The Texas State Championships in Houston started off Saturday morning on 'The Wilmont'. This is the big course. Holes 1-5 are slightly technical and your best chance for a string of deuces. 6-18 have some heartbreakers and name-takers. Al started off super-hot and tied the course record of -7 to put him in the lead. Russell with a -5, Sayre at -4. I had a +1 and sat on the bottom of the 3rd card, Dave was even... ewww.

In the second round on the 'easier' Powell course Al could only manage a -3, Dave and I shot -6, and Mike 'Worm' Young popped a -10 to put him at -13 for the day. Joel Kelley played well and jumped to the lead card with Mike. Sunday morning we were back at the Wilmont again with a couple strokes added to par on some much longer pin positions. I shot -3 to move up a bit, Al hit -5 to put him in a tie with Mike Young for 1st. Schultz shot a -5 also to move up but out of contention for 1st. Dave had late round jitters and shot a +6 to move back, but still made the cut to the final nine.

In the final nine Al and Barry Schultz tied for best round with a pair of -1's. I shot even and ended up tied with Sayre for 7th. Dave had a rough time and managed to finish in 11th place. The tournament paid the top 10. Joel Kelley was 2nd, Mike Young 3rd, Russell 4th, Schultz and McCoy tied for 5th, Sayre and Branch for 7th. Al? Oh, he took first.

So, Al wins his second SuperTour in a row -- 3rd of the year -- 4th for the Winnicrew. Good weekend. Hot weekend. Real hot. Although there weren't a whole lot of Open players at the tournament, the money was still very, very good. Dan LaMont always comes up with the cash and makes the long long drive worthwhile (playing the Wilmont makes it worthwhile too, and the brisket lunch was mouthwatering). He always ends the tournaments by saying "Tell your friends and let's get some Open players to travel here!" We're trying Dano. There was a mysterious lack of Austin players at the tournament.

The McWilmont treasure hunt had a winner this year. For this attraction the TD hides a bag of 100/$1 coins somewhere on the course and provides all the players with a treasure map (of sorts) in their players package. It was located early during the first round.

The $400+ ace pool was won by McCoy in a CTP after the tournament. McCoy also won a disc golf basket on a separate CTP between tournament rounds.

Once again I'd like to thank Tip and Sheryl Felter for putting us up at their house for a few days. We have sort of gotten used to campgrounds and it feels weird to impose on people and their homes for days on end. We really appreciate it.

After the tournament we spent the night over at Dano's home, talking disc golf and eating leftover brisket (told ya that stuff was great). Monday night we pulled into Mobile, Alabama and spent the night over at Bill Tyler's house. After some laundry in the Mobile ghetto (3 of 20 washers actually worked) we cruised over to Buddy Pacattes' house and played the Cottage Hill weekly toss. Twenty-one hours later we were practicing one of the tournament courses in Miami. It's hot here but not as bad as the Texas heat (why do Texans always have to do everything bigger?). We hear that there may be a tropical storm blowing in this weekend. Hopefully it will hold off until we head out to Augusta, Georgia on Monday.

I talked to Linda last night on the phone. I told her that my readers had been begging for a photo of her. Well, for all you who wrote in she has agreed to let me use a sexy snap that she sent me while we were sending e-mails back and forth. As you can see.... I'm a lucky guy.... shut up MaceMan.

I really miss Linda.

-Todd

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