourney

Jim Furyk was among the participants at yesterday’s memorial golf tournament for Steve Duplantis. The event, staged at Walden Lake G&CC in Plant City, Florida, a short drive from both Orlando and Tampa, raised more than $26,000 for the trust fund of Steve’s daughter, Sierra. Tampa/St.Pete’s tourism’s Mary Haban was also on hand and sent the photos below of her with Furyk, who won his first PGA Tour event with Steve on the bag, and with Steve Sr., who has been eminently grateful and classy through the past very difficult weeks since his son passed away so tragically in January just outside San Diego.
I’ll post further images as they become available.

Shanks, Whiffs and One-Irons, Laura Aiken – Whining and Dining.

I’m no slouch in the food and drink department. I can consume with the best of them, and I’d be lying if I didn’t admit I get as excited to see the menu as the golf holes. I’ve got a beef with golf when I get rushed through the turn over lunchtime, pressured to swallow hot dog chunks hole with grip scummy hands. I’d rather spend more on a decent meal to be eaten at a leisurely pace, thanks very much. It’s a conundrum for me, and likely anyone else indulgent. Perhaps it’s a petty complaint trumped by the demands of pace of play. But golf is above all else an experience. I commend any facility who has committed itself to 10 minutes or more in between tee times. It’s a busy day on the course, but I don’t know it because I’m not hanging out with the foursome backed up on the hole in front or behind me. Being in the industry, I empathize with bottom lines, but I doubt customers care about the golf courses’ rationale. It’s not their problem. They just want to pay their fee and have a nice relaxing time at a steady pace, which is a challenge inherent to the game as it is. Plus, why build a golf course on 150 acres and then pack players in like Times Square on New Years? While it may not be feasible to squeeze in a three course meal between nines, it would be nice to chew thoroughly without looking over your shoulder for a marshal or quickly advancing group. Some of us are much better players (and happier people) well fed with thirst quenched!

Laura Aiken is the editor of Bay Area Golfing magazine and assistant to the BAGS Junior Golf Tour. She has been a golf writer for four years, and a mediocre player and fashion activist for 10. Laura can be reached at laura@gallowstudios.com.

TED BITS, Ted McIntyre - Tripping Out

Former PGA Tour player Tripp Isenhour has been charged with cruelty to animals after he says he “accidentally” killed a red-shouldered hawk during the taping of a golf instructional video in December.
Some animal activist groups are up in arms for the murder of the fated fowl, although, technically, he suggests it was more like manslaughter. Isenhour was endeavouring to scare the bird out of a nearby tree when it was being a tad noisy during filming. Instead of rattling the fine feathered friend, the Salisbury, Conn. native, à la Tiger Woods in that Nike commercial a decade or so back, was deadly accurate…after numerous attempts.
“As soon as this happened, I was mortified and extremely upset and continue to be upset,” said Isenhour in a release yesterday. “I want to let everyone know there was neither any malice nor deliberate intent whatsoever to hit or harm the hawk. I was trying to simply scare it into flying away. As evidenced by our family having adopted three cats from a local shelter, I am an animal lover. We ask that everyone accept my sincerest apology, and please be respectful of my family’s privacy.”
I felt for Isenhour..right up until I read the following report by Associated Press:

…Isenhour was charged in Orlando on Wednesday with cruelty to animals and killing a migratory bird, misdemeanors that carry a maximum penalty of 14 months in jail and $1,500 in fines. Isenhour, playing the Nationwide Tour this season after losing his PGA Tour card last year, apologized in a statement released Thursday and said he was only trying to scare the hawk away. Isenhour, 39, became angry while filming “Shoot Like A Pro” on Dec. 12 at the Grand Cypress Golf Club - his home course - when a squawking red-shouldered hawk forced another take. He got in his golf cart and drove closer to the bird, then 300 yards away, and starting hitting balls at it. The bird didn’t move and Isenhour gave up and drove away. Isenhour started again when the hawk moved within about 75 yards. He allegedly said, “I’ll get him now,” and aimed for the hawk. “About the sixth ball came very near the bird’s head, and (Isenhour) was very excited that it was so close,” Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officer Brian Baine wrote in his report. A few shots later, witnesses said he hit the hawk. The bird, protected as a migratory species, fell to the ground bleeding from both nostrils.

Something tells me we haven’t heard the end of this one.

TED BITS, Ted McIntyre - RCGA pens deals with TaylorMade, Zokol

The Royal Canadian Golf Association has inked a new deal with TaylorMade/adidas, with whom they have been previously aligned in an “official gear” capacity. The RCGA also signed up former PGA Tour player Richard Zokol to serve as an advisor to both the Canadian Open and player development. I’m hoping Zokol’s first order of business will be to advise the RCGA not to dress Canada’s amateur team in the same outfits as colour-blind adidas ambassador Sergio Garcia.
Hopefully Canada’s amateur teams also play better than him.

TED BITS, Ted McIntyre - How Does Ochoa Do It?

About a decade ago, Chaco Cepeda, a Mexican journalist I’d originally met while on a media junket in Scottsdale, told me about the impending stardom of a scrawny girl in his region named Lorena Ochoa. I was impressed when this stick figure with average power managed to climb all the way to the LPGA Tour, Chaco’s guarantee notwithstanding. When she starting beating everyone else she teed it up against regularly last year, I conceded Chaco was a wise man indeed. But when she won last week in her season debut at the HSBC Women’s Champions event in Singapore–runner-up Annika Sorenstam a distant 11 shots back–even that had to beyond what Señor Cepeda ever dreamed. To look at her, Ochoa still looks like that scrawny overachiever, but fact is, she’s probably been more dominant than Tiger in the last calendar year.
Incidentally, she had a new putter in the bag, a Ping Redwood ZB. Ochoa is a Ping club player, but she also uses a Callaway Tour i ball while wearing FootJoys–an odd company mix.
Not that I recommend her changing anything anytime soon.