UPDATE 4/28/08... Great Scott!

Looks like I was right about Shades' move to dump Adam Scott...

Here are this week's numbers. Shades will make 'em perty when he gets back home.

375 .... Excal
338 .... Stan the Man
326 .... Steve T. / Tex
318 .... Tev
270 .... Bandit
265 .... Jeff / Shades
251 .... Vic
249 .... Shane/Jay
245 .... Shize
198 .... MG
101 .... Stevie V.
11 .... CASWAS
-109 .... DTM
-163 .... David / Mark
-198 .... Robbo
-233 .... Johnny V.
-380 .... Ryan

Nelson Recap

Well, I hope the boys would chime in with a "great time was had by all" because I know that I had big fun. In the span of 4 days, we were able to squeeze in 72 wind-swept holes of golf, plus a day and a half at the Byron Nelson tourney. The biggest mistake I made all weekend was constantly forgetting to bring my camera with me, so there are no photographs of the group, or more importantly, Excal teeing the ball up 5 yards in front of the markers, which were already colored white.

Several wagers were made...

On Thursday, Shane and I took on Shades and Excal in an 18-hole match-play match were we used the combined score for each team. Shane and I won 6 and 5, as poor Excal was as rusty as it gets, and Shades couldn't get it going. Worse for Jeff, he proposed a "credit card roulette" game at Hooters (the match was for the tab), where he tossed his and Excal's credit cards face down and asked the waitress to pick one.... and she picked Shades'. Ouch.

My annual 54 hole match play match with Jeff started on Friday when we played 36 holes. Despite pushing him into a 6 hole deficit on the back 9 of the final 18, he closed it to just a 1-down gap by the end of the round. I took Excal as my partner in the same kind of match as the day before, and we summarily destroyed Shane and Jeff. Excal hit his MBP (that's "Maximum Beer Potential") quite early, and we cruised. Amazingly, through 54 holes, Excal was tied for "most birdies" (with a paltry 2, but still).

Saturday was Nelson day... the course looked good, and the players were struggling. A great combination. There were two groups on the par 5 7th tee during the afternoon... sucks for them, but I like to see the pros playing in the same slow conditions as us hacks from time to time. Shades and I officially have man-crushes on Adam Scott.

We were a man-down on Sunday as Shane couldn't handle the Dallas lifestyle... too much drinky drinky, and he couldn't get himself out to the golf course. Shades won the first 3 holes to go 2-up on me, before giving a couple back. It was back and forth most of the day, until he hit an iron shot into tap in birdie range on 14. When I left my 30 footer for birdie short, he was 2 up with 4 to go, and he was getting a stroke from me on 18. Not good. A par and birdie on 15 and 16 pulled me even, and then it was finger nail biting time... The 17th was a 180 yard hole with swirling wind. At first I thought the wind was in our face, and I had a 5-iron,... then it seemed to switch to our back, so I grabbed a 7. Then I didn't know what to do, so I just said "screw it, hit a hard 6", and I got it up about 25 feet from the hole. Shades hit his a little right into a chipping area and made a great chip shot to tap in range. We both parred... all even on 18. You could cut the tension with a knife... even Excal managed to stay quiet. 18 is a tough driving hole... I found the fairway, but Shades was in a fairway bunker... he hit a great shot from about 165, but it flew long and was over the green. I had wedge in and chunked it a bit, and left myself about the 50th 30 foot birdie putt of the weekend. Shades chipped his up about 8 feet from the hole, which was a good shot... that putt was to win The Cup. He got over the ball, said "trust it"... and then backed off. Uh oh.

He missed it.

I tapped in for par and we finished "all square". We've always played this match with Ryder Cup rules, in that the current holder of The Cup keeps it in the event of a tie.

Phew.

So, 72 holes of golf, 72 (at least) bottles of beer, many laughs, etc. I don't anticipate touching a golf club for a few weeks... I'm burned out and my wife would kill me.

Nelson Weekend...

Let's just say that it was an exhausting weekend... Shane and Excal are on their way home, and Shades is still here. He won't be taking The Cup with him.

I'll do a recount tomorrow... I'm too friggin tired now.

Oh, and thanks Adam Scott!

Nelson Weekend, Day 1

Amazingly, all of the boys made it to Dallas despite ridiculous storms on Wednesday night/Thursday morning. Shades and Shane made it in Wednesday night, with Excal joining the crew on Thursday. We spent the morning and early part of the afternoon at the Byron Nelson on Thursday, most of which was spent watching Shades' friend and badges provider, Tommy "Two Gloves" Gainey. Although the Four Seasons course was an absolute mess/disaster last year, the $10 million that they put into it over the last 12 months has made it pristine. If the Tour players gripe about these conditions, I may have to stop watching golf.

Speaking of mess/disaster, we played 18 in the afternoon... and it wasn't pretty. Lots and lots of crooked letters. Excal told me that he had not played in 4 months... never a good thing. We set up a little match pitting me and Shane against Shades and Excal... and it was never close. The match was match-play format (i.e., no carry overs), total combined score per team per hole. We won the first 3 holes and never looked back, eventually putting Team Excal down 6 and 4. The individual scores were pretty ugly... I had 78, Jeff was in at 91, Shane was in at 92 and Excal put up a 97. We were playing in 30 mph winds, which was tough... but still. Yikes. Anyway, thanks for dinner guys!

We have 36 holes planned for today. Several matches going on today... Jeff and I will play for our trophy that we've passed back and forth for the last 10 years. Jeff is also taking on Shane (giving him 6 strokes) and Joel (giving him 10). I'm going to propose another team bet with me taking Joel... we agreed to let him move up to the white tees today because he was reallllly struggling from the men's tees yesterday (we didn't even play the tips). I'm expecting a big come back performance from the big Canadian.

I'm taking the camera out with us today, so tune in for some photos/b.s. tomorrow.

JG's Cobra Ad

Pretty cool ad... great acting too!

UPDATE 4/21/08... Bunchin' Up

Here is this week's update...

389 .... Excal
347 .... Stan the Man
284 .... Tev
276 .... Da Bandit
259 .... Shane / Jay
248 .... Jeff / Shades
238 .... Vic
217 .... The Shize
204 .... Steve T. / Tex
173 .... MG
108 .... Stevie V.
-47 .... CASWAS
-79 .... DTM
-178 .... Robbo
-211 .... Johnny V.
-254 .... David / Mark
-359 .... Ryan

Trade: Da Bandit Makes Da Move...

Da Bandit is dumping Tim Tim Timay! Clark and picking up Davis Love.

Our next update will reflect this change.

There are two great truths in golf...

1. "The Masters starts on the back 9 on Sunday..."
2. "The FPGP starts once Bandit makes a trade..."

The game is officially on now.

FPGP Summit

The top 5 teams in the FPGP will all be in Dallas next week (Stan and I already live here, Shane, Jeff and Excal are coming into town). The plan will be to play golf, watch golf, and eat/drink like champs. I have 4 rounds of golf planned for the boys, and we'll also spend some quality time at the Byron Nelson tourney. Good times shall be had, and photos, scorecards and other relics of the weekend will be featured here. Remember last year when Joel was in town for The Colonial and he surprised me with his mime outfit... who knows what the Clown Prince of the FPGP has in store for us next week?

Stay tuned...

UPDATE 4/14/08... "Da Rooks" Make Big Move

Well, well, well... Excal dodged a MAJOR bullet yesterday as Steve Flesch not only looked physically like Shades, but he also started playing like him. Still, Flesch's finish was enough to give him a decent paycheck and drop Excal back to the field where he now holds a very thin margin over Stan the Man.

And how 'bout Da Rooks? The Shane/Jay team was the only among us to have the foresight to have lil Trevor Immelman on their squad, and it paid off huge dividends. This former cellar dwellar team is now in 4th place.

One in the books!

The kickoff event of the Major's Challenge is in the books, but I believe this is my hymen popping victory. The dollars are not in as of yet but my team holds the highest finishes. Talonflier (Cink-T3, Harrington T-5, Mickeslon-T5, Furyk-T33); Rodent (Harrington-T5, Mickelson-T5, Goosen-T17, Scott-T25), Bandit (Harrington-T5, Mickelson-T5, Goosen-T17, Rose-T36), and Voodoo (Cink-T3, Goosen-T17, Furyk-T33). Voodoo jinxed himself with all the talk of easy money. So, it just a matter of how much...but I think it is close enough to keep everyone very much alive for the season title.

MASTERS SIDE BET... TEX V. EXCAL

It's that time of year once again... the birds are singing, the bees are buzzing, the azaleas are bloomin' and Excal and I must wage war with each other in our traditional Majors Side Bets.

The rules are the same as always. We each pick 5 players in draft format. The team that nets the most earnings wins $50. If a team includes the winner, that's an additional $50. Tiger is off the table.

As always, we'll do our draft in the comments section of this post. Having destroyed Excal in these little wagers over the years, I will once again allow him to start the season off with the first pick in the draft. I'll get first pick for the US Open, he'll go first for the British, yadda yadda yadda.

OK, Excal... it's your move. Take Mickelson and get it over with.

UPDATE 4/7/08

Bob Estes' performance solidified Stan's position in 2nd place, and Chad Campbell helped me inch a little closer to the money (look out Jeff, I'm in your rear view mirror). Excal is still running clear away from the pack though.


445 .... Excal
374 .... Stan the Man
239 .... Jeff / Shades
216 .... Tev
212 .... Steve T. / Tex
209 .... MG
185 .... Da Bandit
184 .... Vic
157 .... Shize
120 .... Stevie V.
104 .... Shane / Jay
-32 .... CASWAS
-51 .... DTM
-198 .... Robbo
-326 .... David / Mark
-356 .... Johnny V.
-421 .... Ryan

Adam Scott's intials this week: WD

New Tex tells me on Thursday how bad a decision it was to drop Adam "all the talent, but all the missed expectations too" Scott. Maybe it was, but maybe he just jinxed him too.


Sydney Morning Harold story about Scott's WD.

Communication Breakdown

The Shane/Jay (aka, "da rooks") team and I had a little communication breakdown last week with some email problems. They intended to make a trade, but the email came through my junk mail and I didn't see it until this week when Jay emailed me to see what was going on with the standings. As such, I'm allowing the trade to go in like it should have.

The boys dropped Ian Poulter and picked up Mathias Gronberg.

Next week's update will reflect this change.