1. I'm at a point in my long life as a sports fan where I've become less and less partisan about who wins and have come more and more to enjoy seeing sports played well.
This change in my perspective was in full force today as I watched much of the final round of The Masters golf tournament.
I wasn't really pulling hard for any one player over another nor did I single out any players to fulfill some need I've had for there to be a villain.
I wanted to see the world's best golfers confront the challenge of playing one of the world's most exclusive and challenging golf courses, Augusta National.
Today, Scottie Scheffler played the course more steadily and calmly than any of his competitors.
Early on in the first round, he struggled to strike his ball onto Augusta's greens in regulation, but he made one superb recovery after another. His playing partner, Collin Morikawa, on those same early holes, was striping the ball. He had several birdie putts and could have applied a lot of pressure on Scheffler, his playing partner, if he'd made any of those putts.
But, he didn't, and then, starting at the ninth hole, which Morikawa double bogeyed, his game began to wobble. Other golfers chasing Scheffler also had small disasters. Ludvig Aberg splashed his second shot on 11. On 12, Max Home's tee shot struck what looked like a patch of concrete on the green, and his ball caromed into the bushes.
Scheffler's competitors fell away and Scheffler, with an almost eerie sense of calm and a steady display of masterful shot making, pulled away and won the tournament by four strokes.
Scottie Scheffler is not a dramatic player -- he's not particularly animated or demonstrative.
He is a quietly fierce competitor who excels in all aspects of the game of golf and, today, he further secured his current status as the world's best player.
2. Today, Christy, Carol, Paul, Molly, Debbie, and I met at around 4 o'clock at St. Rita's Catholic Church for their annual Mostaccioli Feed.
Every year this feed is like a high holy day, not only for the St. Rita's parish, but for the town of Kellogg and the other towns nearby.
People line up to pick up their green salad and garlic bread and then watch hungrily as Don Rinaldi serves them a generous pile of mostaccioli and another guy piles on the red sauce and meatballs. Every year, the Mostaccioli Feed has a wine table where diners can pick up a glas of Chianti.
Yes, the room is noisy.
Yes, it can feel a little bit, not very, cramped.
But, it's a chance to see a lot of old and not so old timers out enjoying one another's company as well as a delicious pasta dinner.
3. On the spur of the moment, Debbie invited our family over to our house for a cocktail on the patio. Molly had cleaning to do at her apartment and did not join us, but Carol, Paul, Christy, Debbie, and I enjoyed drinking gin and yakking in ways we couldn't at the feed, given the noise and our seating arrangement.
It was fun having our first get together on the patio and fun to get caught up on what's happened over the last week and the different things that are to come: Paul installed Christy's gate, Christy returns to Riley's trainer, Debbie continues to work on getting rid of things she no longer needs in her classroom, I'm heading to the Wildhorse Resort in Pendleton on Tuesday, and Carol and Paul continue to work with young people and encourage people to be creative. It's a vibrant time in life.
No comments:
Post a Comment