Niners and 18ers Nine-Hole Tournament

Gail Schroeder

The SunBird Niners and the SunBird 18ers had a very fun nine-hole tournament. Betty Teal and her committee did a great job in organizing the event. The scramble was the Dice Game. Each of the four golfers on a team drives, and you roll the die to see which drive you use. If you roll a five, you roll again. If you roll a six, you get to choose whose drive you use. The rest of the hole, you do a regular scramble. It creates some interesting situations. We all had a great time and met some new SunBird neighbors. The luncheon afterwards, a large and yummy chicken salad, was prepared by Salad and Go at Queen Creek and Gilbert Roads. Cookies were provided by the SunBird Niners Board.

Tournament results were as follows:

Winners Front 9:

1st place: Marcie Hogan, Linda Arnold, Joy Morgan, Jeanie Chase

2nd place: Dolly White, Dana Marrs, Sandy Muyres, Rhonda Malta

3rd place: Lisa Onyx, Carol Delk, Alice Whistler, Cynthia Wilson

4th place: Marsha Brockish, Darlene Googel, Vivian Adams, Colleen Norgard

Winners Back 9:

1st place: Deanna Watkins, Beverly Launer, Sue Mallery, Joann Baker

2nd place: Viva Smith, Linda Knudson, Jean Pritchard, Mary Stohr

3rd place: Karen Gilmore, Shirley Hunt, Karen Kummerfeldt

4th place: Cynthia Bastin, Sandra Crane, Marilyn Klooster, Beverly Wilson

While perusing the Internet for what was going on in the LPGA this month, I found an article, “You Remember Her Smile,” that Steve Eubanks (a New York Times bestselling author and managing editor for the LPGA) wrote remembering the loss of former LPGA Tour player Heather Farr to breast cancer in 1993. She was 28. The article stuck out because she was associated with our state (sunny Arizona) and, unfortunately, an unhappy association that many other women have with breast cancer.

Steve pointed out, “As a kid, Heather had a maturity and a mindset that set her apart. Perhaps it was where she grew up, the desert of Arizona, when towns like Scottsdale and Tempe were whistle-stops on dusty train lines. Her father Jerry was an Air Force veteran and rodeo cowboy, so terms like ‘rough stock,’ ‘rank bull,’ and ‘buckin’ bronco’ were as much a part of her vocabulary as ‘birdie putt’ and ‘backspin.’”

Steve quoted 2017 Perseverance Award recipient Tiffany Joh, now the assistant women’s golf coach at the University of Southern California. “I never met (Heather) but I know a lot of people who knew her. I know her sister Missy Farr who is coaching at Arizona State University now. I know Missy really well. And even though I didn’t know Heather, I feel like I did. I know how beloved she was.”

Liz Nagel made an impassioned acceptance speech after winning the Heather Farr Perseverance Award at the Rolex LPGA Awards in November. Steve said one of her statements stood out to him: “Our struggles do not define us, but they do prove how strong we are.” That is so true! So maybe we can help Steve in keeping Heather Farr’s memory alive while remembering all the beautiful friends we have lost to breast cancer.