Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 6, 1993 TAG: 9306060029
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"It's just one battle after another," Strange said last week during a media outing at Williamsburg's Kingsmill Golf Club to promote the July 8-11 Anheuser-Busch Classic.
"I think I've got something fixed and something else falls apart," Strange said. "So I fix that, and then something else falls apart."
Strange, 38, hasn't won since that '89 Open and hasn't finished in the top 10 in a tournament since last year's Busch, which is played on his home layout. His best finish this season is 13th at Tucson, and he's buried at No. 121 on the money list.
Since Strange won his second consecutive Open title, his game has flown south. First, there was a lengthy bout with a mysterious case of fatigue, which has since subsided. This spring, tendinitis flared in his left wrist, but it proved to be nothing chronic.
Strange said his problems now are strictly mechanical.
"I know pretty much what I need to do," he said. "I just can't quite do it. I've practiced pretty well, and that's what's so frustrating. I do hit the ball pretty well on the practice tee, but I can't, as they say, get it to the first tee.
"Golf just feels so damn foreign to me."
\ HOLLIDAY SCHOLARSHIP: Aaron Johnson, a senior at Glenvar High School, has been awarded the Don Holliday Memorial Scholarship. The grant pays $1,000 a year for four years toward Johnson's college tuition. He plans to attend Ferrum.
Candidates for the scholarship were judged in four areas: academic achievement; financial need; citizenship and character; and demonstrated interest in golf.
While expertise in golf is not required, Johnson was one of the mainstays in a Glenvar program that won the Group A state title in 1991 and finished second in 1992.
The scholarship, which has been awarded since 1986, is in memory of the late Don Holliday, an avid golfer who worked as district sales manager for Piedmont Airlines.
The scholarship is funded through proceeds from the Don Holliday Memorial tournament, which will be held June 26 at Countryside. The tournament has raised more than $59,000 for the scholarship program in its first six years.
\ "I'LL TAKE THE CAR": David Bell won and lost at the recent Faulconer Invitational in Palmyra. The 29-year-old Ruckersville native captured his fourth Faulconer title, scored his first hole in one, won a new car, and, as a result, lost his amateur status for the next year.
When Bell drove the new car, which he won by acing the 10th hole at Lake Monticello Golf Course, out of the dealership lot, he became a non-amateur for the next 12 months in the minds of U.S. Golf Association officials. The USGA's rule book doesn't allow amateurs to accept any prize worth more than $500.
Bell will reapply for amateur status immediately, but the one-year ban from amateur competition is the USGA's standard practice.
"I personally don't agree with the rule," Bell told the Charlottesville Daily Progress. "If they're going to offer a prize in an amateur tournament and you happen to win it, they basically penalize you for hitting a great shot."
Now ineligible to play amateur tournaments, Bell said: "I guess I'll be working around the house and playing a few Sunday afternoon Nassaus."
\ HALL OF FAME ON TAP: Bobby Penn and Hanging Rock Golf Club will attempt to defend their titles in the Roanoke Valley Golf Hall of Fame Championship, which starts Friday at Blue Hills. The tournament continues Saturday at Hidden Valley and concludes Sunday at Hanging Rock.
The tournament's final round originally was scheduled for Ole Monterey.
"Tom Wagner [Monterey pro] had left the course, plus there was supposed to be some construction going on over there," said Ned Baber, the Roanoke Valley Golf Hall of Fame's executive director. "We thought we'd give Monterey a little time to regroup, so to speak."
\ QUOTEBOARD: "You know you're on the Senior Tour when your back goes out more than you do." - Senior PGA Tour player Bob Brue.
\ SAND BLASTS: Blacksburg's Jay Hardwick shot a 71 and finished eighth in the pro division of a recent Mid-Atlantic PGA event at Winton Country Club. . . .
Of players still in their 20s, Davis Love III has scored seven PGA Tour victories, four more than runner-up Nolan Henke. Billy Andrade, John Daly, Robert Gamez, Phil Mickelson, Jose Maria Olazabal, Scott Verplank and Lee Janzen are the only other players under 30 to win more than two titles. . . .
Fred Couples leads the PGA Tour in victories (seven), third-place finishes (10) and top-10 finishes (36) in the 1990s. Paul Azinger has the most top-25 finishes (52) during the '90s. . . .
The USGA will soon begin to sell tickets for the 1994 U.S. Open, which will be played in Oakmont, Pa. All tickets will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis. To obtain an order form, call the USGA at (908) 719-9494 or write to: U.S. Open Tickets, USGA, P.O. Box 9494, Far Hills, N.J. 07931.
by CNB