Koelble’s Kernels

On July 20 Federal Little League’s District 1 champions began what was about to become a one-month journey that will be forever etched in the minds of the players.
In nearly a 30-day period, Federal marched to the state championship, the Mid-Atlantic Regional championship and a berth in the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pa.
Each of the participants had best run out to the nearest store and pick up some heavy duty scrapbooks — they’ve got a ton of memories to fill them with, especially from the World Series.
We’ve chronicled the team game-by-game all the way through to the end, which ended tonight despite a 6-4 win over Lousiana. Federal missed out on the semifinals due to a differential negative in runs as three teams finished 2-1 in pool play.
For the sports department at The Herald-Mail, and for the news department also, Federal’s success brought about a different element at this time of year. Usually, we’re in full bore with nothing to think about except fall sports. But not this year. For four weeks, and especially the last few days during the LLWS, Federal had Hagerstown in the palm of its hands.
A loss doesn’t sit easy with youngsters and not making the semifinals won’t either. But the fact Federal was one of 8 remaining teams in the United States, that’s absolutely amazing.
I don’t know what will happen the remainder of the sports year locally, but this one wins hands down as the top sports story.

I can imagine Tuesday’s game with Baltimore playing Boston was a carbon copy of Monday when I paid Camden Yards a visit.
If I were the Baltimore Orioles organization and also a fan of the Orioles, I’d be very unhappy over the fact the Red Sox are playing home games in Baltimore with all the fan support they have.
It was the first time I had experienced Red Sox Nation playing in Baltimore.
There were 40,000 fans on Monday and easily, 25,000 were dressed in Boston garb and cheering like they just won the pennant.
Granted, the Orioles are out of contention in the AL East, but I sure wouldn’t want my territory being invaded if I were the ownership.

It was nothing in comparison to the 36-hole final day the PGA Championship endured, but the WACO Championship encountered a 90-minute delay on Sunday.
Beaver Creek Country Club just happened to be in the path of a strong thunderstorm that hardly hit much of the surrounding area, displaying fierce lightning and a pretty good amount of hail.
Fortunately, with the championship flight leaders ready to tee of on No. 7, the sky cleared and play resumed with the festivities concluding around 8 p.m.

Steve Caron was at his best and shot a 4-under-par 68 to win the title and give Waynesboro, Pa. golfers a seventh straight championship.

As usual, the WACO went off without a hitch under tournament director Rod Steiner and club professional Dirk Schultz.
And here’s a list of people to volunteered their time over the weekend:
Perry Fisher, Carol Crabtree, Sharon Steiner, Diane Steiner, John Hersh, Erick Hendrickson, Lenny Barton, Denny Steiner, Tyler Brown, Donnie Barton, Dee Barnhart, Terry Wick, Dom DiMercurio, Paul Babineau, Niklas Steiner, Vincent Steiner, Glenn Kline.
And kudos go to the grounds crew — Mike Steiner, Ryan Acre and Charlie Leatherman.

Another outstanding job.

Neil Gagnon had the second hole-in-one in WACO history and Kenny Smith tied the back-nine record in a round with a 5-under-par 31.
Those were the highlights of the first day of the 25th WACO Championship on a very comfortable, sunsplashed day at Beaver Creek Country Club.
The greens were firm and most of the players I talked to said the course played very well, the pin placements were fair and there was a good assortment of birdies spread throughout the field for those that were on the Skins sheet — the biggest winner being Gagnon with his ace on the 8th hole.
Kenny Smith, the defending champion, carded a 31 to post a 4-under 68 and take the lead by two strokes over Bernie Deane and Steve Caron.
David Boggs, Dick Wetzel and Finley Benjamin are back another stroke at 71 and Ken Lampard and Randy Barnes posted even-par 72 rounds.
Smith also won the tournament in 2002 and Benjamin is a past champion from 1999.
Other former champions in the field included Chad Bricker (2005 and 2006) with a 74, three-time champ Greg Henry (1984, 1986, 1989) with a 73, Drew Forrester (2000) with a 75, Kevin Reiber (2003 and 2004) with a 79 and Chuck Ingram (1991 and 1998) with an 81.
Some of the high school kids did well.
Alex Hoffman shot a 76, Andrew Duff had a 78 and Chris Bushey had a 79.
The Healey family had plenty to talk about over a refreshment or two. There were four playing in a group — David (82), Phil (84), Jimmy (88) and Jim (103) — and those weren’t their ages.

Should be another exciting shootout at WACO Sunday.

Well, I’m back from my short hiatus.

Here are a few of my penny thoughts of recent:

1) After covering a pair of Federal Little League’s postseason games I remember coming back into the office and telling sports editor Mark Keller “this team is for real and has the whole package.” Indeed they have proven that thought correct as they head into Monday’s Mid-Atlantic championship game against Pennsylvania on ESPN2.

It’s amazing the phone calls that came into the office with score inquiries on Friday night. Today, when I came in, I noticed a Maryland jerey hanging on the front door of the Antietam Fire Dept. across the street from our offices. I know there has to be a tremendous amount of support for the kids all across the area. It’s not every day you get a team from your own back yard to the regional finals with a chance at the Little League World Series.

2) I’m glad the Brett Favre situation has come to somewhat of a close. It’s so tiring, and to me downright boring, to hear day in, day out, Brett Favre this, Brett Favre that. If I were the Green Bay Packers I wouldn’t have even let it go that far. This wasn’t the first year Favre messed with the team as dangled retirement over their heads the past few seasons.

3) Took a night in at Charles Town Races & Slots. Yes, I actually picked a winner on one race and won a couple of bucks playing the slots. I was more surprised by the number of young people in attendance last Saturday night, especially those out by the track getting a closeup look at the horses. It was a fun night and the slots were even more packed.

4) And now we’ve got plenty to TV time if you are so inclined with the 2008 Olympics and then the political arena with the national conventions. We’ll be innundated with useless NFL preseason exhibition games for a few weeks. We’ll have our usual array of major league baseball. But the most exciting TV viewing coming up will be the Little League World Series, with or without Federal.

Haven’t been posting too much lately … that may be good for some and bad for others. And, I won’t post after this one for another few days with a short respite in front of me until the middle of next week.

That will just give me more time to spend on the golf course, where I’m still trying to get my game back (if there really is one) since I had an operation that kept me on the sidelines for about 8 weeks.

If you don’t know by now, I’m a golf nut, both playing it and covering it. The WACO Junior Championship is Monday and the Masters Tour Championship is Wednesday and of course, I’ll be at both. And, next weekend — Aug. 9-10 — is the WACO Championship at Beaver Creek.

And believe it or not, the prep season is just around the corner and as usual, the West Virginia schools get a head start on everyone else. Wednesday, the Tri-County is played at The Woods in Hedgesville, W.Va. and the following day, Berkeley Springs hosts its own tournament at Cacapon State Park.

Coming up in a few weeks is the Duramed FUTURES Tour at The Links of Gettysburg, the so-called feeder system to the LPGA. Hagerstown’s Ashley Grier will be playing in the tournament, and of course, I’ll be there.

So even though the calendar has turned another month, there’s no thought of slowing down. The only thing that will curtail too much golf action will be our preparations at The Herald-Mail for the fall season with not only golf, but the big kahuna (football) along with soccer, volleyball, cross country and a spattering of tennis and field hockey.

Enjoy the month!

Chip Sullivan loves those even years.
He won his 4th Maryland Open title today at Fountain Head, backing up those he previously won in 2002, 2004 and 2006.

*The 40 players making the cut played Fountain Head to a field scoring average of 73.81 on Wednesday, bringing the three-day scoring average to 74.96 on the par-70, 6,400-yard Donald Ross layout.

*The par 4 5th hole, normally a par 5 for club members, played from 463 yards and was the toughest hole by scoring average as the field played it in 4.66 strokes.

* Only one hole on the course, the par-5 third hole from 478 yards was under par, averaging 4.78.

* Sullivan had the most birdies in the field with 13 and had the best scoring average on par 4s at 3.89.

* Fountain Head assistant pro Brian Boggs had the most pars in the tournament — 41.
And he wins the award for the best dressed in the tournament on Wednesday, having gone to the Paula Creamer school of clothes design on Tuesday night. Boggs showed up Wednesday morning looking splendid in a light pink shirt and dazzling pink slacks. At least he did not use a pink ball.

* Among former Open champions, Dennis Winters finished 6th, three-time champion Wayne DeFrancesco ended 26th and defending champion Billy Wingered was 33rd.

* Sullivan enjoyed the company of his wife, Kari, and daughters Kalley, 10, and Camryn 6. After he completed the 18th hole, his daughters ran to the green and Sullivan couldn’t let go of his putter fast enough to catch hold of them both. At one point coming off the 16th green, where there is a small stream, he signalled for them to come over and see some ducks waddling along in peace.

* Lastly, kudos to the Maryland State Golf Association for a beautilly-conducted tournament.
And to Fountain Head Country Club. First, the members gave up 2 1/2 days of tee times.
And, the course, under the guidance of superintendant Merrill Frank, received nothing but rave reviews all week.
It was a first-class tournament!

Tuesday’s second round of the 87th Maryland Open had a little drama for players on the bubble.
Early estimates figured the cutline would come at 146 and possibly 147, but returns from the afternoon groups gave plenty of reason to think it might even jump to 148 as the field would be sliced down to the top 40 with ties for Wednesday’s final round.
There were eight players who posted 148 — some elected to leave and check their Internet, some elected to hang around fountain Head and the scoring area.
As the final groups checked in, the numbers kept dwindling for the 148-gang.
Finally, Bill Gombert, in the last groupo of the day on 18, turned in his scorecard with a 73 that gave him a 147, putting an exact 40 players in the field at 147 or better.

* There were eight subpar rounds on Tuesday. Leading the way with 2-under 68 were Chip Sullivan, Dave Harget and John Mlynarski. However, for Mlynarski it was not enough following his opening-round 80. Shooting 1-under 69 were Mark Evenson, Ricky Touma, Scott Ehrlich, Craig Balsinger and Mike Costigan.

* Steve Caron, of Waynesboro, Pa. and Black Rock Golf Course, had an eagle-2 on the par-4 7th hole, a 381-yarder in which he wedged in from 90 yards. It was one of four eagles on Tuesday by the field. Their were seven eagles on Monday.

* Overall on Tuesday there were 240 birdies compared to 207 on Monday. The field scoring average for Tuesday was 75.24 compared to 75.03 on Monday on Fountain Head’s 6,400-yard par 70.

* Following the last golf ball dropping in the cup, the Fountain Head grounds crew was busy beginning preparations for Wednesday’s final round. The Maryland State Golf Association had its pin placements already set for Wednesday, which promise to be some real toughies.

Many of the players I talked to Monday at Fountain Head Country Club said the course passed the test on opening day of the 87th Maryland Open.
After Sunday’s rain, players were greeted Monday morning with sunny conditions, slight breeze and very difficult pin positions.
The Maryland State Golf Association had some pretty good decisions on where they were putting the pins, most tough to get to, but not nearly as tough if the greens would not have been receptive being a little soft from the rain.
The Fountain Head grounds staff did a wonderful job getting the course ready to play on Monday following Sunday’s downpour.

Joe Franz, of Elkridge Golf Club in Baltimore, leads after the first round with a 3-under 67 followed by Beaver Creek’s Dirk Schultz, who had a 68.

* I was surprised that the two leaders and another pair of golfers that came in with 69s were from the afternoon groups that started at 12:20. You can usually expect lower scores earlier when greens are holding balls, the temps are not as hot and the wind has not ruffled its feathers. Not to take away from those in the morning group, but the afternoon scores were impressive to me.
Schultz said the greens were still plenty soft and expected they probably would still be for the second round on Tuesday.

*Still, for many players Monday was the first time thay had seen Fountain Head. I’ll tell you there won’t be any 15-under par winning this tournament, but I would expect Tuesday that somewhere, somehow, out there from someone is going to be a 65 or 66. I’ve got that feeling if it does not rain.

* The scores on the back nine were 43 shots higher as a field than the front nine.

*Among the defending champions in the field, 2000 champion Dennis Winters had the best first round with a 1-under 69. Three-time champion Chip Sullivan (2002,2004 and 2006) had an even-par 70, despite it being his first round in three weeks. Wayne DeFrancesco, champ in 1994, 1995 and 2005, had an even par 72. Defending champion Billy Wingerd had a 74 and 2003 champion Kirk Lombardi shot a 77.

* Dirk Schultz, Brian Boggs and Alex Hoffman had galleries following them throughout their round. The players appreciated the support of their fans and the fans enjoyed the golf.

* Jim Estes and Dave Long will be participating in the PGA Championship in Michigan in August. They are in the field and both are in contention. Estes had a 69 and Long opened with a 70.

More than a handful of players converged on Fountain Head Country Club today (Sunday) for a practice round before the 87th Maryland Open begins Monday morning.
Many of the players escaped without getting wet before rains smashed into the area around 2:45, bringing some off the course after one hole, keeping some from going out and others delayed before getting a chance to tee it up.

Had a chance to spend some brief moments with two players that combined have six Maryland Open titles between them — Wayne DeFrancesco (1994, 1995, 2005) and Chip Sullivan (2002, 2004, 2006).

Even though he’s been beset with injuries recently, DeFrancesco, 50, is still a contender for the championship.
“My game has been off and on this year,” said DeFrancesco, who got one hole in before the rain and did not return.
“This is a good course and the way it plays it opens (the tournament) up to anyone. It does not reward the long hitter all the way.”
Wayne D., who is also one of the more respected teachers of golf throughout the Mid-Atlantic region, remembered fast greens from the last time he played at Fountain Head, which he said was three, or four years ago in a pro-am.
DeFrancesco tees off Monday at 8:40 a.m. off the 10th tee.

Sullivan has the even-numbered years in his hip pocket, but this year he considers a question mark.
He has not played a competitive round of golf in three weeks due to a current case of tendinitis in his left wrist, which was taped on Sunday.
“I need to get out, hit some shots and regain some confidence,” he said. “I have to convince myself I can hit what I need to hit. Right now I’d say its 50-50 on playing 54 holes under the gun.”
Sullivan has never played at Fountain Head, but his long list of credentials make him a top-of-the-list contender.

Play is slated to begin at 8 a.m. Monday morning.
With Sunday’s ongoing rain throughout the afternoon and early evening and a forecast for continued rain, tee times may well be up in the air and set by Mother Nature.