We just finished the Jeld-Wen Tradition at Crosswater CC and I came in 6^th.  It was a very encouraging week for me.  I hit the ball as well as I have all year, and very consistently.  I lead the week in Greens in Regulation.  I hit the ball well the first day, but unfortunately I putted pretty bad and shot 73.  As a matter of fact, it was so bad that my playing partner and good friend Morris Hatalsky asked me after the round if I’d like to know what he saw in my putting.  Morris has always been a very good putter, and knows a lot about it.  He told me I needed to get connected like I am in my golf swing and to accelerate through the putt.  This went along well with what I was working on. 

I putted really well the 2^nd and 3^rd days and shot 66-67.  The last day, I got to play with Tom Watson and Bernhard Langer.  I have obviously played for a lot of years, but playing with 2 Hall of Famers is still really exciting.  They are both such solid players, and really great to play with.  Bernhard is a fellow Christian who was also lead to the Lord by Larry Moody like me.  We have been friends, and someone I really admire for his work ethic and commitment to his Lord, family and golf.  Tom Watson I’ve always been a fan of because I think he has one of the best attitudes I’ve ever seen on the golf course.  He never gets upset, and always stays positive after good or bad shots.  He also hits so many solid shots and has a great short game.  His putting has gotten good again.  After struggling for a while he is getting closer to the golfer he was when I came out on tour and one of the best putters who ever played.

I played well the last day tee to green, but just didn’t putt as well again.  I was trying to do what Morris said about staying connected but think I wasn’t quite hitting through it well enough.  It was really cool that both Tom and Bernhard told me I could have scored a lot better.  But 6^th place was still a good week, and a good comeback from my opening round. 

Crosswater is a beautiful place in Sunriver, Oregon.  We were treated fantastic all week, and it was just a great week.  All the players and caddy's walk at our majors and it looks like a real golf tournament!  We all got to drive new Lexus’ which were really sweet thanks to Peter Jacobsen, whose company ran the tournament.  Unfortunately, Peter couldn’t play because his knee was still bothering him but hopefully he gets back soon.  He has had hip and knee replacement and yet watching him swing and hit it on the range it still looks great.  He has always had one of the best swings on the tour, and now working with Jim Hardy (The Plane Truth for Golfers), he’s swinging and hitting it as good as ever when he’s feeling well.  It sure amazed me when he shot 11 under par in Minneapolis just a few months after getting his knee replaced.  So how do you think I felt at 7 under? J

I got to stay at a friend of Rolf Benirschke’s who has a place at Sunriver.  Originally a few of the guys were going to come up and play some golf, hang out, and maybe watch some of the tournament.  But everyone got busy if you can imagine that, and I was in the house by myself.  It was close, and it worked out great as I was working out, and practicing quite a bit every day. 

We got some bad news Friday though that our Bible Study leader Tom Randall was going back to the Philippines where he has an orphanage and school after being charged there with kidnapping!  It is of course a bogus charge, but it's an attempt by some corrupt cops and officials to get some money so that the charges can be dropped.  He feels called by the Lord to go back and it’s an amazing step of faith and commitment to the folks there that he’s going and potentially looking at jail if things don’t go well.  It’s scary for all of us, because we really love the guy and his wife Karen and we’re all on our knees hoping the Lord makes it right and gives him protection and honors his courage by going back. 

Cheryl went to Portland last week to hang out with her friend Sally Jean and make some jewelry.  Sally Jean and her husband Brad are great folks and have a very successful business which you can see on SallyJean.com.  I drove to Portland after Sunday’s round and we had a great short time in Portland.  Brad and I played Waverley CC Monday which Peter Jacobsen helped set up for us which was really nice.  It was founded in 1896 and has a lot of great history in the game.  It’s also a beautiful course and kind of short, but with some really tricky greens.  It was the site of one of Tigers US Junior titles. 

After a great time in Portland we set off for Seattle, and had a mix up at the airport turning in our rental car and getting our courtesy car for the week.  We have to drive Cadillac’s this week, so really, 'don't cry for me Argentina'!  We had to go straight to the pro-am dinner which was at the Seahawks stadium and a pretty cool event.  We were really tired so we headed for the hotel only to find out that yours truly never made a reservation!  I remember not being sure of our check in date, and just must have never made the final call to the hotel that I thought I did.  Of course they were full.  So after calling the Westin, we ended up getting one of their last rooms and here I am on the computer. 

So thanks for checking out what is going on, and we’ll talk to you after the Boeing Classic this week.