Kreyling Korner – Week #7 – 06/01/17

THE LIPSMACKER MATCH OF THE WEEK  

Short on time and 4-4 on the season, let’s get right to it.

A/B Group – Brian “Scratch” Turnwald vs. Pete “Goldie” Goldenberg – I’m currently watching the Stanley Cup finals (GO PREDS!) and it occurred to me that Goldie has yet to be in the MOW in 2017. Pete is 2-1-1 on the season, which is shocking given he shot 47 and 49 on two consecutive weeks on the back of Pioneer (we know Pete, it was raining).  On the complete other side of the spectrum, BT has played really well and holds a record of 1-3.  In all honesty we shouldn’t be shocked, Pete is the luckiest golfer in the league as agreed/voted on by the league.  These two have only met once and Scratch mopped the floor with Pete winning 7.5 – 2.5.  I’m pretty sure Pete hasn’t taken many beat downs like that during his tenure in the GCCGL.  We travel to the wicked back nine of the Willows and Pete only gets one shot.  I think this could be a long night for Pete.  GLOSSY PREDICTION: Scratch wins 6-4.

C/D Group – Troy “Gobstopper” Bachmann vs. John “Syndrome” Rayburn – do you think these two have “beef” with each other? This truly is a match-up of “heavy” hitters.  Ok…I’ll stop.  I couldn’t resist.  I love this match-up this week.  Two of the more popular members of the GCCGL match-up in week 7.  These two have only matched up one other time in the history of the GCCGL, the round ended in a tie.  Neither of these gentlemen are having their best seasons; Bachman is 1-3 and Rayburn is 0-4.  Rayburn gets 4 strokes, which I think will make this match close.  GLOSSY PREDICTION: Gobstopper wins 5.5-4.5.

THE KREYLING KORNER

For the most part, I talk about all things golf related in the Kreyling Korner. Most weeks I’ll touch on topics in the GCCGL or make fun of its members. I’m sure most of you have noticed by now that I also try and give a nod to actual PGA tour pros throughout the season. That being said, it’s really hard to ignore what happened to Tiger Woods this week. The picture above is bad enough, but watching the actual police footage makes things even worse.

In the summer of 2000, I was in between my freshman and sophomore years at the University of Kentucky. During that summer, Tiger Woods played the most dominant golf in a one year period in the modern era. He won US Open, Open Championship and the PGA Championship. The following April of 2001, Tiger won the Masters completing what’s known at the “Tiger” slam – four consecutive major wins, overlapping years. It was also during this time I took up this stupid game and immediately fell in love.  I would be willing to bet that a lot of others in the GCCGL have a similar story (except you old guys – Ollie, Bloomhuff, Almeida…and I think I’m going to throw Harris in there now).

I know there are tons of great players that played on the PGA and European tours, too many to mention in this blog post. But, in my humble opinion, three put the game of golf on the map. Arnold Palmer brought the game to the masses, Jack Nicklaus mastered the game in ways people didn’t think were possible, and Tiger Woods made the game cool. Love or hate the guy, when Tiger was playing, people would turn in and immediately say “Where is Tiger?” He appealed to the masses like Arnie and played the game in a way that only someone like Jack Nicklaus could have.

That’s why this most recent DUI charge is troubling to me. There is no other way to describe it other than sad. I get it – people didn’t like Tiger because he was constantly closed off, said lots of words with little substance in press conference and frankly acted like a jerk a lot of times. But to see a guy fall so far from greatness is, well, sad. He lost his family via public humiliation – granted from actions that were his own doing. Soon after, his body began to fail him. He no longer could play a game that he, and maybe one other person, played better in the history of the world. Again, that’s just sad.

Here’s hoping Tiger eventually makes a comeback. Could you imagine if Tiger ever was in contention on the Sunday of a Masters again? Love him or hate him, watching the game of golf was much for fun with Tiger around.

Until next week – fairways and greens my friends.