Congrats to Tiger Woods for winning his 3rd U.S. Open today.  He won in dramatic fashion, which made it all the better.  A no-namer named Rocco Mediate played great and was tied with Tiger after the 18th hole.  This, of course, means sudden death, which Tiger made look pretty damn easy.  Hey, knee surgery won't stop him!

This past Sunday we took a little countryside outing with our friends D. & L. We traveled via car to this lake, surrounded by small hills and agricultural plots. The air and water were clean and the temperature was balmy. We had a big lunch out on this pavilion over the water.

We ordered a chicken, and as is the custom here, we were served the entire chicken, head and feet included. We passed the head onto this guy, who promptly ate it all.

The pavilion is part of a small hotel and restaurant. These are a few of the chalets available for rent - 200RMB a night. ($26.50)

One of the highlights of the hotel is the driving range:

Yes, that is the driving range. You hit the ball out into the lake. There used to be areas cleared for doing this, but it seems there hasn’t been a big demand for the range in quite a while.

Above you can see DH practicing his swing (and trying to find the ball in the weeds). Look closely at the head in the second picture. That is the gentleman who swims around picking up the golf balls AS you are hitting them into the water.

It was nice to get out of Linyi.

My uncle, Lonnie Nielsen, just won the Commerce Bank Championship on the Champions Tour in golf.  HE WON!!!

 

His first win...

 

And it was his BIRTHDAY on Friday!!! 

 

He cried, which had me crying.  I'm so proud of him!!!

 

Commerce Bank Championship Leaderboard

 

 

Oakmont a Brute Even Without a U.S. Open

It has begun!  The US Open has come to town.  My header pic is the 9th hole of Oakmont Country CLub, the site of this years US Open, and I live less than 1 mile from the site, but if I try to drive anywhere ... ANYWHERE, I will sit for great lengths of time in my car going no place.  There simply is not enough room to contain the influx of humanity (and vehicles) that come along with such an event!  MERCY!!!

 

The building and fussing began in March with traffic steadily climbing both in numbers and in stupidity.  The town is an older quaint little one set along the Allegheny River about 20 minutes northeast of the city of Pittsburgh.  The tree-lined streets are mostly brick and narrow, with cars always parked on both sides.  The thing is ... we have 3 rivers and hundreds of bridges, but there are THOUSANDS of people, press, cars, busses, trucks and GAWKERS, all hoping for a glimpse of Tiger n Company.  Then there's those of us who live here ... work here ... and now, sit in traffic here (with the cost of fuel still at $3.00 gal). 

 

Golf has never been one of those "games" - "sports" that I cared much for ... I tried!  I even took it in school ... the first time around.  I like minature golf, but I don't get the fascination ... purses with plenty of zeros ... and the hype!  It certainly is a "rich" sport.  That is obvious by the lovely vehicles jamming the streets. 

 

Economically, it will be great for Oakmont, but I technically live in Plum, a neighbor, and Plum will gain virtually nothing but headaches from the event since what little business district Plum has is no where near the Open. 

 

So ... I propose that the next time OCC wants to bring the Open to town, it should be a referendum for us to vote upon!  I say ... Bah humbug!  (which is why phsbum and I are headed for Charleston, SC on Thursday morning!)