THW Golf Headlines

Sunday, November 21, 2010

binkdog Nominated for THW Golf Jim Furyk Award

...awarded to those who sleep through tee times.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

More Records Bite the Dust, Team Awesome Racks Up a Win

by MacTHW

More records are broken and another visitor stops by to play a few rounds. Has MacTHW fixed his cobbled together network? Will the dreaded binkdog-choke make a return? Will injuries affect gameplay? How about some live Xcode compiling? Answers to these questions and more can be found in your headlines for Saturday, November 13th 2010.

Saturday would see Jared returning to the links, with the intention of breaking a few records of his own. binkdog steps onto the playing field less than perfect, having injured his ankle earlier in the day. Sounds like a recipe for a great night of golfing.

Bay Hill would be the scene of the first showdown. Jared started off with some pre-round smacktalk and now it was time to see if he could back it up. All the golfers played a solid front nine, although each player did card themselves at least one bogey. Jared would lead at the turn but everyone was nipping at his heels as the round headed into the important nine. Not content to let Jared run away with the game, MacTHW fires up his Birdie-Bot to try and match pace. Unfortunately, Ash accidentally turned on his Bogey-bot instead and took himself out of contention. Cool hand binkdog tries to keep up but also falls back a few strokes with both MacTHW and Jared shooting a record setting 33 on the back nine. After the dust settles, Jared wins at Bay Hill with an overall 66, MacTHW close nehind with a 68, then binkdog 73 and Ash with a 76. Jared sets the official record for lowest overall, lowest front and lowest nine at Bay Hill.

Next up, TPC Blue Monster. Not content with a third place finish, binkdog throws down a challenge to Jared, daring him to beat his record low of 62 at the Blue Monster. Jared accepts and off they go. Instead of binkdog defending his title against Jared, MacTHW steps up to the plate starting off hot with a three birdie-streak. binkdog tries to match but finds himself staring down a snowman on the 3rd. Both Ash and binkdog find themselves in Bogey-Town while MacTHW and Jared battle it out on the front nine, with MacTHW holding a slight two stroke lead at the turn. Jared turns on the afterburners and cards an amazing 7 birdies on the back nine. None of the players can withstand the onslaught, with each player finding themselves with a ticket to Bogey-vill at some point along the back nine. Jared takes the round with a three stroke lead over MacTHW. While he doesn’t beat binkdog’s record, he does match it, setting a new record low of 29 for the back nine along the way. It’s Jared 62, MacTHW 65, binkdog 74 and Ash 80.

Now on a quest to set a new record low for himself, binkdog takes the gang to Banff Springs, a course where he already held a record score of 67. Everyone’s firing on all cylinders now. binkdog shakes off his previous loss and comes out red hot, snagging 6 birdies along the front nine, giving him a 4 stroke advantage at the turn. All players are shooting under par, with MacTHW occupying the caboose all by his lonesome as the players head into the 10th. And again, Jared comes alive on the back nine, attempting to make up for lost strokes. binkdog holds steady and edges out a victory over Jared by one stroke. binkdog sets a new course record for Banff Springs with his 62. Jared comes in at 63, MacTHW follows with a 67 and Ash, who’s riding in the caboose, rolls in with a 39.

Enough with individual competition, Team JDog has something to prove. They want to take on the talented and awesome Team Awesome at Bethpage Black.

Neither team gets the upper hand on the front nine and they head into the turn All Square. The 11th would signal the downfall of Team Awesome, however, as Team JDog goes 1UP then 2UP and finally 3UP on the 16th for the win.

Team JDog issues one more team challenge and Team Awesome accepts to play at Celtic Manor Resort. Things do not go as planned for Team JDog as they quickly fall behind on the first hole, giving Team Awesome the 1UP advantage. Team JDog manage to halve the next five holes, until Team Awesome scores another win to put them 2UP on the 6th, which would hold until the turn. Team JDog battles back and gets the game to All Square by the 11th and then 1UP on the 12th. By the 15th, due to excellent team play by Ash and Mac, Team Awesome is back to being 1UP. That lead would go away on the 16th, but a birdie by Mac on the 18th secures a 1UP win for Team Awesome at Celtic Manor.

With a win in their pocket, Team Awesome calls it a night. Great games this evening. Join us again next weekend for more THW Golf.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Ze5 sighting in da house, more records fall

by binkdog

Rested from their big outing in China and Hawaii last week, our golfers headed to Florida to take down records at the TPC Sawgrass course. 

Lots of water and trouble awaited them, as Ash, Bink and Mac took to the links.  Bink’s par/par start was enough for a lead early, as mac and ash found trouble on the first hole.  Undaunted, the People’s champ and his partner from team awesome both got on track with birdies at 2 and 3, and ash was quickly in the lead.  Bink gave it right back with a birdie at 4 and by the time we got to number 6, both bink and Ash had given up the lead.  Mac took his turn after bink and ash lost ground on # 7, but then he gave the lead right back on # 8 with a bogey!  After 3 separate leaders on the front 9, mac and bink finished with a 37, and ash’s bogey at 9 put him in with a 38. On the back 9, Mac dialed in his approach and putting robot and birdied two of the first 3 holes!  Binkdog was steady with a birdie and all pars and was only a shot off the pace going into 16, as mac birdied and bogeyed again.  Ash was lingering with a single bogey on the card heading into 16.  On the part 5 16th, bink and ash went for glory to try to catch mac and instead found the water.  They declared #16 a “cheater hole”  as mac birdied, while they bogeyed and doubled.  Bink made a little noise on 17 with a birdie, but it wasn’t enough, as Mac’s blistering 33 (new record!) was good enough for a 70 (another record!!)  Bink’s had a 35 on the back and ash had a 39, to finish at 72 and 77.  All 3 rounds would have broken the previous record at Sawgrass - well done golfers !!!!

Ze5 joined the group as they headed to Liberty National, seeking to break the existing record of 75.

The rust was evident early for ze5, as he started with a 9.  Blue squares dotted the landscape early, as ash carded the only birdie in the first 5 holes.  All golfers carded birdies on # 6, and then ash and made a move for the lead with birdies at 8.  Bink caught ash with a birdie of his own on number 9 to match the front 9 of 36 by Ash.  Mac was on their heels with a 37, and Ze5 secured the caboose with a 46. In a pretty amazing sight, there were NO birdies recorded on the back 9, which would make the record of 75 hard to beat !! Ash found big trouble early with a 9 on the 10th hole, and elway a few holes later.  Ze5 found elway and then his ugly cousin the 11 a couple of holes later. Binkdog and Mac battled down the back for the least number of bogeys.  They both found trouble with double and triple on 15, and then mac’s par on 18 to binkdog’s bogey was good enough for a 1 shot lead on the back 9 (40 vs 41) and a TIE overall at 77 !!  Ash’s early troubles continued down the back, and his 47 on the back coupled with his front 9 36 gave him an 83, 6 shots off the pace.  Ze5 had a nice even 55 on the back for a total of 101.  Worried that it was his worst round at housewares, he was assured by Mac that had he had posted a 130+ before!

With 4 golfers finally on the links at the same time, it was time for a little team game!! Team zedog took on team awesome in a battle at liberty national.  Mac cranked up his putting robot to super duper cheater mode and started out with 3 straight birdies.  Apparently, that was too much for his barely-cobbled together network, and his wii melted down and the game crashed.  He blamed bink (who has having battery issues) for powering off his wii, but let the record stand that bink’s wii did not reboot during this time.  After a bunch of finger pointing and reboots, our golfers tried again.  Binkdog and ze5 (with Mac’s cheater hack removed post-reboot) now came out and matched team awesome on the front 9 - all square!  On the back 9, powered by their own brand of awesomeness, team zedog grabbed the lead at 11, and then birdied the 17th to go 2 up and take the Match !!!  Our golfers tried one more time at Hazeltine, and once again, with team awesome in the lead at 2 up early on the back 9, network disaster struck and the round was lost.  As the finger pointing ensued again, we noticed that the people’s champ dropped out of and came back into the teamspeak server, leading team zedog to blame team awesome for getting scared, peeing their pants, taking their wiis and going home !!!  Go team ZEDog !!!!!!

All in all a great night of golf, hopefully with more to follow on Saturday night !!!

binkdog

Friday, November 12, 2010

There’s a new sheriff in town ...

by binkdog

It’s tournament time at team housewares golf - could the planetary champ keep his string of tournament victories going, or would the people’s champ and Ash take him down?  That question was answered the weekend of November 5th and 6th at the Sheshan Golf Club, site of the world championships. 

Round 1

Our golfers took on the monster that is Sheshan and had quite a roller coaster of a first round.  Bink took an early lead with a birdie on the 1st hole which he held most of the front 9, but gave away with a snowman on the 8th hole.  Mac carded 3 bogeys but no birdies, but his 39 was good enough for the lead at the turn.  Bink’s snowman put him at 40 and 1 shot off the pace.  Ash had the birdie lead on the front with 2, but an early double coupled with a snowman at the 8th along with bink resulted in a tie with bink at 40 at the turn.  The golfers cranked up the birdie machine and mac increased his lead to 2 thru 17 as he played a flawless -2 up to that point.  Bink also added two birdies but bogeyed the 15th to lose a shot. Ash managed a birdie and bogey to lose 2 shots to mac going into 17. At the par 3 17th, bink and ash tried, but could not gain any ground on the leader who also parred.  On the par 5 18th, bink managed a birdie, but this was not good enough, as Mac’s par gave him the win with a 73 against Bink’s 74.  Ash ran into a minor problem and got a bogey and finished with 77. 

Round 2

Bink and Ash started round 2 looking for the lead, but instead found bogeytown.  Mac was again very steady, with 2 birdies against 1 bogey for a front 9 score of 35.  Ash also had 2 birdies, but also had 4 bogeys and a double, which gave him a 40 for the front 9.  Bink couldn’t find the green circle, coming in 4 bogeys for a 40 at the turn, 5 down on the people’s champ.  Bink and ash tried to mount a comeback, but everything just kept coming up bogey!  Bink started the back 9 with 2 bogeys, while ash had one, but then ran into trouble at 14 with an elway sighting followed by 2 more bogeys.  Bink got the ship under control and ran off 3 birdies on the back with no more bogeys, good for a 35. Unfortunately for bink and ash, Mac was saving his best golf for the back 9, where he dropped 4 birdies in a 5 hole stretch and only had a single bogey on the back.  The result of this awesomeness was a 33 on the back and a record shattering 68 !!! Bink came in with a 75 and Ash had an 80.

Catch Rounds 1 and 2 at livestream.com

At this point it was looking bleak for the other half of team awesome and the planetary champ.  Could they recover?  Could they mount a charge against the people’s champ????  Read on to find out! 

Round 3

After firing a practice front 9 in 33 in the rain, binkdog was ready to make his move.  Unfortunately, the move was in reverse!  Binkdog wasn’t paying attention and started playing with his sensor bar behind the computer desk on the floor.  In spite of Mac’s insistence that it didn’t matter, he started the round by finding lots of snow and took himself right out of the championship running with a double two holes later.  Mac started out birdie/eagle (AWESOME!!) and was on his way to a super low 9 hole total until he moved his sensor bar to prove a point and found 3 consecutive bogeys.  Ash resisted the sensor bar challenge and produced 3 birdies in a row before running into bogey town.  At the turn, Ash led with a 36, Mac had a 37 and bindog trailed with a 43.  The back 9 found binkdog setting in with two birds and a bogey for a 35 on the back.  Mac and Ash battled down the back 9 for the best round 3 score.  After a couple of bogeys by ash giving mac the lead, Ash ran off a string of birdies on 14-16 to grab a 2 shot lead over mac. He found trouble on the par 3 16th, giving both shots back to Mac with a double bogey!  Both players managed a birdie on the par 5 18th.  Mac and Ash finished at 72, with Binkdog bringing up the caboose with a 78, and quickly losing ground to Ash for 2nd place.  Not bad for a round in the rain!!

Final Round

With a comfortable 14 shot lead coming into the final round, Mac was able to play nice and relaxed.  Binkdog and Ash battled it out for 2nd place in the wet conditions again. Due to technical difficulties (Ash’s wii froze up on us) on the 18th teebox, there would be appear to be an asterisk on the whole round and thus the tourney !! Our local board of ash/bink voted that the whole thing was a sham, but they were overruled by the world golf championship officials, who witnessed mac and bink finish the final round, sans a screen shot   On the front 9, mac lead the way with a 2 over 38.  Bink and Ash were disgusted with the whole tournament, but continued their battle for 2nd, with bink coming in at 39 and ash with a 41 after they bound found a little trouble along the way.  On the back 9, binkdog rallied late and tossed down a 35 on the back 9 to finish with a 75. Mac’s 3 early birdies on the back compensated for 2 bogeys and also finished with a 35, coming in with a well earned 73.  Ash found some double bogey trouble on the back 9, finishing (he was given a par on the 18th by our officials) with a 42 and a total of 83.

All in all - total domination by the people’s champ from start to finish and a 16 stroke victory!

Final tournament tallies:

Mac-286
Binkdog-302
Ash-312

With the tournament complete, our golfers headed to the sunny shores of Kiawah Ocean to try to break some more records !!

The front 9 found bink getting out early with a back to back birdies on 2 and 3 for an early lead.  Mac and Ash also birdied to stay close.  Bink and mac ran into trouble on 4 and then ash broke out his own puttinator on the par 3 5th to gain the lead.  Mac began bogey / birdie streak that he duplicated the rest of the front 9 and lost ground to the leaders.  Mac finished the front with a 37.  Meanwhile Ash tossed in another birdie to go with his pars and was in with a record front 9 of 34!  Bink had his sights on the same record, but bogeyed on 8 and fell off the pace by 1 with a 35.  The back 9 found the people’s champ make his run early with a birdie / birdie jump right into the race at the top. He ran into trouble with a double at 12 and gave back 2 to bink and ash.  Ash could not replicate his record front 9 and did not find the green circle on the back, regardless of how hard he tried.  Binkdog was cruising along as mac and ash struggled, but gave them hope at 17 with a double bogey and took a 2 shot lead into 18.  He got his mojo back just in time to get a par on the 18th and fend off the challengers with a 37 on the back and a 72 overall for a new record!  Mac also carded a 37 and finished with a 74.  Ash slipped to the caboose with a bogey on 18 and followed up his 34 with a 41 for a total of 75.  Good job golfers !!

Not content to finish the night losing to binkdog, the people’s/world champ issue a challenge at the K club.

Binkdog responded by firing up the puttinator and dropping in a record shattering 32 on the front 9!  Mac and Ash played tough for 2nd with a 36 and 37, respectively. On the back 9, binkdog had all time record in his eyes as he started birdie / birdie on the back 9.  mac was steady with all pars until elway showed up unexpectedly at the par 4 15th. Ash took a trip to bogey town on the first half of the back 9 and was in danger of the caboose.  Bink found a bogey on 14 and could not find any more birdies on the back, finishing with a 36 and a new record total of 68!!!  Mac and ash played even from 16 to the clubhouse, with Ash pulling in a 37 again for a 74 total, one better than macs 36/39 tally for a 75.  Another great round golfers !!

So there you have it - records at the world championships, records at Kiawah and K-Club.  All in all it was a great weekend of golfing !!!

You can catch Rounds 3 and 4 and Hawaii and K Club in the stream shown below

Binkdog

Tuesday, November 02, 2010

2010 THW World Championship