THW Golf Headlines

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

enderdog Defends at S-Mart Classic

by MacTHW

Hey, it’s tournament weekend at Crooked Stick for the THW S-Mart Classic. enderdog gets set to prepare to defend his title. After seeing how he placed last tournament, can enderdog repeat? Or did he dismiss the previous tournament in order to solely focus on Crooked Stick and it’s very Eagle-able Par 5s? Also, a new player joins us for a few rounds and fits right in. Knock, knock…Who’s there? Your headlines for the S-Mart Classic at Crooked Stick, that’s who.

Round one sees everyone scrambling for the top spot. All players, except MacTHW, arrive at the turn under par. enderdog is shooting great but discovers that he company, and lots of it. As he tries to extend his two stroke lead down the back, the Texans both mount a charge and shoot 30 on the back nine. enderdog musters a 34 but he trails both binkdog and dude to come in third for the first round. binkdog goes low—ten under, signaling his intention to walk away winner of two consecutive tournaments.

Round 1:

The golfers immediately launch into round two, joined this time by a guest player—PointedMarlin, who has no problem getting right into the middle of the pack score-wise. Motivated by binkdog’s previous low round, enderdog responds with a 30 along the front and backs it up with another 30 along the back. AshTHW inserts himself into the running by going 8-under for the second round. enderdog regains some lost ground by going 12-under, while binkdog ekes out a par. This is still anyones game. PointedMarlin also brings home a 64 for round two.

Round 2:

Round three…FIGHT! It’s time for someone to make a move and break away from the pack. Who will it be? All signs point to enderdog if his score of 30 at the turn is any indication. enderdog is firing on all cylinders. At the close of the third round, enderdog’s closest competitor is binkdog, seven strokes behind. enderdog seems destined to win yet another tournament. Will anyone hop into the moving van next round and dash his enderhopes? PointedMarlin plays along with the THW crew for another round and drives it home with a 77.

Round 3:

Round four. Who will respond to enderdog’s crushing victory in round three? Apparently, no binkdog, who manages to sleep through the first game played on Saturday, once again winning himself another Jim Furyk award (his second now). No one manages to cut into enderdog’s lead by the turn with the same story along the back. enderdog runs away with victory for round four and the overall tournament. enderdog makes good on his smack-talk to NOT lose two tournaments in a row. PointedMarlin plays a third round with the crew and shoots 74.

Round 4:

Congrats to enderdog on yet another tournament win, making this his 11th career tournament win at THW Golf.

enderdog manages to smash another record…the previous “most under par in a tournament” score was, quite surprisingly, held by MacTHW, who shot 36-under par after four rounds at the 2011 THW World Championship at TPC Blue Monster. enderdog claims the crown by going 38-under at the 2012 THW S-Mart Classic.

Final standings after four rounds:

Crooked Stick | Course PAR: 72 | Tournament PAR: 288
POS	Player	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	THRU	TOTAL	SCORE
1	enderdog	64	60	63	63	72	250	-38
2	binkdog	62	72	70	72	72	276	-12
3	dude	63	67	73	75	72	278	-10
4	AshTHW	73	64	78	86	72	301	+13
5	MacTHW	74	74	75	79	72	302	+14

This isn’t to say the tournament was without a cloud of doubt. An asterisk moment, perhaps. Immediately following the tournament, a group of players wanted an investigation into enderdog playing all of his rounds in one day with same weather conditions while the rest of the schedule-aware, rule-following golfers who golfed their two rounds on Friday and final two rounds on Saturday had to contend with different weather. Could enderdog have pulled off the amazing 38-under feat with blowing wind? Should strokes be assessed? Should he be stripped of all tournament wins in order to send a message? The final official ruling was to let the score ride.

On the Team binkerton front, while binkdog helped enderdog get his four rounds in on Friday, who would help binkdog get in his final round on Saturday, having slept through the first game? enderdog? Bueller? We thought we had heard the last of the Team binkerton break-up rumors, but then things like this happen and this reported can’t help to think there is a deep, deep rift at Team binkerton and eventually it will work it’s way to the surface.

Congratulations are also in order to dude, who managed to make it ALL THE WAY through the S-Mart Classic, you know, without bailing during the second or third round. Way to go, dude!

Great tournament everyone. Thanks for playing and hope to see you at the Bolt-Action Challenge at East Lake.

Sunday, September 02, 2012

Team All-Dude Smacks Team binkerton Around

by MacTHW

The links stay empty friday evening with gameplay resuming on Saturday. Team games is where the action is at, with Team All-Dude gunning for Team binkerton in a best-out-of-three weekend. These are your headlines for the pre-tournament golfing Saturday.

binkdog, dude, enderdog and MacTHW hit the links on Saturday evening and split into their respective Team A—Dude and Team binkerton pairings.

First up, a preview of Crooked Stick. binkdog leads at the turn with MacTHW ony one stroke behind and dude and enderdog another two strokes behind that. MacTHW holds the lead for most of the back nine but stumbles into bogey-land late in the round. The rest of the pack make a charge but it seems that no one wants to win, nor does anyone want to lose. All four players tie at 74 for the round, a first at THW Golf where all players tie for first.

The team game goes to the 15th, when Team binkerton shuts out Team All-Dude at 4UP.

Crooked Stick:

Next up is Augusta, where binkdog puts his Course Pro status on the line. The moon and stars and the kinect align, as MacTHW makes a great run down the front nine, shooting 33—two ahead of dude. The pack tries to catch up to MacTHW but he keeps the nerves calm, managing to not give any back and keeping the lead along the back. MacTHW arrives at the clubhouse with a 68 on the scorecard, good enough for a win, and is then later informed that it is also good enough to pry the Course Pro record away from binkdog.

With MacTHW shooting straight and dude coming through with birdie to counteract Team binkerton’s enderdog, Team All-Dude scores a win at 2UP.

Augusta National:

Last round of the evening is at Whistling Straits, as binkdog demands MacTHW put one of his Course Pro records on the line. It looks like MacTHW is putting up a good defense of the record as he leads the crew at the turn but dude mounts a charge along the back that no one cares to respond to. dude rolls past MacTHW and runs to the clubhouse with a 72 on the scorecard and yet another Course Pro record to his name.

dude’s rampaging charge along the back puts the damper on Team binkerton’s chances at a win in the team competition. Team All-Dude scores their second victory over Team binkerton of the evening, going 2UP on the 17th.

Whistling Straits:

Team All-Dude’s two victories help catapult it to second place in the team standings. Is Team binkerton in a funk? Is their team synergy breaking down? Time will tell. No team games next weekend as it will be tournament weekend at Crooked Stick.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Bink Dog Senior Open at Kiawah Island Ocean Course

by AshTHW

This year’s Bink Dog Senior Open at Kiawah Ocean course will be a challenge for all involved.  As the host course for the 2007 Senior PGA and the 2012 PGA Championships this course has seen a lot of big name golfers.  With ten of the courses holes along the Atlantic Ocean Kiawah boasts the most seaside holes than any other course, this can make for some unpredictable winds at times, so it can pose a challenge and change the game at any time.

Now, the course will see the return of the oft celebrated members of the Team Housewares Golf Club.  With the absence of the previous champion this year’s prize will go undefended. The question is, whose tournament will it be? Bink ”Stinkin’ Kinect!” Dog, Ender “BookClub” Dog, Mac “Friday, Friday…” THW, Dude “Storm Chaser” Squared or Ash ”No-Pants” THW.  It remains to be seen, but no matter victor, it should be a spirited match of golf.

After a couple of practice rounds the crew rolls up to the first tee excited to kick off the first round.  With Ender and Ash struggling on the front nine they allow the other three players to jump out to an early lead.  Mac leads the charge by shooting one under on the front and two under on the back. Not to be outdone, the Dude throws down the gauntlet with an impressive two under on the front and one under on the back of the course followed closely by Bink with a cumulative score of plus one on the course. At the bottom of the pack we have Enderdog finishing four over par and Ash with a plus eight.

Round two was a showcase of the skills of Binkdog and the Bink enhancing patch in action. Bink is consistent on the front nine but amazing on the back with a string of six birdies he is able to finish out the second round with seven strokes under par.  The nearest competitor is Mac with an average score of even par followed by Ash with three strokes in the positive. Rounding out the group is the Dude with six over par and the caboose resident Enderdog with nine strokes in the wrong direction.

As round three rolls around the Dude has dropped out in favor of pursuing a Texas storm armed only with his trusty Canon; we look forward to seeing some awesome storm pictures he was boasting he would capture.  The field has been narrowed down to four as the intrepid group gathers on the tee box for the start of round three.  Out of the gates Enderdog is on a mission to throw down a hurting on his fellow golfers. After the front nine it appears as though he is poised to take a commanding lead for the third round.  That is until the second nine when Mac steps up in the back nine and Ender has a couple unlucky holes.  With eight birdies for Ender and six for Mac; the third round was full of tweeting and the like. After eighteen holes Ender goes five under followed by Mac with three under par.  Ash and Bink desperately try to play catch up with two under and even par respectively.

When the men of THW gather on the tee box for the fourth round of this contest we have a tie atop the leader board. Binkdog and Mac THW are tied for first and second and third place are separated by one stroke.  Dominating this round is the underdog Ash THW. Ash goes one under par on the front nine and then an impressive five under on the second nine, but it is only good enough to garner third place for the tourney.  The real story is the competition by the two leaders.  Mac and Bink were running neck and neck on the front set with both of them going one under par. Once on the back nine the smallest mistake could cost the match for either golfer. Mac was the one to crack under the pressure by shooting only bogies and even pars, not a single birdie was to be had for this golfer, all Bink had to do was to maintain an average score to ride out the tourney and gain the win in the overall tournament stats. Enderdog was not having the most stellar of rounds throwing down bogies left and right and only a couple of birdies for the entire round he finishes at the bottom of the leader board.  Round four ends with Ash shooting six under par, Binkdog with a minus one on the round followed by Mac with three over and finally Enderdog limps to the finish with a score of nine strokes over par.

Final standings after four rounds:

Kiawah Ocean | Course PAR: 72 | Tournament PAR: 288
POS	Player	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	THRU	TOTAL	SCORE
1	binkdog	73	65	72	71	72	281	-7
2	MacTHW	69	72	69	75	72	285	-3
3	AshTHW	80	75	70	66	72	291	+3
4	enderdog	76	81	67	81	72	305	+17
DNF	dude	69	78	—	—	36	147	—

This was definitely an exciting tournament with some great rounds played by all and the loss of only one player to the storms of south Texas. The champion for the competition was the tournament’s namesake Binkdog with seven under par followed by Mac with three under then Ash with a surprising three over par followed by Enderdog, in the caboose/bookmobile, with seventeen over par.

There was one other round played this weekend in the Canadian Rockies at the Banff Springs course. With tuques firmly on their heads the fellows head out to the Canadian links. This was a close round with scores ranging from three under to four over. Mac was the leader of the pack with the three strokes under par with Bink nearby with one stroke over par followed by Ender with three strokes over even and Ash rounding out the scores with four over par.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

TBD Tournament Delayed

by MacTHW

The TBD tournament at Bethpage Black has been nixed for the time being due to scheduling conflicts. Ash and MacTHW will not be available the weekend of August 24-25 so the tournament will be rescheduled later this year, possibly filling in gaps where there are no concurrent PGA tournaments such as the months of October or December.

The next tournament will be the S-Mart Classic at Crooked Stick with the defending champion being enderdog.

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

2012 binkdog Senior Tour Invitational

by MacTHW

Behold, all qualified THW Golfers, you are hereby invited to the binkdog Senior Tour Invitational to be held at Kiawah Ocean on August 17 - 18. Bring your scuba gear, as many of these holes play next to the very wet and watery ocean. Hit ‘em straight or pay the penalty.

binkdog will need this tournament win to stay atop the THW leaderboard as enderdog is nipping at his heels. A win for Ash or MacTHW could mean advancing their own position on the leaderboard. And as far as dude goes, we are now taking wagers as to what round he will drop out on.

Here’s your poster (of a golf ball retrieving binkdog)