Blof's Blog

There's nothing like a great vacation to refresh the mind and body even if you are retired.
Let's face it, as golf buddie Gary Bright says, "The problem with retirement is you never
get a day off."

With that in mind, wife Jan and I scheduled a three-week excursion to our favorite place -- Hawaii. Planning was near-perfect. The first week would be spent watching the Chico State University golfers take part in the Dennis Rose Invitational on the Big Island. The men played at Mauna Lani North and the women at The Waikoloa Kings Course. We also would join the CSU golf boosters in a bit of fun golf and a luau.

The second week would be for more golf. Jan would kick back, read, enjoy the scenery and twiddle her thumbs until we were done. She hoped we had enough energy to do some other fun things in the afternoon. Kidding aside, we did take days off to drive around the island and 6o to the beach.

Youngest son Marty, who joined us for the first 12 days would go home prior to week No. 3. Jan and I would await the arrival of George and Debbie Maderos who were in Maui. There was supposed to be more golf, reliving past travels to the islands and a dinner or two.

The first week went basically as planned. I played golf with Skip and Cheryl Reager at the beautifully-maintained Mauna Lani North Course. Skip and I worked together at the Enterprise-Record for more than 25 years and have known each other for just about twice that.(I admit to being that old but I think Skip is much younger.) This was, however, the first time we had ever played a round of golf together.

I got in another round with the group at Hapuna and also teed it up at Makalei before the "fun" began.

CSUC coach Travis Brown had set up additional booster rounds at Waimea and the two courses at Kona Country Club. I already was a bit physically slowed by lingering problems brought on by radiation treatments for prostate cancer. Suffice it to say, I could not get too far from a restroom. Then, I suffered a "bout of gout" with my left foot. No more golf the first week.

I got back to the golf course for two more rounds after the foot problem went away. I was able to overcome slight injuries to my head, knee, forearm and shoulder suffered when I fell out of bed. (Give a guy a break, it was a much different mattress than we use at home.)

I barely remember the third week. I know Debbie sent an email saying it was doubtful she and George were going to make it to Kona. George was in the hospital and in isolation with an extremely poor white blood cell count. I was not in the hospital but my ears and throat were burning up. I was sick and learning about George's made me feel worse.

After a trip to urgent care and receiving antibiotics to fight my illness, Jan and I stayed inside and out of the VOG-impaired air of the big island. VOG is much like fog but is a lot more potent because of the sulfuric acid-laden smoke that comes from the volcano located on the island. I personally ruined the third week of our stay but it was a good thing I could not play any golf. A bad case of "jungle rot" (jock itch) on both thighs coincided with the other illness.

I'm not complaining about all these issues or the fact Jan got sick just before we came home. I'm not going to complain about the seats we had on the United Airlines red-eye flight returning home, even if canned sardines have more space. (When the person sitting in the seat in front of me reclined I nearly suffered a pair of broken knee caps.)

I'm not complaining because I did not have to spend any time in the hospital, as did George Maderos. I did not have to worry about test after test that my spouse was taking, as did Debbie Maderos.

George is a long-time friend but I think he may have thought I had gone a leg (or arm, or foot, or heart or lung) up on him in the medical files. George is not accustomed to being second to anyone in anything. I am conceding Chico State's all-time No. 1 athlete is the winner, even if a legion of doctors was never able to pin-point what was making him ill. I also hope neither of us will add to the lists in the future.

The good news? George and Debbie are back in Chico. Sitting in your own chair and sleeping in your own bed will go a long way to further recovery.

===

It has been more than three weeks since we first arrived in Kona and time to forget the aforementioned problems.
Let's talk about college golf. I am still amazed by the quality of golf shown by the men and women of the teams that played in the Dennis Rose tournament.

The PGA Tour has its "These guys are good" motto. Those words best describe my feelings as I looked at the scoreboard following the first 36 holes for the guys. Mauna Lani North is not a pushover. The first score I noticed reflected a team with a lot of red numbers. Valdosta State from Georgia led the field with a team total of 19-UNDER-par 557. That's four of five individual scores and fabulous golf.

Chico State, which had won the Sonoma State event a week earlier, started poorly and never recovered. Coach Brown said it best. "You have to bring your top game every time." Despite a team score of 4-under the final day, CSUC finished ninth in its final fall outing. St. Edward's University from Texas rallied to tie Valdosta State at 21-under 843 and won a card-off for the team title.

Western Washington State's Jake Koppenberg won the individual title with a 70-68-64--202 performance. His 16-under figure won by three strokes. Eighteen players in the 90-man field broke par, including Chico State's Lucas Delgado (70-72-73--215) and Brandon Harkins (69-76-70--215). Delgado's final round was marred by a quadruple-bogey. Wildcat Kyle Souza opened with an 80 but came back with rounds of 69-68. Kevin Horan (78-80-73) and Greg Marskey (81-77-76) rounded out the CSUC contingent.

Kathy Dais' women finished third in the five-team field. Cal Baptist won with a 909 three-round total where three of four scores counted. Western Washington followed at 914 on the tough Waikoloa Kings Course. Chico State finished at 922.

Megan Chang shot 76-75-74--225 for third place individually. Erin Sears (72-79-76--227) tied for fourth. Sears' 72 was the third-best of the tournament. Only winner Malin Thorberg of Cal Baptist (when she shot 69 on her second 18 holes of the first day) and Western Washington's Kailin Parker (71 on the same round) had better efforts.

Shelby Hooper (73-78-80) and Sara Ansolabehere (82-86-84)also competed for Chico State.

Both CSUC teams do not resume action until February.

Director of Golf Ross Birch says the planting of a new grass -- seashore paspalum -- is one of the reasons the Mauna Lani courses are in such outstanding condition. The fairways and greens were pristine. In general, seashore paspalum requires up to 50 percent less water for irrigation than bermudagrass and up to 75 percent less nitrogen for fertilization. It also is tolerant of salt water.

Waikoloa Director of Golf Scott Head says his Kings and Beach courses will stay with bermudagrass. "We want to maintain the links feeling on the Kings," he said. "We promote running the ball onto the greens and want to keep it that way." I played both courses and they, too, were outstanding.

A final note: Those making a trip to Kona would do well to make sure they take in breakfast or lunch at the Kings Grill. The food and prices were the best we found the entire trip.

(Ted Blofsky can be emailed at grampsblof@aol.com)