So now we have a kitten. Helix has been a good traveler. He learned to use the kitty box on day one. He tends to like to play with my feet while I drive, so I have to shoo him away.

Disc Golf Pro World Championships!
Day 1 - Al and Sue play mixed doubles and come in 4th.
Day 2 - Al and I play divisional doubles and come in 3rd thanks to a whopper of an alternate shot round at Chili.
Day 3, 4, 5, and 6 - Singles. Al tears it up and shoots well every round. He finishes 4th in the world with Scott Stokely... amazing. I shoot well when it's not raining and tie Mike Raley for 33rd. Not bad, but not what I was hoping for. Sue places 8th. Andy and Jeanie continue to put us up without complaint. They're great.

At the PDGA banquet Thursday night I receive the Rookie of the Year award for 1998. Sue gets the Female Rookie of the Year and Al gets a touring pin for his massive point total in 1998 (without touring).

Other notable awards are Ann Arbor’s Steve Peck receiving the Brent Hambrick award for the outstanding job he and all the staff did at the 1998 Great Lakes Open. Steve makes sure that everyone knows he was just a small cog in the Michigan tournament machine (later reports tell me that the ever-bickering Ann Arbor club finds a way to gripe about getting the biggest award a group of people who run tournaments can receive... whatever).

Other prizes: Todd takes 3rd in mini-golf. You should have seen some of the amazing shots from Bamba and Steve Rico. Stevie won by the way, and shot a -8 his second round on a very tough mini course.

Afterthoughts of Worlds: A great time. Golfing at 7:30 am is tough, the 2.5 hour breaks between rounds are tough. Things mostly ran smoothly. If you talked with Tournament Director Royce Racinowski you got the feeling that everything was a big hairy mess, but from a player’s standpoint he did a fine job.

The courses were mostly open and suited big throwers. Not much emphasis on accuracy and almost no holes in the woods. There was little trouble to get into except for OB lines. No real bushes or heavy rough anywhere. Most of the final 16 players took advantage of their ability to blast drives 500 feet.

We kicked back the day after Worlds. Next day we rented a tow dolly for Sue's car and let the Winnie drag us all back to Michigan. Al and Sue took off for God-knows-where. I'm at my house packing my things to take to my parents house for safe-keeping. Eric and I are about to make a run to the dump. Soon the Winnebago will be my home on the road and my mail will go to my parents house. It seems that I have cut all my ties to everything but disc golf and touring.

Al has been talking with Innova officials. It looks like he will be getting some sort of sponsorship in the near future. No mention of me. I'll have to step up my game for the rest of the season. I'm driving to my folks house tonight. I look forward to showing them my new trophies.

-Todd