From KC we drove over to St. Louis and parked the Winnie in Dave's backyard. We put the dogs up in a canine hotel and drove to Northern Wisconsin for the Sandy Point Team Invitational, arriving around 6am Friday morning after driving through the night. The cool weather was a welcome treat. We caught up on the recent goings-on of our friends from Michigan. Team InFlight, captained by Pad Timmons, featured the same players from last year with Nate Till as a new amateur member and Mike Carey as the other returning am. The forecast called for some showers during the weekend but they held off until we left.

As usual we juggled our lineup for the weekend and ended up with the match-ups we wanted. After the preliminaries it came down to InFlight vs. FIB (featuring the best of Illinois) in the finals. Team InFlight played well and we took the title for the third year in a row. Al played as the #1 masters seed and posted an 8-0-0 record. I played #5 Open and ended up 6-1-1. Sue was 5-2-1.

On Saturday night Team InFlight hosted a big party at the huge cabin that the returning champs (us) get to stay in. We went through 2 half barrels of beer and cooked up tons of brats and other food. It rained on the party but we used the covered deck and the lower level of the cabin to accommodate everyone. It was a great time. Our hosts -- Mike and Michelle Cozzens -- were awesome.

I haven't gotten any new emails from Michele since the tournament and I haven't written her to rub it in. I'll get around to it though.

We stayed an extra day and Al and I took on Jim Oates and Peter Sontag in some best shot doubles. Al and I shot a -19 in that match and came out winners again.

We drove back to St. Louis (about 12 hours by car) and busted the dogs out of jail, then hung out at Davey Mac’s for another day before heading to Hal Baby’s house in Kansas City to prepare for the KC Wide Open.

Hal tried to limit the number of people staying at his place this year but still ended up with a full house. Scott Riley drove in from California to win the Masters division after taking second for the last two years. Brian Mace stayed at the house and provided everyone with new catch phrases to repeat all weekend long. Mike Belchik drove in from California and will be touring for the rest of the year in his truck.

The courses for this year’s Wide Open were set very long. We played Rosedale and Swope in their hardest configurations on Saturday and Al and I were tied for 5th at the end of the day. Dave’s new putter was acting up and he was sitting low in the field of players. Sue was in 3rd behind Juliana and Liz Acosta. The long courses helped Scott Stokely to a one shot lead over Climo and Schultz.

On Sunday we went over to Water Works and played the short course in the morning and the long course in the afternoon. Stokely shot an even round on the shorts and got passed by Kenny, Schultz, and LaRon “who-man” Harris. I stumbled in with a -2 and Al shot -5. Later on the long set-up I shot -4 and Al shot another -5.

The final nine for the top four Open players featured Climo, Schultz, Harris, and Stokely. Al missed the finals by a stroke. Climo started off with a one throw lead over Schultz but Barry shot out of his mind and ended up winning by two. Al was 5th, I tied for 10th, Sue finished 2nd, 20 strokes behind Juliana but 13 strokes ahead of 3rd. Dave ended up in 34th place but the tournament only paid out to 33rd place. There was lots of money for 1st but it rapidly dropped off from there. Al got about $475 for 5th and I got $265 for 10th. Not much money for all the hard hill walking we had to do.

Ed Gonzales was a great TD. He had a lot of help and everything went well. The KC courses just keep getting nicer every year. It's Monday morning now and we're getting ready to clean up Hal Baby’s kitchen after last nights fun. I promised to finish mowing the backyard.... touring is nothing but work, work, work. :)

Tomorrow morning we head to the Ozark Mountains for the yearly canoe trip. Hopefully I can get Dave to stay in the boat this year (this event is where he gained the nickname “Aquaboy” last year). Oh, speaking of Dave... Brian Mace and I shaved his head Friday. I have pictures of the whole thing. They should be pretty funny. Next up is Peoria and a test-run of ratings-based events. It should be interesting.

- Todd

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