Congrats to Juli Inkster, Patty Berg Award Winner

I’VE ALWAYS LIKED JULI Inkster. I think it’s because she comes across as a real person with a life outside of golf (not that others don’t have a life) and at the same time is hyper competitive and exudes a fun spirit on the golf course.

Inkster was named the 2010 recipient of the Patty Berg Award, given in honor of the LPGA founder (one of 13) and Hall of Famer. The award is given to individuals who exemplify diplomacy, sportsmanship and goodwill, and make lasting contributions to the game of golf. Check, check, check and check. Inkster is more than deserving.

“She [Berg] always demonstrated what being a professional is all about,” Juli said at LPGA.com. “She gave so much of herself to the LPGA. Receiving this award with Patty’s name on it, and thinking of all the special individuals before me who have received it, leaves me truly humbled.”

Inkster has had a tremendous career in golf. She entered both the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame and World Golf Hall of Fame in 1999, which was the same year she became only the second woman in LPGA history to complete the modern-day LPGA Career Grand Slam. Early on, Inkster won three consecutive U.S. Women’s Amateur titles. Um, that’s dominant. She never slowed down after turning professional, collecting more than 30 victories, including seven majors. She also played on eight U.S. Solheim Cup teams.

I’d love to see Inkster win again, but if it doesn’t happen she will still have a room full of trophies and awards to admire. Congrats, Juli, on adding another one.

First 2010 LPGA Major

The Kraft Nabisco Championship, the year’s first major, tees off on Thursday in Rancho Mirage, California. Brittany Lincicome is the defending champion. The field is deep, which should produce a lot of excitement like last year when Lincicome eagled the final hole to win her first major. Visit LPGA.com and Mostly Harmless for previews and predictions.

−The Armchair Golfer

(Image: Harry Limey/Flickr)

Golf Pet Peeve: The Golf Ball Finder Guy

Robert Bruce of Game Under Repair has something he needs to get off his chest. Maybe you can relate.

By Robert Bruce
Special to ARMCHAIR GOLF

WHAT IS IT CALLED? You’ve seen it: the long skinny rod with the three-pronged or circular attachment on the end. It sticks out of some golfers’ golf bags like an awkward 13-year-old at a middle-school dance. I call this device the “golf ball picker upper,” but it could probably be better known as the “six-hour round of golf detector.”

When you see one of these strange machinations in a playing partner’s bag, then you only need to do one thing: run! Run like the wind. Run like Usain Bolt being chased by a cheetah. Run.

The man who owns this device is the Golf Ball Finder Guy. And he has one mission on the golf course: finding golf balls. Whether it’s a beaten up and bruised Titleist Balata, circa 1995, a brand new Pro V1, or a Top Flite XL with the Dingleberry Family Reunion logo on its side, the Golf Ball Finder Guy loves to search for golf balls.

Behind a tree? He’ll find it. Plugged into a muddy bank? He’ll find it. In a yard? He’ll find it. In a groundhog’s hole? He’ll find it. In fact, the only ball the Golf Ball Finder Guy doesn’t care about is the one he is currently playing. He treats every lost golf ball as if he is an archeologist digging for a Mayan relic.

Pace of play? Score? Camaraderie? All of these things are nuisances to the Golf Ball Finder Guy. You’re on the green, waiting. He’s somewhere in the shrubs adjacent to the fairway, giddy about finding the Titleist DT 90 with the AT&T logo. He will ruin your score, your patience, and your reputation—once everyone at your course or club realizes you were in the group that played a six-hour round and had the crazy guy who was always in the woods.

So, next time you see this guy on the first tee—just run. Don’t wait around. Don’t ask questions. Don’t hesitate. Run and never look back.

Robert Bruce is a full-time writer and part-time golf blogger in Nashville, Tennessee. Visit his golf blog at www.gameunderrepair.com.

(Image: Sameli/Flickr)

Great Shots: Johnston’s Spade Mashie at 1929 U.S. Amateur

EVERYBODY WHO LOVES GOLF loves to hear about or see a great golf shot. There’s no video clip or YouTube for what I’m about to tell you. I wish there was. I read the anecdote last week in Michael Blaine’s fine book The King of Swings, the story of Johnny Goodman’s impressive career that culminated with Goodman winning the 1933 U.S. Open, the last amateur to do so. Then I read a longer account of the shot recently penned by the USGA’s Rand Jerris.

This little golf tale takes place in 1929, the year the stock market crashed and during an era in golf when the amateur was revered and the professional was often shunned. Some had lost interest in that last U.S. Amateur of the Roaring Twenties when the 19-year-old Goodman stunned the legendary Bobby Jones in their opening match at Pebble Beach. The colossal upset put Goodman on the map, although he lost his second match after lunch on the same day he defeated Jones.

Not to worry. What transpired later that week was one of the most dramatic moments in the championship’s history.

Harrison “Jimmy” Johnston arrived at Pebble’s 18th hole one down to Dr. Oscar Willing at the midpoint of their 36-hole final match. Johnston drove his ball safely onto the 18th fairway. The most difficult shot out of the way, he then blundered badly, hooking his second shot over the cliff and onto the beach. Johnston played a provisional ball and was ready to move on when his caddie came running through the gallery and informed him that his original ball might be playable on the beach.

(Photo courtesy of USGA Museum)

“I found my ball resting securely among the small pebbles below the seawall,” Johnston said. “When I took my stance to play the shot, a wave swished up behind me and buried my feet six inches in the water. But when the wave receded, the ball was still there!”

Before the next wave arrived, Johnston calmly struck his golf ball with a Spalding Kro-Flite spade mashie, the equivalent of a modern-day 7-iron. The ball cleared the seawall and landed on the edge of the 18th green. Johnston halved the par-5 hole and rallied in the afternoon round for a 4 and 3 victory to claim the U.S. Amateur title. He was later honored with a ticker-tape parade in his hometown of St. Paul, Minnesota.

−The Armchair Golfer

More:
USGA story and photos of Johnston’s Spalding Kro-Flite spade mashie