Nado Natterings
A weekly column by David Axelson

22 July 2009 Issue #28

A column-wide thank you to several folks who commented favorably regarding last week’s Nado Natterings, which was pretty evenly divided into two thought pieces regarding instant historical analysis (yes, that is a contradiction of terms) and some points regarding the Padres. In addition, a couple of E-mailers commented favorably on the column, then provided some thoughts regarding story ideas for this week. Hmm, what did that mean exactly?

Tom Watson and the British Open

Most sports fans of a particular age (okay, late fifties and up) found themselves pulling for Kansas City’s Tom Watson at the British Open Sunday. Watson, who is 59, missed a nine-foot par putt on the 72-second hole of regulation that would have won him his sixth Open ((the British drop the geographic reference and it is simply The Open for them) and ninth major title. He then went on to lose to Stewart Cink in a four-hole playoff by six shots.

In 1975 Your Natterer was a young sales exec and public address announcer for the Kansas City Kings of the NBA, when Watson, then 25, won his first Open  at The Carnoustie Golf Club in Scotland. To honor his achievement, and frankly to try to boost sagging attendance for the pro basketball franchise, we held a Tom Watson Night. To commemorate his first Open title, the Kings presented Watson with a marble-based desk pen set, which was adorned with the complete course layout of Carnoustie.

Watson then hit some plastic golf balls into the crowd, some of which had slips of paper in them to be redeemed for golf-related prizes. My two takeaways from meeting Watson many years ago were first his enormously powerful forearms, which supplied a great deal of the power from his golf swing. Another was his unassuming manner and lack of entourage when he came to the Kings offices prior to his appearance. In short, he was then and is now a class act.

Watson was the best golfer in the world in the late 1970’s and early 80’s, winning PGA Player of the Year honors six times in that span. During his prime Watson was frequently referred to in print as the fourth major sports franchise in Kansas City, after the NFL’s Chiefs, MLB’s Royals and the Kings.

Watson was taught the game by his father Ray Watson, who was a fine golfer in his own right. Both the senior and junior Watsons played out of the Kansas City Country Club, which was an upscale gathering spot for the wealthier folks in the area. The course record at the KCCC was owned by Watson for many years, that is the senior Watson. Word around the clubhouse (I was a guest on a couple of occasions, but several bucks short of the up-front membership fee) was that Tom would be on his way to a good round that would threaten his father’s course record and then pick up his ball on the 18th hole to allow Dad to keep the club title.

The on-course television commentators at this year’s Open were all clearly pulling for Watson to win his ninth major title, which unfortunately wasn’t to be. But you have to admire the effort from one of history’s great golfers.

Meloche Finishes Strong in World Junior Golf Event

Rising Coronado High School senior Jake Meloche was one of 185 male golfers from around the world, between the ages of 15-17, to participate in the Callaway Golf Junior World Championships held last week at Torrey Pines South. This is the same course used for the U.S. Open held one year ago, won in dramatic fashion by Tiger Woods over Rocco Mediate.

To qualify for the event, on July 9th Meloche finished second out of more than 50 golfers, shooting a 70 from the black tees at the Sycuan Resort’s  Oak Glen course, which covers 6,682 yards.

Somewhat surprisingly, Meloche, who won the Long Drive award at the recent San Diego Junior Masters with a 320-yard effort, was particularly strong in the World Junior event on the Par 4 holes, finishing tied for fifth in that statistical category, averaging 4.15 strokes per hole. When asked about his success on the Par 4 holes, Meloche said, “Usually my irons are the most consistent part of my game. I have to rely on them to score well.

In the 72-hole Junior Worlds, Meloche shot a very impressive 79-73-73-76 for a total of 301, or, 13 over par. The winner of the event, a player from Argentina was the lone golfer to break par, finishing at three under.

Proving that it was truly a ‘world’ event, the two players tied with Meloche in the final standings were from Colombia and Haiku, Hawaii. “There is a lot of cultural diversity in the event,” said Meloche. “I played with players from Japan, Venezuela and the Philippines. There are a lot of good junior golfers in the world. And it was fun to play on one of the hardest courses in the country.”

Oval and Barker Participate in Junior Worlds Qualifiers

In what has become a golf-centric column, we have news of ninth grader-to be Jordan Oval (if you want to feel old, his high school class will graduate in 2013), who participated on the Coronado Middle School Golf Program last winter. Jordan fared very well in the recent Phil Mickelson Junior Players Championship. Competing in the Boys 13-14 age group, Oval shot an 86-89 to finish in 30th place.

Rising eight grader Cara Barker, also a CMS Golf Program member, participated in six San Diego Junior Golf Association events in the past year, making the cut in all six events. Like Oval, she played in the SDJGA event in the Girls 13-14 age group and finished tied for 12th place.

“Both players are very coachable,” said CHS Girls Golf Head Coach Hanna Cohan, who instructs both players. “It was good to see them both compete and play well.”

Coronado Girls Lacrosse Players Compete in National Event

The summer is when many local athletes head off to sports-specific camps to improve their skills.  This summer Haley Wilson and Mollie Privett both played lacrosse for the Pacific Falcons, an under 15 team representing Southern California. They competed in the Western Regionals in Utah and qualified to compete in the first ever, 32-team Under 15 National Championships in Baltimore in the beginning of July.

After pool play, the Falcons wound up in the consolation bracket where they defeated a team from Northern California, before falling to the Cardinal Lacrosse Team from Virginia by the score of 17-15. Counting pool play, the Falcons faced two of the top three teams in the entire tournament.

Falcon Coach Joe Brown said of his club, “I am proud of the team’s showing in the tournament. Our finish is proof that on the girls’ side, the West is slowly catching up to the East Coast. There are talented players all across the country.”

Reminder for Athletic Physicals for the 2009-10 School Year

A quick reminder to all sports parents that the Islander Sports Foundation will again help organize the Doc Eaton’s Sports Physicals event. This year the physicals will be held at the CHS 500 Building on Wednesday, August 5th. Students should line-up on 7th Street behind Niedermeyer Field.

There will be a 5:30 pm start for last names which begin with the letters A-L. Last names which begin with the letters M-Z will begin at 6 pm. Last call for students wishing to have physicals is 6:30 pm and the session will conclude at promptly 7 pm.

The cost is $15 per student, or $25 for two students from the same immediate family. The fee drops to $10 per student for three or more students from the same immediate family.

For the past several years more than 20 Coronado physicians combine to help support the CHS athletic department. The physicians provide athletic physicals for all interested Coronado High School and Coronado Middle School student-athletes. A fee for the physicals is collected and 100 per cent of that total dollar amount goes to help fund the athletic training room at CHS.

Please note that at both the high school and the middle school, a current athletic physical is required to be completed and submitted before the student-athlete can begin to practice or tryout for a team.

You may bring cash or checks made payable to the Islander Sports Foundation. The required two-page physical form may be downloaded from www.IslanderSportsFoundation.com. Please answer all of the questions on page one before attending and bring both pages of the form to the physical examination. If you have questions, please direct them to info@IslanderSportsFoundation.com.

Stray Padres Thoughts

After last week’s aforementioned thought pieces, which included selected ramblings regarding the Padres, Your Natterer was involved in a few conversations and E-mail exchanges regarding the club. One of the frequently-asked and unanswered questions included ‘Why did the Padres trade Scott Hairston?’ The former Padre outfielder flirted with a .300 batting average all season, provided some protection in the lineup for the lone everyday Padres star Adrian Gonzalez, and was a solid major league player. Other than it perhaps being a financial issue, no one seems to have a clue.

So the Padres now seem to be taking a thorough look at their prospects from throughout their farm system, by playing them at the Major League level. Long-term that is probably a sound idea. But for the rest of 2009 it will likely put them on pace to lose 100 games this season.

Their latest call-up was rookie pitching phenom Matt Latos, who was summoned from AA San Antonio to face the Colorado Rockies Sunday. As the old baseball line goes, the 6-foot, 6-inch Latos can through a fastball through a car wash and it won’t get wet, with several of his pitches being logged in the 97-98 mph range. Latos has a huge arm with great stuff, but now all he needs to do is learn how to pitch against players in The Show.

Exhibit ‘A’ is the first inning at bat turned in by Rockies first baseman Todd Helton, one of the best hitters in baseball, currently hitting .324. The Latos 97 mile an hour creates strikeouts at the AA level. But Helton fouled off several fastballs, faced 12 pitches and drew a walk.

Like most young fire ballers, Latos tried to strike out every opposing batter, and did ring up four of the first six batters he face. But Latos also threw a total 40 pitches in the first two innings, which led to his being replaced after completing the fourth inning and reaching his pitch count limit of 75 for the game.

Young strikeout hurlers typically throw too many pitches and don’t last deep into games. Padre Manager Bud Black, a former Major League pitcher in his own right, has some work to do with the talented youngster.

On the plus side, the Padres aren’t the worst team in baseball, or even in the National League. That dubious honor belongs to the Washington Nationals, who lost a four-game home set to the Chicago Cubs over the weekend. The Cubs, not to be confused with the 1927 Yankees, are a slightly better than average team in 2009. Watching most or nearly all of the four games, believe me the Nationals didn’t earn their 26-65 (.286) record by accident. Put another way, if the Padres and the Nationals were in the same division, the Padres would have a 10.5 game lead over the representatives from the Nation’s Capital.