The Walking Scorer

I walked with Paul Goydos and Tommy Tolles today.  Paul shot a bogey-free 65 with three lip-outs and two more near misses on quite makeable putts, and is T3 behind Jeff Maggert (63) and Bernard Langer (64).  Tommy shot 69.  He was 4 under par on the front 9, with six birdies and two bogies, and one drive in the wrong fairway.  Then 2 over par on the back, with one drive in the wrong fairway, and one in the wrong rough.  That last was on the 14th hole, and his recovery shot through the trees landed on the cart path and bounced over the green.  Behind that green is someone's back yard, marked by out-of-bounds stakes and a gallery rope.  He was so close to OB that he had to move the gallery rope to play his next shot.  He got up and down for par. Paul was also 4 under on the front, and they had 10 birdies between them on those first 9 holes. Paul missed two fairways (3 and 18) by a total of about a foot, both times on the left.  On 3 the pin was back right, and on 18 the fairway bun

I walked with Stan Utley in the Elevate Phoenix celebrity-Am today.  He's the pro at Greyhawk, and had two friends "caddying" for him:  a protege since high school who is now an LPGA Tour rookie (for another week or so), Sarah Schmelzel , and her father.  Stan is a world-renowned short game instructor, and midway through the round we were joined by Terry Holt, who is Bernard Langer's caddy.  He was there to get some green-reading tips from Stan.  Sarah was giving Stan some putting instruction during the round.  That has to be a good omen for Sarah's career.  She kept her card and will be playing at the Founders' Cup in March. I asked Stan if she was his caddy or his coach, and he said "She's my friend".  Talked to Dad a little, too, and he said he took her to Stan as a Junior for help with putting, and when she went to college he and Stan remained friends.  Nice people, all of them. I asked Stan about Peter Kostis and Gary McCord not being