Semi-Live Blogging Alister Mackenzie benefit to save Sharp Park

Brad, Roy, and Rick complete our foursome for this scramble tournament. Starting on 11 which was the first hole of the original McKenzie routing. We probably won't be doing much blogging, as I will be consumed by my twitter responsibilities. Eventually I'll get around to updating this post with more pics. 

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19th Hole

A proper Reuben at the Sharp Park Clubhouse bar with a draft 805 Beer, fries, and bad scores. Well... one bad score.

BK 82

MW 102

I believe my game is on the verge of a breakthrough.

Tony did not keep score. That was for the best. 

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17th hole stories

Tony tees off on the 17th tee. Again.

Brad's approach shot after a wind assisted 315 yard drive. This pitch also received a wind assist, and sailed 20 yards over the green.

And I get another opportunity to line up a birdie putt...

... with the usual result. "Why..." you may ask "Why do you keep posting video clips of your missed birdie putts?"  I think the answer is obvious. 

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UPDATE:

Saw this story and realized there were additional contributing factors to explain Brad's 315 yard drive:

It was a wind and drought assisted drive. 

17th Tee Selfie

Mandatory. 

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10th Tee and 11th Green

With Brad in the tee box

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Somewhere after the turn

A little late for this post.  My blogging is suffering on the back 9.
MW 50

BK 39

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We had some pretty pots on a date

That subject line was supposed to say "We had some birdie putts on 8." 

Voice recognition technology is imperfect.

As is our putting.

Film at 11.

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UPDATE:

My Putt:

Missed.

Tony's Putt:

Missed.

Brad's Putt:

Drano

My birdie putt on 5

The 175 yard par 3 5th hole plays more like 200 yards and requires a "field goal" shot between a gauntlet of trees.  I can't remember the last time I put it on the green in regulation. Today I used a hybrid and smacked a line shot up the left side and fading into the green. It kicked off the the grassy knoll on the edge of the left greenside bunker to 20 feet. Tony looked at me and asked "Did you intend to do that?"  I gazed at him with disdain. "You saw the shot."

Missed the birdie. Got the par. Getting a par on that hole feels like a birdie. 

Tony on the fourth Tee

It's still a little early for Canadian golf. He is not keeping score. Probably for the best. 

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Brad had a little trouble off the second tee

His approach shot from 285 yards. 

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Live blogging Sharp Park

Most of the usual suspects bagged out this round, and Other Bob proved himself unreliable again, so it's me and Brad today. The starter put Tony with the two of us. He is vacationing from Calgary and wanted to play Sharp because he heard it was an Alistair Mackenzie course. He could not have found two better playing partners for an education on Sharp Park history.  Four hour lecture begins now. 

Misting and cool today.  Perfect Sharp Park weather.

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Two Cub Fans, Chairman of the Board, and ATT Park

Is there anything sadder than Cub fans in San Francisco?

Steve was the VP of Sales at my first enterprise software gig at McCormack & Dodge in the late 80's. I had some success and made lifetime friends there. I hadn't seen Steve in decades, so when he let me know he was in town and suggested we catch a game, I was all in. We started the night at Momo's (of course), and caught the first period of the Blackhawks sweep of the Wild. A good way to start to the night.

The first inning was underway when we walked across the street to AT&T Park. Scored tickets on the first base side club level and paid below face value. The scalper never had a chance against a couple of old enterprise software jocks.

It was Steve's first time in ATT Park - the second best baseball venue in the country. He was suitably impressed.

It was Frank Sinatra night at AT&T Park. The song stylings of the Chairman of the Board between innings was more entertaining than the game itself. Giants gave up 17 hits and lost to the Marlins 7-2. These two old Cub fans couldn't have cared less. 

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Landsmen Dinner at the Fairmont

Joined the usual suspects at the spring Landsman Dinner in the Venetian Room at the Fairmont. Hey, it gives me an excuse to drag the tux out of the closet every now and then.

The event fit the venue. It's a throwback to a different era in San Francisco - the "Mad Men" version SF 60's with strong drink, cigars, steak and potatoes and politically incorrect, decidedly sexist jokes.

Corsi warms them up.

Can't complain for an intimate dinner of 100+ guests...

Landsmen

The San Francisco Giants broadcast team of Mike "Kruk" Krukow and Duane "Kuip" Kuiper were the guests of honor, hence the ubiquitous orange and black:

Krup and Kuip

It was fun to hear the old baseball stories, including a couple from Wrigley Field, but... geez...  This whole "Three World Series Championships in Five Years" thing is really hard to take for a lifelong Cub fan. 

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I am kind of a big deal in Tasmania.

About three years ago, I set up a "Facebook Page" called "Abalone Diving".  Associated with my personal FB account, it was just a place to post pics and videos and link to abalone related posts on this blog. Just something for dive buddies, friends and family, it never had more than 30-40 "Likes" and I didn't put much effort into it.  I had not posted much on that page this year. The season has been open a month, but I've yet to see the right combination of free time, dive buddies, and ocean conditions. I just added a couple posts about rule changes and the unfortunate, sad, but inevitable reports of dead abalone divers not paying attention or diving when they should not.

Then a couple of weeks ago, this happened. WTF? No idea what prompted that surge, so I asked:

Who are you people and what are you doing here?So I have this little FB page that I set up 2-3 years ago to post...
Posted by Abalone Diving on Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Turns out I got the attention of the Maori abalone community in New Zealand and Tasmania. They are fascinated with the size of our NorCal gastropod as their local snails max out around 7-8", and abalone (paua as they call it) is their favorite food.  So we bonded.

This image from this post on this dive appears to be what went viral in Maori-land, with over 62,000 people reached and 400 likes:

I'm now over 3,000 likes and 100,000 visitors with 100's of comments per week on the "Ablaone Diving Facebook page [Linked HERE].

I just thought you should know.

Hopefully the ocean will settle down so I can get go diving and get some more content for these folks.

It's a lot of pressure.

World Golf Championship Match Play at Harding Park - Day 3

Mike and Other Mike flying the "Save Sharp Park" flag at the WGC

Spent a great afternoon enjoying the World Golf Match Play Championship at Harding Park. After a week of sunshine and Malibu-like temperatures, I was glad to see some real EssEff weather (fog, wind and cold) make an appearance.

Caught the last day of the round robin part of the tournament before any of the players were eliminated. The new format made for some exciting golf. A selection of pics from the day:

We spent much of the day following the Bubba Watson / Louie Oosthuizen match. It was an exciting match - back and forth with several lead changes.

Bubba and Oostie surround the green on 19th hole

It took 19 holes before Oostie made a putt...

 ...and Bubba missed. 

We also watched Lee Westwood sink a crucial putt on 17 to go one up on Jordan Spieth, then hold on to win the match.

Westwood sinks the go-ahead putt on 17

Watched Spieth sign every autograph he was asked on the way to the scoring tent despite losing a tough match.

The guy is a class act and a great ambassador for the game.

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