Is there a Doctor in the house?

In case you were expecting your favorite Blogger, I am sorry to disappoint you, but Bernie and Judi have headed south to spend the weekend with Daniel, his girlfriend Amanda and her parents. As is custom, I will be the “substitute” blogger for today. I start off today’s entry with a story of a tremendous accomplishment. No, I am not referring to the fact that 59 year old Tom Watson came within one shot of being the oldest man to win a major tournament. This past Friday, Cara Kimberg stood before a panel of professors and defended her research which was captured in her dissertation. By all accounts, Cara deftly handled the probing questions and was awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy or PHD. Dr. Kimberg, as she is now known, had to complete a grueling program to reach this achievement. Since this is a golf blog, I was thinking about something in the world of golf that might be analogous to this achievement, but I couldn’t think of anything. The only thing that comes to mind is the Tour De France. The race that constantly test the riders with time trials, sprints to finish line, steep climbs through the mountains of the Pyrenees and the Alps. Some riders stay in the pack or the Peloton (SAT word?) as it is called and some riders break away from the pack and race to the lead. Cara didn’t take the easy route (is there really an easy route to a PHD?). She doubled down and took on a program that involved both research and clinical work. Despite the added pressure, Cara led the pack and crossed the finish line for the first leg of her life long journey in her chosen field. Congratulations Cara.
Now for a report on the day in golf. After a miserable rainy June, we have been very lucky to have a string of beautiful Sundays. Today was an amazing day, with plenty of sunshine, but temperatures in the 70’s with a light breeze. With Barry attending a wedding in Buffalo, it was up to Les to supply us with some golfers. He did not disappoint by showing up with a pair of Michaels. His son was making a repeat appearance and really showed the course who was boss. The second Michael was a friend of Les who when he is not playing golf is happy to fill your cavities or extract your tooth. He was introduced as Michael, but I wondered if it was an alias like Chip. Maybe that is not his real name. The two Michael’s partook in a luxury that we don’t see in our foursome very often – they rode in a golf cart. This coupled with our time changing to 7:30 which is 20 minutes later, led to the speculation of what this would mean for the playing time of our round. The cart seemed to have little impact as we finished the round in 4 hours and 40 minutes which is “par for the course,” In terms of the play, Les and Michael (the dentist) had the honors for shooting lowest scores of our foursome. I played a little like Tiger Woods. Not the guy who wins the tournaments, the guy who didn’t make the cut at the British open who was banging his club against the ground every other shot. Well, there is always another 18 to play. Until then, hit them well, but not so often.