Okay... it's been awhile since some of the things I'm about to write about actually happened but here we go... need to get caught up here somehow.

The Old Dominion Showdown was a blast. Two courses now and several exciting new holes. Joy Williams flew in from Tahoe and we picked her up near the airport in Virginia. Do you remember those two snipers in the DC area? Shooting people from inside the trunk of their car? Well the first shooting happened a few blocks from where we picked up Joy on the day before we got there. The snipers then moved south as we drove to Spotsylvania. The tournament went well... I think I finished 9th. We played some stick golf on the disc golf course on Monday. Good fun.

From there we drove down to the Augusta Classic. Dave won this tournament. It was way cool. After the tourney was over we shot a crowd sequence with DiscTV for a hot dog advertiser. Dave made a 40-footer as the staged crowd went crazy and shoved a frankfurter in his mouth. The footage went unused but it was fun stuff anyway.

A short drive took us to the United Stated Disc Golf Championship in Rock Hill, SC. Avery played well and made some good money. Somehow I ended up not cashing... one stroke off cash after my drive on the final hole hit a tree limb near the tee and careened off into the water. It was very disappointing as I had fought hard and had no money.

The remaining tournaments for 2002 included the Fall Finale at Renaissance Park. Stan 'The Man' McDaniel and his staff of Innova employees got to show off the course which they put hundreds of hours of work into… and it showed. Renaissance is a must play course if you are in the area.

After that we headed out to the Oklahoma Open, where we hung out with our good pal Billy Moody and got into a post strip club brawl that sent 3 people to the hospital and ended my 8 week non-smoking stint. Then it was the Veterans Park Open in Texas, where I placed 2nd and Nolan Grider got his first ever SuperTour victory, and finally the Moccasin Lake Open, where the weather was rough but somehow Cam Todd shot near-record scores in stiff winds and cold rain to best the Champ Ken Climo on his home course.

After an end of year party at Climo's house, we headed home. The Winnie limped back to Kalamazoo with a couple new electrical problems and hasn't moved from it spot in the back yard since. I helped Dave get himself a new (used) jeep and packed him and Avery up for their move to Oregon. They took off just before New Years and braved some nasty mountain weather on their way to hook up with Cameron Rauenhorst in Eugene, where they'll be living to gain residency in order to take some classes there… you know, just in case disc golf doesn't provide the long term income needed to take them into retirement.

While home I spent my time helping my parents sort out their health and employment problems while selling some of my disc collection on Ebay to get some much needed cash. I lost my PDGA election last fall, didn't have a car, had no money, and even if I got a job I didn't have any transportation. Things weren't looking too good. DiscTV closed up shop due to lack of support and money. Talk of war with Iraq was everywhere.

It took about a month but we got my Dad's medication evened out (the doctors were really overmedicating him) and he was getting back to his old self. I also spent a lot of time with my two nephews who are 4 and 6 years old. Once things got back on track at home I got in touch with Barry Schultz and we agreed that we would travel together in his truck when the season started out and see how it went.

So.... it looked like I would be able to attend tournaments and still return home at least once every few weeks to see my family... things were looking up.

In mid-January I took a Greyhound bus out to Rockford, Illinois where I met up with Barry at Todd Eben's house. We watched the Super Bowl and Todd told us about his trip to Hawaii. From there we drove down to Dallas for the Big Show tournament. Barry won both SuperTours in Dallas and took second at the mid-week B-tier. We drove back up to Rockford where I spent five days at the Ebens house while Barry went home for a couple days.

Barry picked me back up on the way to the Golden State Classic National Tour opener in Los Angeles. We made it about 700 miles and the transmission blew out on Barry's truck. We spent two days and $2,500 in (stinkin') Lincoln, Nebraska getting the tranny fixed and didn't make it to LA in time for the tournament, but at least we stopped to play several courses on the way. Pueblo Colorado has an excellent course that I would highly recommend to anyone traveling through the area.

We rolled into L.A. just in time to watch Steve Rico win the tournament in the final nine and a bunch of us went to a taping of "The Price is Right," where Brian Mace got called to contestant's row and won about $5K worth of prizes. Brian also chatted with Bob Barker on the air about disc golf. It was great! Later the whole crew sat in the audience for the Craig Kilbourne show.

From there we went to the Gentleman's Club (B-tier) in Las Vegas. Another good time as Brian Schweberger won in the Open and Brad Hammock won in the Masters. We all drove down to Laughlin as we did last year and Brian and Brad gave me some money to gamble for my birthday. I lost it all, but had fun anyway. Barry and I stayed with TD Jaquarth in his impressive home... thanks!!!

Next we drove to Phoenix for The Memorial. Barry won by ten strokes and I managed a respectable 10th place finish. Brian McRee had an incredible tournament and turned on some final hole heroics to capture second place. Feldberg tied with me and we each got on the National Tour points board with 5 each.

A long, long drive back to Rockford and another exciting bus ride brought me back home to Kalamazoo after seven weeks of living out of a suitcase. I got home Friday night and played in the Kalamazoo DG Championships the next two days. While I was away, winter hit pretty hard in Kzoo. Lots of snow and sub-zero weather. The two-day tournament landed smack dab in the Spring thaw, with temps over 60 degrees. This meant lots of mud and ice. It was difficult to say the least. To top things off, TD Larry Labond hit me square in the head from 150 feet with a snowball while I was playing the sixth hole. I hit five deuces in a row after the attack, and managed a 4th place finish with a little cash to live on until my check from the Memorial clears the bank. Pat Vitale ended up winning by a couple strokes over Mike Raley, who beat Al Schack by one and me by two.

I spent St. Patrick's day getting some much needed sleep and today catching up on emails and writing this.

So... this finally catches me up. I'll be home this week, then Barry and I head to the Dogwood Crosstown in North Carolina, followed by the Melbourne Open in Florida. Tomorrow I'm taking my nephew, Drew, to a museum.

I'll most likely do an interview with Barry for the website so... if you guys/gals can think of any questions you would like me to ask him then drop me a line. I'll write again when we get back from Florida. Later!

-Todd

Got a question for Todd and the Winnicrew? Send it here. Be sure to include "2003 Tour" in the subject header.