LITTLE ROCK — A golf shot of Olympic proportions
Bill Pennington of The New York Times wondered if anyone had ever made a hole in one and won an Olympic gold medal.
“On June 7, Lindsey Vonn, who won a gold and a bronze in Alpine skiing at the 2010 Vancouver (British Columbia) Olympics, made a hole in one on a 167-yard par 3 in Monterey, Calif. It was just Vonn’s second time playing 18 holes,” Pennington wrote.
“ ‘It was a scramble, and the other three players had already shanked their balls in the woods,” Vonn said. ‘I was last to hit, and when I saw the ball sailing toward the green, I was happy we were going to have a ball in play.’
“She did not continue to watch the ball. Instead, she bent over to pick up her tee.
“ ‘All of a sudden, everyone started yelling and freaking out,” Vonn said. “I never saw it go in, and I didn’t believe them until we got to the green and I picked it outof the hole. I was shocked.’
“Vonn has not played much golf, fewer than 10 attempts, mostly knocking the ball around for a few holes or hitting some balls at the driving range.
“Of her game, she said: ‘I’m not horrible. I remember I hit a drive about 245 yards that day. But I’m not good, either. I hit a 5-iron for the hole in one. It didn’t hit off a tree and go in, but it was obviously beginner’s luck.’ ” Future star
Kentucky basketball Coach John Calipari admitted that he has talked with LeBron James - about the NBA free agent’s son.
Calipari jokingly said he’s hoping to coach the star’s 3-year old son Bryce in college one day.
Calipari sent James a belated birthday wish for his youngest son.
“I told [LeBron] I really need to know [Bryce’s] birthday if I’m going to be coaching him.
He’s going to be my playmaker,” Calipari said. “Because of his age, I told him he’s got to be one-anddone, because I’m not going to be coaching that long.”
But Bryce is likely the only James family member Calipari plans to coach.
“We’ve never talked about me coaching him, never talked about it,” Calipari said.
They said it
John Wall, to The Washington Post, apparently giving a shoutout to his old English teachers after the Wizards took him No.
1 in the NBA Draft: “You don’t want to be a draft pick that should have did something but never did nothing.”
Gregg Drinnan of the Kamloops (British Columbia) Daily News, on Wimbledon banning those obnoxious vuvuzela horns: “Which flies in the face of the fact that the players - hello, Maria Sharapova - still are allowed to grunt like elk in rutting season.”
Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully, after catcher Russell Martin got ejected for arguing the game-ending out Wednesday night: “Russell Martin has just gotten thrown out of the game, but there’s no game for him to be thrown out of.”
Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun, on Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Jayson Werth feasting on one of his former teams, the Toronto Blue Jays: “Werth is like the scorned woman in the country music video who takes a sledgehammer to the ex’s new BMW, throws his record collection into the fire and puts cement into the holes of his custom-made bowling ball.”
Sports, Pages 18 on 06/29/2010