University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Off The Tee, Day Two, at The Beau Chene Intercollegiate
2/23/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Off The Tee, Day Two, at The Beau Chene Intercollegiate
Day 2, the practice round, February 23, 2003
Today was perfect for golf. It was about 70 degrees with the sun shining on a course that really needed some drying out.
The team teed off at 7:30 a.m., playing a practice round, while I got to play in the College-Am. I didn?t tee off until 12:30 p.m. so I joined the team for a few holes on the back nine.
As I joined the team, we played a few holes, and it looked like just another normal practice round. I thought I had seen it all until I saw a nice old man walking his cat on a leash down hole-18. From a distance it looked like a little dog, but as we approached him we had to take a few extra looks and shout ?here, kitty kitty.?
Finally, I teed off with my College-Am team playing what is called a shamble. The format of this tournament is a select shot off the tee, and then each player from there plays his or her own ball the rest of the hole.
It is always fun to play in College-Am tournaments because you get to meet some interesting people. Three of the guys I played with today worked for Cingular Wireless. Of course, there were a few cell phones ringing in my back swing throughout the round. It was a good group, and we had a great time on the course.
As we finished the round, I couldn?t help but notice everyone huddled around the television in the grill. I missed the entire final round of the Nissan Open, and it turned out to be an exciting finish.
Charles Howell seemed to have the tournament wrapped up until he had a few bad holes coming in. He lost in a playoff to Mike Weir. Anyway, I missed the whole thing, and the rest of the team got to watch it and take a nap the whole afternoon.
We tee off at 8:00 a.m., tomorrow, playing with Louisville and East Carolina. It will be a C-USA match-up. We have mapped out the course and are ready to play.
Tomorrow we walk 36 holes, which is always fun. It sort of makes you feel like you have walked from Hattiesburg to Gulfport in one day, only you are carrying a golf bag full of balls, clubs, rain gear, and good luck charms.
As soon as you forget your rain gear, it will cloud up and floodgates will open. So tonight we will dream of victory, and tomorrow we will take action.
