Kona Condo

Winning is fun for Wie

We salute Hawaiian-born and bred Michelle Wie for her second victory as a pro on the LPGA Tour as she wins the CN Canadian Open on Sunday.

She never trailed in four rounds in Winnipeg, Canada, eh? She won by three strokes.

Above image courtesy of CBC and Golf Channel - No. 1 on the Web for all you want to know about Twain's "nice walk spoiled by the little white ball."

On the back nine on Sunday, Wie, 20, played near flawless golf, with birdies at 13, 14 and 15. While coasting to victory on a Sunday makes for little drama for viewers, it's one of those finishes tour pros love.

In addition to a six-figure payday, she received a hug from fellow pro Kristie Kerr and a dousing of champagne from Christina Kim after making par on the final hole.

Wie told a CBC interviewer it was a "fun day."

Characteristically Wie sprinkled the interview with a bit of her endearing goofiness when she related being a bit nervous during the round after having a "weird dream" and being unable to sleep the night before.

The interviewer wanted to know: Did she care to relate her dream?

"No." She giggled.  "It was too weird."

Maybe she'll tell us more on her blog or on Facebook.

In other Sunday sports news from the islands, the team from Waipahu, Hawaii reached the finals of the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pa., but the bats fell silent on Sunday to the team from Tokyo.

Japan held the islanders to just four singles and wins for the first time since 2003.

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Golf deal from a neighboring island

Photo: HawaiiGolf.com

We pass this deal along from the Big City island of Oahu for those whose idea of a good time involves cursing the gods and beating the ground with clubs.

The fabled North Shore of Oahu is the site of Turtle Bay Resort, where the tourist types can play unlimited golf courtesy of the site GolfNow.com starting at $159.50 double occupancy.

This deal reportedly is good until Dec. 23.

Deal, including cart, is available on the Arnold Palmer and/or the George Fazio course.

In 2008,  Travel + Leisure Golf magazine readers dubbed Turtle Bay Hawaii's  No. 1 “most underrated golf resort” and has played host to past pro tournaments.
 
Non-golfers who stay there will receive  a $80 daily credit of $80 per day, good fore, uh, for such activities as hanging out at the spa, horseback riding or touring via helicopter.

Prices do not include airfare, resort fee, room tax, incidentals or gratuities. Prices are subject to change without notice.

And yeah, they have many ways to "pay and play," but also offer some freebies, including complementary classes on playing the ukulele, dancing the hula and making leis.

What a wonderful world, no?

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It's the Big Break, Kaanapali

Omigod!  Where have we been? The Big Break Kaanapali has been on air for the past few weeks and really good, good, golfers have been getting booted off the show right and left.

First of all, check out the fallenangelsfund because if it's got the Wiz's name on it, it can't be all foobar, cannit?

Any rate, there are a baker's dozen of talented female golfers vying for that Big Break on the Golf Channel and they are all trying their darnest for a shot on the LPGA, and, we bury the lead, they play one of our favorite sports (golf), on one of our favorite locations (Hawaii).

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Golf tee times in Hawaii

Short of being kama'aina, (or being one of those sneaky folk who got a Hawaiian DL but don't really live here full time), it helps to have tee time brokers around to save a few skins on the rounds of golf.

We here at OurKonaCondo.com write today to recommend the folks at teetimeshawaii.com.

Times too numerous to mention at this point, we have booked tee times on the Big Island using both their online forms, and their fine telephone operating staff.

In no  case have we ever been disappointed.

You save a tad off the normal rack rate, and they are very helpful with directions and finding the right times besides.

Currently on their web site, teetimeshawaii.com lists numerous multi-day golf packages to a wide array of courses all around the Big Island.

Why, they even have a golf card that you can purchase for a few yen, euro or greenback, that let's you golf at a discount for an entire year, and their site contains pretty complete details on the courses they have deals with.

You can check out an example, here.

Golf flyovers in paradise?

Always happy to pass on word of some neato torpedo Web sites that deal with two of our favorite things, golf and Hawaii.

Ever wanted to play someplace new, but hated the idea of going in cold?

Well thanks to a new site, golfflyovers.com, you can get an eagle's eye view of a number of courses, some of them yes, even in Hawaii.

See above image of Hualalai on the Big Island.

Look's like the next best thing to walking the course for an advance practice round to me.

Also, see the full on full news release on Fly Over Golf Courses at GolfFlyover.com.

The site's fine founders say it provides more than 5,000 golf course flyovers and layout maps across the U.S. using Google Earth™ and Google Maps™.

Best of all, it's all provided free of charge,  no membership or registration necessary. But you do have to download and install Google Earth.

You can also send in requests if they've missed any, and yes, we'd like to see more Big Island courses on their, naturally.

I can't wait to check out the flyover of the course I'm going to play next week against one of my golf buddies. I'd go into more detail, but as a golfer, you're always looking for anything to give you any extra edge. So, mum's the word, eh?

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The Kona Condo blog misses Big John ...

Like Big John Daly hisself, we here at the Kona Condo blog are unpleasantly surprised that he is not playing this weekend at the Sony Open -- the latest event involving our two favorites,  golf and Hawaii.

Not that much of the PGA Tour's inner workings make sense to us proles (they are, after all, professionals and our efforts to try this at home most invariably end in manners that reinforce our own most emphatically amateur status) but this new one about how they establish who plays on the weekend is even more arcane.

Not as complex as how they calc. the FexEx Cup points dealie, but it's up there.

Anyway, suffice to say that the new method of "making the cut" is tougher for even the pros to get a grasp on.

John Daly, one of golf's most colorful and interesting players (if not the most self-disciplined) finds himself on the outside looking in this weekend as a result.

His take: "I don't understand the rule. I think it's crazy. It's a stupid rule, I'm sorry. I grinded my butt off to shoot even. Then I find out on 18 you may not be playing. I just wish we would have known." he told the Golf Channel -- less KT this weekend and next.

We agree.

Here's a kicker from all that, which we learned after the end of Sunday's play:  John Daly still made some money that day, even though he did not officially "make the cut."

Why?

Here's the answer, according to the AP's account: "U.S. Open champion Angel Cabrera and John Daly were among 18 players who finished among the top 70 and ties to make the cut, but did not qualify for weekend play because the cut exceeded 78 players. They were paid $9,699, which counts toward the money list, and they received 46 points toward the FedExCup."

But they did not get to play on.

Again, if the Lords of Golfing are really interested in growing this fine sport, they really need to make certain their policies (and the Rules of Golf for that matter) are simple enough that the average (Kona)Joe can understand.

Check out the success of the NFL, lads -- it's the playoffs -- winner advances, loser goes home.  Team with the highest number on the scoreboard at the end of the game wins. 

We reiterate:   FOO!

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The Golf Channel's Kelly Tilghman, yet another victim of the writer's strike

Learned in the morning's funny papers that they've suspended the sports anchorette (Kelly Tilghman) on our favorite channel (the golf channel) that regularly features one of our favorite pieces of programming (golf in Hawaii).

Suspension is apparently for two weeks and is for an obviously unscripted ad-lib (un)wisecrack that concerned one of the golf world's most prominent (and powerful) practioners -- His TigerNess, and those who would seek to unseat him from his place high atop the pro tour's considerable cash heap.

Said words were said (and we missed 'em, but sharpies such as the Rev. Al Sharpton Jr. clearly did not) during a bit of commentary during live coverage of the Mercedes-Benz tournament in Maui.

Wonder what she said?

It has been described thusly in the Toronto Sun:  

"Kelly Tilghman (said) young players who wanted to challenge Tiger Woods should "lynch him in a back alley."

Tilghman was laughing during the exchange Friday with analyst Nick Faldo at the Mercedes-Benz Championship, and Woods' agent at IMG said he didn't think there was any ill intent. But the comments became prevalent on news shows..."

AP golf writer Doug Ferguson's take on the initial exchange, reported in USA Today:

"Kelly Tilghman's second year as anchor of The Golf Channel got off to a rocky start at the Mercedes-Benz Championship for a racially sensitive comment at the end of Friday's telecast."

The same item also carries her mea culpa: "I used some poorly chosen words. I have known Tiger for 12 years and I have apologized directly to him. I also apologize to our viewers who may have been offended."

In announcing the suspension, TGC said Wednesday p.m. that "There is simply no place on our network for offensive language like this. 

While we believe that Kelly's choice of words were inadvertent and that she did not intend them in an offensive manner, the words were hurtful and grossly inappropriate."

Forbes has the most comprehensive report on the entire affair, near as we can tell, again chronicled by Mr. Ferguson, the AP's golf writer.

With many calling for her fair head, we'll learn two weeks hence (perhaps sooner), if the woman who made headlines last year for being the first full-time female sports anchor for the channel, still has a job.

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We say g'bye to Maui for now...

With whales frolicking in the distance off the shores of Maui (as witness this screen grab courtesy of The Golf Channel), we bid adieu to the island for the time being.

We've been watching the goings on at the Mercedes-Benz Championship, the first event of the PGA Tour, played at Kapalua's Plantation course.

The tournament has been a doozy, with Daniel Chopra and Steve Stricker dueling it out in a playoff, after both finished the tournament at 18 under par.

Chopra birdies the final playoff hole, while Stricker's birdie effort comes up short, and the first PGA tournament of the year is in the books.

Chopra not only gets a good chunk of change, but also a nice new Mercedes-Benz CL550 (which we'll NEVER get a chance to own), and qualifies for the Masters with the win.

And Chopra also gets an early lead in the FedEx Cup race (at least, until Tiger tees it up later this month at the Buick Invitational.(

We say g'bye to golf in Hawaii for the time being, but, it's only a brief sojourn.  The pros tee it up this coming week on Oahu, at the Sony Invitational.

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Canadians invade Hawaiian Islands

Canadian Mike Weir has apparently brought a few more snowbirds with him to the opening salvo on the PGA Tour.

The Mercedes-Benz Championship, now in its third round at Mau's Kapalua Resort and famed Plantation Course, is co-led as of this writing by one Mr. Weir.

Here is breathing a sigh of relief after saving par with a lengthy putt, on the Golf Channel coverage.

Resident island golf celebrity Mark Rolfing reports Weir and fellow Canadian Steven Ames have attracted quite a gallery of fans from the Great White North, eh.

TGC's Stephanie Sparks just rolled a nice profile of one of our favorite courses, Waimea Country Club on the Big Island.

It's a nice break from the breezy coastal resort courses, and, at a higher elevation, can also be much cooler, providing a respite from the higher temperatures at sea level.

Sparks notes that you can learn more about the golf possibilities on the Hawaiian Islands at www.gohawaii.com/golf

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And, speaking of golf...

Just one more reason why you should be spending your Big Island Hawaii vacation at Kona Isle D21 -- lookie, lookie, golf clubs.

If you're like most folks, you probably don't play much, and don't think it's worth the hassle to cart your own set to the islands.

Instead, you end up either not playing at all, or spending $45 or more to rent a set from the golf course.  That, on top of the three-digit sums they get out of the touristas for a round of golf, and all of a sudden, a fun round on your vacation isn't sounding quite so fun.

So, we left this set of right-handed Adams Tight Lies (regular shafts, medium length) in the bedroom closet for anyone who decides to stay at the Kona Condo.

The woods are an odd lot, a TaylorMade 540 driver (which can still put it out there in the fairway a long ways I can attest, having tagged it once good on Kona Country Club's 10th hole on the Ocean Course). The 3-wood is a 16 degree Trinity, and the 5 wood a shorter-shafted Cleveland).

All we ask is that you count the sticks before leaving each hole -- there are 14, and we want to make sure they're around for others to enjoy.

Aloha!

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