I volunteered at the Mesa Gateway Classic, the local Symetra Tour tournament, this week. They don't have walking scorers, they have "cart drivers" who call in the scores for each hole on the radio, so that's what I did.
On Thursday I rode with Carlie Yadloczky, Isi Gabsa, and Allison Emrey. Isi shot 72, Allison 71 in the first round, but without my help on Friday they all three missed the cut. Allison was the winner of the 1000-watt smile-of-the-day award. She has her own blog. We started on the back 9, and she was 5 under par through 13 holes, one out of the lead, but made bogey on 5 and triple bogey on 6.
Isi is from Germany and pronounces her name "easy". I can only imagine McCord and Feherty dealing with that on TV.
Friday I rode with Dottie Ardina, Savannah Vilaubi, and Bertine Strauss. Dottie is from the Phillipines, shot 77 to go with 78 Thursday. She averages only 236 yards off the tee, so it's hard to imagine her being highly successful without more length, but then again she's been on tour 3 years and has 9 top-10 finishes. Bertine was an LPGA rookie last year, but lost her card. She was very gracious, shot 72 and made the cut.
Savannah was the day's winner of the 1000-watt smile-of-the-day award. This was her second Symetra tour event. Her parents walked with us, and were way more stressed about it all than she was.
They told me she had shot 73 Thursday, but signed an incorrect scorecard (74). The rules of golf concerning signing a wrong scorecard are clear and simple: if you sign for less than you shot, you're disqualified; sign for more, and you're stuck with it. Mom said she fumed about it for 10 minutes, then reverted to her normal happy self. She played well Friday, and was 2-under for the day, even par for the tournament, after 16 holes, with the cut line at +3. Her par putt on 17 lipped out, and then she hit her drive on the par-5 18th into the desert, unplayable. When the dust settled, she had a 7 and missed the cut by one shot: the shot she didn't hit on Thursday.
As I was leaving, she and her caddy were heading to the range. Watch for her on TV soon, she doesn't know how to quit.
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