DP - Jacksonville - October 15, 2006
Championship - Quarterfinals - Southern Division
Although it started out windy with brilliant sunshine of a typical
beautiful fall Florida day, the players and crowds were happy as the
breezes died down just prior to the start of the match. After the
exciting northern division quarterfinals a few days ago, the tension and
excitement were evident. Darrel "Tetrahedron Master" Gilman upset that
Puma had vaulted ahead of him in the Hall of Fame with Puma's 62 in the
previous quarterfinal match vowed to do something about that outrage. On
the first tee waited Becky "Comeback Klein and Rick "Bushman" Pike. Dave
"Tarzan" Miller was also ready having stayed up most of the night plotting
a sinister plan. Although Tarzan figured he might be able to advance
based on his score with his significant handicap, he wasn't taking any
chances. Plan B was now available and ready, if required. Little did he
know, that other competitors had the same idea. Bushman had started his
plan early by trying to poison the highest handicap person in the group.
Early on Saturday, Bushman prepared a "special" breakfast for "Comeback"
Klein. Bushie claims that she had an allergic reaction to something in
the sausage. Her eyes almost swelled shut and she couldn't open up her
eyes wide enough to focus. BY Sunday it was better but the lingering
effects still remained. Doubts remain however since Bushie is a known
master of the outdoors and could have easily picked up something while on
his walk abouts. Comeback was also suffering more distress when she
discovered she had broken a nail, just minutes prior to the match.
However she would battle onward.
Unlike the northern division with its stellar players and
performances, the players in this division clearly had a case of the
jitters. On the first hole, Woody Gilman, oops I mean Tetrahedron
Master, TM, Gilman got off to a whopping start by heaving his disc,
*TWACK* into Puma's pine. Bushie showing his nervousness glanced his disc
off of Puma's pine, causing it to deflect over near the practice hole
where he proceeded to throw his second shot through the trees by the
practice hole. After 3 putting, Bushie had a 6, Comeback a 5 and Tarzan
and TM had fours to start the event. Bushie made a strong recovery
carding a par on the second hole. TM settled down and started making pars
as well. The nerves were still evident though on hole 4, where Bushie
started his streak of 4 consecutive double bogies. Comeback Klein waited
until the 5th hole to start her streak of 3 consecutive double bogies.
While Tarzan was making a 6 on 6, TM quietly made another par setting the
stage for future greatness.
It was about this time that Tarzan decided to put plan B into effect.
Whether he meant to actually hurt anyone or just use it for the
psychological effects is still unknown. The game became rife with
assassination attempts; particularly from Tarzan Miler. On 10, both Rick
and Dave buried their drives half in the mud, no further than 4 inches
from the water. No one had to take any strokes from the pond in this
game. However Battling Becky finally shut down the harrowing
assassinations when on the 11th hole, Tarzan wandered ahead of the field
possibly looking for potential ambuscades, and she nearly pinned him to a
tree with a strong drive. However, the physical nature of this match
seemed to only affect Bushie, who prefers much subtler approaches such as
poisoning. After this close call, Tarzan settled down, making no worse
than a bogey on any of the remaining holes. Comeback and Bushie also
seemed to have trouble with Puma's gallery trying their best to distract
them, by making strange sounds and jumping from around it the bushes.
They were a scruffy, snarly bunch, especially the mongrel cat without Puma
there to control the mangy bunch. The players got a surprise on #15,
when they discovered that the basket had been moved back to it's original
position. Inspired, Battling Becky shot the second par of her career on
this hole while TM missed an easy gimme birdie attempt. On 16, Comeback
Klein decided to go for it. She was easily about 175 ft out, when she
threw her disc and it came sailing in and really rattled the chains but it
didn't stick in the basket. As the final hole dawned, the players made
one last desperate grasp for glory. TM wrapping up a solid game had his
chance to break Puma's 62. TM carefully judged the angles and the wind
and launched his second throw low, very low, but the grass tipped its nose
up just right and it caught about 100 feet of ground effects, skimming
right up to 8 feet from the pin, allowing him to finish with a par and a
career low score of 61. Comeback had a chance on 18 to end her score at
79 but it wasn't meant to be and she finished with an 80. Tarzan finished
18 when a bogey to shoot a career low 69. Bushman Pike never able to
recover from his bad run on the front 9 finished with a 77. The
semifinals are now set with TM (51) and Tarzan (51) advancing to meet
(Puma (49) and Birdie (54). This match looks to be a good one as all 4
players are coming off of record setting (or tying) career lows.
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