THW Golf Headlines

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Team Awesome Falters, binkdog Still Clings To Championship Title

by Mac

Friday night may go down as “The Night of Tears”. Some had tears of victory in their eyes, but none flowed more freely than the Mac’s tears of bitter and utter defeat. Be cautious, flash floods could form. If possible, reach for higher ground. binkdog and Virg will be there to meet you. Welcome all, to the headlines for Friday night. Where has the awesomeness gone?

The smoothies were made and bags of chips placed within reach, in hopes of what could be a great evening.

Hopes were dashed early as Team Birg (or Team imadog ???) handed out a whoopin’ to the boys on Team Awesome. The team match would play out at Wentworth. Team imadog, apparently shot out of a cannon, took the early lead going to 3UP before Team Awesome could mount a charge to stop the losses. They would eventually bring it back to All Square at the start of the back nine. Ash would tire from carrying Mac on his back and things fell apart on hole 13 as Team imadog breaks the tie and go to 1UP. They quickly follow with another win on hole 14. A win by Team Awesome on hole 16 prevented an early defeat, but it would only slow down the inevitable. Team imadog finished off Team Awesome on hole 17 with a 2UP. Team Awesome was not pleased.

Next, the action headed to Doral, the TPC Blue Monster. All players would be one their own this time, as this was a Stroke match. Ash and binkdog waste no time, both putting up birdies on the first hole. Virg would bogey with a 6 and Mac would set the tone for the rest of the match with a 10. Virg fights his way back up the ladder with four straight pars while everyone plays bogey golf. Virg brings it even with binkdog on hole 8 with a birdie, while Ash scores 9 and Mac explores the very, very back alley of bogeytown with an 11. binkdog and Virg continue their battle for first on the back nine, with Ash hanging in third place. Mac attempts a comeback, scoring a 39 on the back nine, but the damage was already done. He would limp in with a barely sub-100 score of 97. binkdog stays on course with 5 pars on the back nine for the win with a 78. Virg would turn in an 85, thanks to a small blowout on hole 18, and Ash comes in third with a 93.

Feeling the need to beat up the already wounded, Team imadog challenges Team Awesome to another team game. Banff Springs would be the setting. Mac, still reeling from the earlier loss, pours himself another smoothie. Game on! Team imadog tried their “get out ahead early” strategy again, but were denied on the first hole. Unfortunately for Team Awesome, by hole 6, Team imadog would have the 2UP advantage. A small scramble later, Team Awesome (pretty much just Ash at this point) would find themselves with the 1UP advantage on hole 9. Team imadog quickly fires back and brings it to AS on hole 10. They then switch into high gear and deliver the knockout punch on hole 17 with a score of 3UP. A victory, it would appear, for Team Awesome is as elusive as the fairway itself.

Virg would exit and JAC5150 would step in for the final battle of the evening. ‘50 has been taunting low scores all week. So, what better way to break someone’s spirit than a visit to Wolf Creek! All players had trouble on the first nine, with pars being rare and creatures of flight being non-existant. The scores were tight with binkdog holding a small leading going into number 10. The battle heats up on the back nine, as Mac looks to make a move. binkdog gets the game’s first birdie on number 13, which ‘50 answers on number 15. Ash scores a par and it’s still anyone’s game at this point. binkdog holds a small lead over Mac, but he’s not worried. Hole 17, binkdog’s nemesis, would soon be here. As usual, sounds of aggravation and extreme whining fill the air, as binkdog puts some balls in the water. No one needs tarot cards to see that one coming. He would lose 5 strokes to Mac on hole 17, victory no longer assured. A room for two please—Ash finds himself with a roommate at The Bogey Inn. Looking to capitalize on bink’s misfortune, Mac does what he, well, ...does. He shanks his first two shots out of bounds, effectively handing victory back to the binkdog. Ash, bink and ‘50 all score par on hole 18 while Mac, still trying to figure out where all the lug nuts went, scores a 9. Final results would be binkdog 95, Mac and ‘50 tie for second, both with a 100 and Ash 103.

Please join us for more THW Golf action on Saturday night. Here’s hoping Ash is not too broken from carrying Mac on his back, like a MacPack, so to speak. Also, if JAC5150 and Ash were to team up, would they be team JACAsh?

Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Born (to Golf) on the 4th of July, and other Records!

by binkdog

Hello everybody and this is your weekend wrap-up, Independence Day edition!  While many people spent the 4th of July in the pool or grillin burgers and dogs, our hard-working heroes took to the links for another exciting night of golfing action!  The early round saw the arrival of a new golfer on the scene - JAC5150 (aka Jared).  Jared met up with Mac and Ash (aka Team Awesome) at Sheshan.  It was a good start for Jared, as he took advantage of 2 birdies on the front nine, coupled with a dreaded 11 by mac to jump out to a 43-49 lead on the front, while ash spent too much time shopping around in bogeytown for a 53.  On the “important 9”, Jared held a commanding lead, and was up by as many as 9 strokes after 13.  Mac started a charge on 14 with 2 straight pars vs Jared’s double bogeys while Ash started making a run as well.  The 17th hole would prove to be Jared’s undoing, as he limped in at 8 over ( * - he claims there is a bug in the game on the par 3 17th for an 11, and followed that up with a quarduple bogey on the 18th hole against Mac’s bogey 6, giving Mac the 2 stroke victory with a 96 to Jared’s 98.  Ash made a valiant run but came up a little short at 99.

Next up was a trip to the west coast and pebble beach as ze5 joined the action.  Jared was out for revenge and came out strong early.  Mac was “awesome” on the 2nd hole with an eagle 3, but that was sandwiched between a triple and a quadruple bogey!  Jared held off all challengers with a 44 on the front with Ash in hot pursuit at 48.  Mac trailed with a 52, and ze5 mistook pebble for a vegas slot machine, as he started out “777”, added another 7 for good measure and rolled up for a sandwich break at the turn with a 63.  Ash came out firing on the back 9 with 3 straight pars to close within 1, but Jared held strong taking a 2 shot lead into 16.  Ash faltered with a bogey at 16 and a double on 18, to finish 5 back from Jared (87) at 92.  Mac rallied with a 42 on the back, and finished at 94.  Ze5 started heating up with 3 straight pars on the back, but couldn’t overcome his front 9 to finish with a 116.

The new self-titled “champion” binkdog entered the fray at TPC Scottsdale and mac volunteered to sit out a game .. hmmm ...   After his 87 at Pebble, Jared was feeling it but the champ came out slugging, dropping a record-setting 59 foot putt for birdie on the 1st to remind all golfers he was back and ready for action!  The pressure was on as we had to adopt the “low man out next game rule” with 5 golfers in the mix.  Everyone stepped up their game and Jared took a 40-41 lead over binkdog into the turn, with Ash and Ze5 hanging close at 45.  The back 9 saw the champion stagger down the stretch, with 7 holes in a row over par, managing a 46 to finish at 86.  Jared continued his strong play, de-throning the champ for a record setting round of 80 (way to go Jared !!!).  Ze5 put his pebble issues in the review mirror to finish with a solid 91, besting Ash by 4 in the battle for 3rd and “next game”.

Awesomeness returned at Torrey Pines, as Mac re-joined the action.  It was a barn burner all the way, with everybody breaking 90!!  Binkdog dusted himself off from his beatdown by Jared at Scottsdale and rose up with a record-setting low 9 of 38 to take the lead over Jared (40) at the turn with Mac (41) and Ze5 (42) in hot pursuit - it was anybody’s game !!  Jared started off the back 9 on a hot streak and was about to tap in for his 2nd birdie in 3 holes and take the lead from binkdog when router troubles caused a disconnect.  This was a real shame as it appeared he was heading for our first sub-80 round.  Binkdog forged on and dropped 5 pars on the back 9 for a 42 to finish with a record-tying 80, just missing a birdie on 18!  Ze5 picked up a shot on Mac at the par 3 16th as both finished with an 88.  Well done by everyone !! 

In the final round of the tournament,  Team Awesome (mac and ash) teed it up against a familiar rival, team zdog (ze5 and binkdog) at Bay Hill in torrential rain and winds gusting up to 35mph!  Team zdog, reeling from their saturday night beatdown by Team Awesome, came out swinging, quickly getting out to a lead early on the front 9, with Jared playing the role of heckler on the chat server   No icy hot (from carrying partners !!) was required for this event, as all players contributed and kept the action close! Team zdog jumped out to a 2up lead on the front, but gave one back by the turn and were only 1UP going into 11.  Zdog regained their composure and took 2 straight holes, culminated by binkdog’s dramatic eagle on the part 5 12th, stealing the hole away from Mac’s birdie.  Team Awesome took back a hole on the par 3 14th with an “awesome” par by Mac!  Team zdog held serve, staying up by 2 going into the difficult par 4 16th.  Ze5 closed out the match in dramatic fashion with an incredible par that was on a heavy slope and downhill.  This “incredible” par gave team zdog the match, a dominating performance in which they never yielded the lead, staying at least 1UP the entire time.  Hmm - perhaps a name change to “the incredibles” is in order ? I’m just sayin .......

That’s a wrap for our THW independence day tournament.  Thanks to all who played and made it a memorable event!  We are eagerly awaiting the return of the virg - he’s promised to bring the awesome!!

Monday, July 05, 2010

The Independence Day Invitational

Thanks to all those that took part in the Independence Day Invitational. If you didn’t get the chance to participate, binkdog should have headlines later today so you can read all about how binkdog…well,I won’t provide any spoilers. I’ll just let his headlines do the talking. Had some great matches. Team play rocks! Hope to see everyone at the Invitational next year.

Mac

Sunday, July 04, 2010

Challengers Look To Unseat the Champ, Teamplay Heats Up

by Mac

It was another great weekend for THW Golf. A player has rejoined the ranks. Yeah, I’m talking about ze5. Welcome back. binkdog was looking to keep his “Current Champion” status, with Ash in hot pursuit of the title, while…wait. Sniff, sniff, anyone else smell that? Yup, MacTHW was there as well, stinking up the links. Here’s a recap of the golfing action from this past weekend.

Action was a tad light on Friday, as only two players turned out to do battle. binkdog returned to defend his Champion title and MacTHW looking to get it back. The first match would take place at Whistling Straits, where binkdog would lead for most of the round until MacTHW started a charge on hole thirteen, with a par on thirteen and fourteen and a birdie on hole sixteen. binkdog would stumble on hole sixteen with 7 strokes, allowing MacTHW a shot at victory. Unfortunately, he would squander the gift and bogey the next two holes, which then resulted in a tie for the match. Both players finish up with a 90.

The golfing action heads to Pinehurst No.2, where MacTHW completely falls apart. Stumbling directly out of the gate, MacTHW never is able to catch up, especially with him putting up a bogey on every single hole on the back 9. Not just single bogeys, but ones of multiple varieties. Without competition of any kind, binkdog easily strolls to victory, putting up an 88 against MacTHW’s 106.

A third game was started at Oakmont Country Club. The admins at EA must have foreseen the impending slaughter and mercifully saved MacTHW by rebooting their servers.

This would bring an end to Friday night’s golfing session.

Saturday saw the return of ze5 to the THW Golfing tournaments.

Ash, binkdog, MacTHW and ze5 would start the action at Oakmont Country Club with a 4 player stroke match. Ash, with smoothie in hand, takes a commanding lead early, with an impressive 5 pars and two birdies on the front nine. Alas, the smoothie ran out and binkdog was able to catch up after Ash fumbles holes twelve, fourteen and seventeen. On his first outing, ze5 manages 5 pars on the back nine. MacTHW tries a late rally but ends up tying Ash for second place with an 85. binkdog would turn in a personal best and THW Golf low score of 82. ze5 finishes with a 97.

Up next would be The Greenbrier, where MacTHW was determined to take down the champ. MacTHW would have a three stroke lead at the beginning of the back nine, but binkdog was looking to regain lost ground with a birdie on ten and fifteen. Competition remained tight throughout the entire round as binkdog, Ash and ze5 took turns trading places on the leaderboard. An unfortunate blowout on hole seventeen would take binkdog out of champion contender status, where he would take second place from Ash instead. A birdie by ze5 on hole eighteen keeps him out triple digit scoring. After the dust settled, it would be MacTHW with an 84, binkdog 92, Ash 93 and ze5 96.

With the “Champion” stopped in his tracks, it was time for some Team play, where Team Awesome (Ash and Mac) would square off against Team zdog (binkdog and ze5).

Up first would be Harbour Town, the home of binkdog brand tree bark. Team Awesome quickly won two holes, giving them the 2UP advantage. Team zdog would diligently spend their efforts stalling Team Awesome, halving holes all the way up to hole thirteen, where Team Awesome would win another hole, putting them at 3UP. Not willing to give up, Team zdog takes back one on the next hole but is unable to win any additional ones, handing a win to Team Awesome. Ash deserves an MVP for this one as he carries the team for well, pretty much the entire match.

Given the decisive victory at Harbour Town, another match had to played…this time at TPC Boston, home to binkdog branded shrubbery and tall grass. Team Awesome quickly take the first hole, but Team zdog fires back and brings the game back to AS. Thanks to Ash’s smoothie induced gameplay, he keeps the team alive by squashing the rally of Team zdog, halving the holes for much of the round. Finally, with a refill of smoothie on hand, MacTHW makes a small contribution to the team, allowing Team Awesome to eek out a win on hole 17 with a 2UP.

Overall, it was very close and competitive gameplay on Saturday night. We had a good time and hope you join us next weekend, where the battle for Champion status is most likely to heat up. But will the challenge come from Ash, MachTHW, Virg or ze5…

Monday, June 28, 2010

Binkdog Continues Hot Streak, Team Play Enters the Mix

by binkdog

It was another great day for Golf, as our golfers found themselves in gusty conditions at the K Club first, with Mac looking to take back the crown early.  He found the fairway and short rough early and often to card 3 out of 4 pars to take the early lead, but ran into trouble on the 5th hole, carding a 10 after a water hazard became his personal golf ball magnet.  Mac got it back on track after temporarily losing the lead, and took a 3 shot lead (44) over binkdog (47) into the turn.  Virg made another return to the links, but struggled to find the fairway all night long.  He carded a 56 on the front, 3 behind the Ash meister’s 53.  With the game in balance on the back 9, Mac came out strong and picked up another stroke with a birdie on 10 to increase his lead to 4 strokes.  This didn’t deter our current champ, binkdog, as he went +2 for the next 3 holes, while mac struggled to find his game and went +8 in the same stretch, erasing his 4 shot lead and giving the lead back to binkdog by 2.  Mac rallied again on holes 14-16, picking up 3 strokes and taking a 1 shot lead into 17.  The current champ battled back again against Mac, posting a solid par on 17, while mac found the water hazard again, struggling to a quadruple bogey, giving binkdog a 3 stroke lead into a tough par 5 18th.  Mac rallied with a par, but binkdog managed to stay out of trouble and gave up one stroke with a bogey.  The final tally was a 2 stroke win for the current champion binkdog (96)  over last week’s champion mac (98) in a battle that saw several lead changes on the “important nine”.  The battle for 3rd was also close throughout the back nine, with Ash building upon his 3 stroke lead over Virg in the first few holes, only to card a 10 on 13 and give back several strokes. He straightened the ship and took advantage of a couple of blow up holes by Virg to secure a 3rd place score of 108, while Virg limped in with a 115. The low 9 for the round goes to Mac on the front with an impressive 44.

Our golfers played another match on Saturday evening, switching to a team event, with match play scoring and alternating shots. The team breakdown was bink and virg vs mac and ash.  The venue was TPC Sawgrass, and the 1st drive off the tee by binkdog into the canal set the tone for the entire event.  It was man vs nature, and nature won many of the battles, as our golfers found themselves muscling shots out of the rough just to find the fairway, only to put the ball in the water or the sand on the next shot, leaving their partners in one precarious position after another.  Mac and Ash raced out to early lead as Bink and Virg couldn’t put 2 decent shots together.  After a few holes, Mac and Ash were up by 2 holes , but Virg and Bink dug deep to find their game.  They stemmed the tide and squared the match by the turn.  Their success was short lived, as Mac and Ash immediately answered on 10 to go back up by 1.  Bink and Virg stumbled again on 12 and 13, and by the time they reached the 14th tee, were 3 down, and defeat looked inevitable. They turned on their rally caps and kicked it into gear, miraculously taking the next 3 holes to square the match after 16.  They were aided by a colossal collapse on and around the greens by the team of Mac and Ash.  The island green on 17 proved to be an elusive target for Mac and Ash,  as they took several shots to get on the green, losing them the hole as Virg bailed out waterboy binkdog on their 2nd tee shot.  Bink and Virg took a 1 hole lead into 18, and immediately got into trouble off the tee, with binkdog putting virg in bail-out mode again.  After both teams struggled through rough and bunker, mac and ash arrived on the green with a solid chance to take the hole outright and square the match.  They missed a golded opportunity from close range, as they “binked it” way past the hole,  opening the door for bink and virg to halve the hole, and win the match by 1 hole!

Binkdog continued his hot streak from Friday, racking up 2 more wins to claim the crown of Team Housewares Champion for the week.  Will his status be more temporary than those yellow bonding agent spots on the new iphone4?  Tune in next week to find out, as our golfers take to the links and battle the course and each other.  We hope to see Zeke on the links again next week and may see the return of 556 to the virtual links soon!  Until next week ..