Anniversary no big thing for Zoeller
Fuzzy Zoeller only started thinking about his U.S. Open victory when the phone started ringing.
This is the 30-year anniversary of when Zoeller won his second major — both in a playoff — over Greg Norman in the 1984 U.S. Open at Winged Foot. Norman rallied on the back nine with a birdie on the 17th, and then a 45-foot par putt on the 18th hole for a 69 to stay tied with Zoeller.
Zoeller was standing in the fairway, thought the putt was for birdie, and jokingly waved his white towel in mock surrender.
The next day, Zoeller rolled in a 70-foot birdie putt on the second hole and was on his way, beating the Shark by eight shots in the 18-hole playoff.
“I’ll be honest with you, I hadn’t really thought about it until the last couple of days when people have started calling,” Zoeller said. “It doesn’t seem like it’s been 30 years. But it kind of does fly when you’re out on the rat race of the tour like we are. We’re constantly moving, days flying by, and you kind of lose track of time.”
Zoeller says he has never watched a replay of that U.S. Open. Occasionally, friends will call to tell him it’s on TV. He doesn’t bother.
“What the hell, I was on the receiving end,” he said.
Zoeller was 54 when the U.S. Open finally returned to Winged Foot in 2006. It goes back to the New York course in 2020 when he’ll be 68. So he could only laugh when asked if he had plenty of time to prepare.
“Oh, yeah,” he said. “I’d be out there directing traffic in the parking lot.”
Potty training
A Michigan prep baseball team is trying to flush away the bad plays by making a tradition of carting a toilet to its games.
The former bathroom fixture has become a game-day fixture in Kalamazoo Christian’s dugout, MLive.com reported.
On Tuesday, as the team celebrated a 6-4 win over Britton Deerfield in the Michigan High School Athletic Association Division 4 quarterfinals, players carried out the toilet to the surprise of many at Bailey Park in Battle Creek.
Andrew Long, a senior, explained the potty’s presence. He said last season the team had a miniature toilet that players would flush whenever they made a bad play to “flush down the bad memories.” This year, Long said a discarded toilet was found for the dugout.
“We brought it everywhere,” Long said.
Coach Steve Bennecke, who brought in the tiny toilet last season, said team members hope they’ll be able to harness its porcelain power to keep playing well. He said he was as surprised as anyone else when the team turned out earlier this season with the toilet.
“I didn’t know if this was a joke or if someone was making fun of us,” Bennecke said.
No trouble
From Janice Hough of leftcoastsportsbabe.com: “John Calipari turned down an $80 million, 10-year contract to coach the Cleveland Cavaliers. Meaning that the NCAA is at least a year from putting sanctions on Kentucky.”
Quote of the day
“I think for us now, talking about winning a World Cup is just not realistic.”
U.S. men’s soccer Coach Jurgen Klinsmann on the Americans’ chances of winning the World Cup