Inside the Ropes at the Futures Tour's Teva Championship

I had the pleasure of participating in this week's Duramed Futures Tour event - the Teva Championship - as a walking scorekeeper.  Over the course of the pro-am on Thursday and the three days of tournament play I got to see some pretty decent golf.

My pro-am partner was Angela Buzminski, a Canadian lefty who is about 260 off the tee.  She was talkative, funny and good to have as the pro.  We finished 7-under.   Despite leaving many approach shots within birdie range, collectively our flat sticks were cold.  The winning team was the girl's golf team from a local high school who finished at -16.  They beat a team that included Anthony Munoz, a long-time pro football player. 

The highlight for me was that we ended up using several of my shots -- women amateurs were allowed to hit from the forward tees.  When there was a 60-yard or more difference between where the pro and I hit, I generally had an advantage.

In another thread, I wrote about the slow play team I had Friday.  As a side note, one of my golfing gal pals hosted a player who, over dinner one night, said the three in that group are notoriously slow players.

Heavy rain was the story at the start on Saturday.  I was on the first tee at 8:30 with Haley Gildea, Baltimore native Angela Oh, and 2008 US Curtis Cup team member Jennie Lee in a driving rain.  Even though I stood close to directly behind each tee shot I couldn't see any as a result of the poor visibility.  Everyone parred the first and second.  We got as far as second shots to number three before play was suspended for over four hours due to unplayable conditions.  When play resumed the course still had considerable standing water (my shoes are still wet) and the greens were inconsistent.  Even though Oh started the week as number two on the money list she didn't play up to that expectation this week, missing the cut.

The weather Sunday was virtually perfect.  Mostly cloudy gave way to sunshine, with the occasional light breeze to keep the heat and humidity from making the day unbearable.  My group - Big Break winner Briana Vega, 2008 US Curtis Cup team member Jenny Suh, and rookie Dori Carter from Valdosta, GA - each had a decent round.  As a group they hit so many fairways I was surprised by the periodic miss.  The most exciting hole of the day was the par-5 ninth where Jenny chipped in for eagle and Dori, whose attempt to go for it in two landed in the pond fronting the green, made a downhill slider to save par.  

From my perspective, it was a great four days.  I reacquainted myself with players I've spent similar time with in previous years and met new that I'll check the leaderboard every week to see how each is doing.  The sad part is I'll have to wait another year for the FUTURES Tour to come back to town.