Whoo-whee... what a few weeks.

Al, Kenny, Scott, Jesse, and I drove to Rochester and searched for a place to stay. There is a serious campground shortage in the Rochester area. We ended up hooking in with Andy Austin and his wife Jeanie. We parked the Winnie behind their house each night. For the first few days we played Ellison and Chile as they were the only two courses that had been installed thus far. We spent several days golfing with the Champ and having fun. Andy and Jeanie were super nice. Jeanie cooked meals for 10 people on several nights.

You wouldn't believe how much time Ken Climo spends signing autographs. It seemed that everywhere we went he was scribbling his name on discs for starry-eyed golfers.

We took time out from the Rochester courses to head up to Toronto for the Thursday/Friday Toronto Island Open. I planned to kennel the Wonder Dog for a few days while we were in Canada, but the kennel operator needed Hyzer’s shot records and I had forgotten to bring them along. We decided to see if we could get him across the border. I stated that if we couldn't sneak him into Canada then I wasn't going to attend the tournament. The border guard never looked twice at the dog as we answered citizenship questions. We were in.

We drove up to Etobicoke as the Tuesday night league came to an end. Al hooked up with local Mark "Chappy" Chapman. I spent the next few days sleeping in Chappy’s garage with Hyzer. Squeezed in a practice round between rain showers on Wednesday followed by a doubles round.

Thursday morning and the beginning of the TIO. We started out on the short layout of this massive course. I managed to shoot a -10. Climo shot -13 and Moser shot -12. I was solidly in third place and in the lead threesome. Al shot a -9 and was top of the second card. The second round was played from the long tees.... very long tees.

Ken shot -6, I shot -5 and Moser shot -3. It was the first time I had ever shot a tournament round with Kenny and he only beat me by a stroke! I moved into a tie for second, Al was -4 and in fourth. For the third round we played the long tees again and shot as a foursome. Ken Climo, Mike Moser, Me, and Al. Talk about a dream foursome. We shot the third round with some early rain. After nine holes I had four strokes over Moser, Kenny was only one stroke ahead of me. Al had caught Moser. For the last 12 holes Kenny and Mose poured it on. I watched as Kenny shot out of my reach. Now Moser was trying to catch me. I held on and beat Moser by a stroke.

• 1st Climo -24
• 2nd Branch -19
• 3rd Moser -18
• 4th Schack -17

1st hole: push
2nd hole: Climo $200
3rd hole: Branch $100
4th hole: Schack $100
5th hole: push
6th hole: push
7th hole: push
8th hole: Schack $600
9th hole: push
playoff hole Climo $100

Totals: Schack $700
Climo $300
Branch $100
Moser $0

Neither Al nor I had to intentionally miss any shots let the other win a skin, but we would have if the situation had arisen.

Sue Stevens had joined us a couple days earlier and she took third in Open Women at the Island. Overall it was a pretty good weekend -- oops -- weekdays... that was Thursday/Friday. We had nine more straight days of golf to go.

Back to the USA! We made the same uneventful border crossing as before and headed back to Andy’s house. The two remaining Worlds courses had been set up and we went out to play them on Saturday. Al, Jesse, Kenny, and I decided to play skins throughout the 18 holes at Black Creek. 50 cents/hole with carry-overs. Throughout the first 9 holes there were no skins won. We were duecing everything. The pot was up to $7 per man after 14 holes of play. Not a single player was able to best the other 3 for a single hole even after we walked off the 18th. No skins won in an 18 hole skins match. Pretty weird. When all was said and done Ken had shot -15, me -12, Al -11, Jesse -7. In retrospect, if Ken could replace one of his rounds at Black Creek during Worlds with the round he shot today he may still be World Champion.

After the round we walked back to the cars where other Pros from around the globe were beginning to pull into town. We renewed acquaintances with many and talked about the upcoming Worlds. A 7-week-old unwanted kitten that had been dropped off at the park had managed to find his way to our group. I stated several times that there was no way we were taking in a cat. No way. Later the crowd had dispersed and the parking lot was empty, except for a single Winnebago and a starving kitten.

His name is Helix and Hyzer loves him.

I’m off to meet up with Mark Ellis and Roger Cansellor for a round at Kensington (an upcoming Pro/Am Worlds 2000 course) before Roger flies back to California.

-Todd

Editor's Note: Todd failed to mention that he has won the Men's 1998 Pro Rookie of the Year Award, which was announced on Saturday. Al pal Sue Stephens got the nod for Female Pro Rookie of the Year. Congrats to both on another strong year!

Next time, Todd and Al tear it up at the Disc Golf World Championships.