Golf

If you were watching coverage of the PGA tournament on Sunday, you may not have liked how it ended. How the coverage ended, not how the tournament ended. With the golf going into extra holes, CBS left the tournament and went to 60-Minutes around 6pm. We've had some calls complaining about that, with people asking why the network couldn't have just stayed with golf for the little bit of time it took to finish. The problem is, there was no way to know how much longer the golf would have lasted.

Led by senior All-American Dustin Garza's second-straight conference medalist performance, the Wichita State men's golf team won the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament for the 15th time in program history at Prairie Dunes Country Club on Tuesday. Head Coach Grier Jones captured his ninth MVC title in 12 years despite a windy first day and the vicious golf course at Prairie Dunes. The conditions kept the second-place Southern Illinois Salukis in striking distance after Monday, trailing by just a stroke.

The last time we saw or mentioned Randall Vautravers, he was picking up minutes here and there playing basketball with the Shockers. But come the summer, he's playing golf with his buddies on some of the toughest courses in the state. But this is just a hobby, right? "I went to Arizona for Christmas and I played a lot of golf over there and it got me playing again," Vautravers said at the Kansas State Amateur tournament at Sand Creek Station golf course in Newton, Tuesday. "I just thought this would be the best thing for me right now. " Vautravers is putting down the basketball and picking up the golf clubs full time now. He made the decision after the Shockers NCAA run and told coach Gregg Marshall during the off season.

Wichita emergency crews respond to a crash involving two cars at an E. Wichita golf course.  Crews were called to the Sierra Hills Golf Course near 137th E. and Pawnee Tuesday morning. They found a minivan and an SUV, one crashed into a golf maintenance building, the other into a hedgerow. The driver of the vehicle that went into the building was taken to the hospital with potentially serious injuries.  The other driver was not hurt. The crash remains under investigation.

Call it the final round at Echo Hills Golf Course in Park City. “It is sad...very sad,” says golfer Don Hapward. The days are numbered for the course. “It means a lot to me and a lot of memories,” says employee Mary Schaar. Schaar says golfers won't leave her alone. “They come in here and want to sign a petition they don't want it to go.” There's not much they can do. The land has already been sold and the course will close next early next year.

Three Shockers shot under 70 for the final round of the Herb Wimberly Intercollegiate and the Wichita State University men's golf team pulled away for its third team title in five fall tournaments.     Hunter Sparks placed third while Louis Cohen Boyer came in fifth.  Tyler Gann tied for 12 th while Rafael Becker (t-22 nd ) and Calvin Pearson (t-30 th ) also had solid showings.  Chandler Rusk competed as an individual and tied for seventh.   Sparks (67)

Grant Meech Position: Hays Sports Reporter Since: July 2008 Birthday: November 28th Hometown: Denver, CO Education: Colorado State University (Go Rams!) Hobbies: Golf, writing, books, traveling, working out and cooking.

Five-hundred volunteers are ready to work when the Nationwide Tour comes to Wichita this week for the Wichita Open. The seven-day event starts Saturday, and signs are already up in northeast Wichita directing you to parking and the shuttle to Crestview County Club. Map - Crestview Country Club Many big names on the professional golf tour got their start at Nationwide events. This is the twenty-first year Wichita has hosted. While tournament director Roy Turner says the best golfers in the world will be here, it's not just about the golf.

Did you hear that? It's the golf clap of thousands that the Wichita Open is finally underway. Casey Wittenberg leads the way with an great 8-under par round of 63 to lead by two after Day 1. Wittenberg looks like a man fried mentally. You can't blame him - he just got back from the US Open, the toughest test in golf. Oh, and he played with Tiger Woods on Sunday.... Thursday was the day to go low. The conditions were ripe for picking and those who took advantage (93 are under par)

An El Dorado man keeps beating the odds. Sixty-one-year-old Danny Shipman had to give up golf two years ago, when he almost gave up the ghost. The retired Bluestem High School golf coach suffered complications from heart surgery that caused a coma and stroke.  "We didn't think he was going to make it," Shipman's wife, Linda, says.  "They didn't give up much hope. " He survived, but suffered paralysis in his right hand.  Shipman never thought he would play golf again.

Regular putters, rejoice! Anchored putters, cry foul! The USGA announced Tuesday the addition of Rule 14-1B, that a player may not anchor the club to his or her body while make a stroke. More specifically, the anchored putting stroke. This will greatly impact events played under the USGA flag, specifically the US Open and the US Amateur. If you don't plan on playing in any of these events coming up or anytime in your life, keeping anchoring that belly putter or long putter to your body.

Want to improve your golf game, but without private lessons? The Hammer-X could help supercharge your swing. The product claims to be the world's longest driver, adding 50-yards to your drive. It sells for $99, plus shipping and handling. Tyler Bolin, assistant golf professional at Crestview Country Club, helped KWCH Sports Anchor Grant Meech test the Hammer-X. Tyler first recorded Grant's drives with a personal driver with the flight scope. Grant then tested the Hammer-X three times.

So what exactly constitutes if Tiger Woods is back or not? What does it mean to be "back?" Does he need a major to win? Does he have to win the Ryder Cup by himself? Does he have to mow down the field at every tournament and win by 10 shots? Woods won the Players Championship today by two shots against the best field outside of a major championship. The Players is considered the fifth major, because it is such a tough event. And he looked in control the whole time, except for one hole where the tee shot got away from him. In a word, he was dominant and that's what Tiger of old was. SO I say he is back.

Talk about a turn of events for Derek Ernst. Coming to Charlotte, NC for the Wells Fargo Championship, he had to make a quick swap with the rental car to avoid 1 $1000 fee, made it in as the fourth alternate for the field and then wins the whole thing.  Ernst was a 22-year-old rookie who made it through traditional Q-School, ranked somewhere in the 1200's in the World Rankings and had only played in nine PGA Tour events. NOW he has qualified for The PLAYERS Championship this week, two World Golf Championships, the PGA Championship and the Masters next April.

When will it end?  We're halfway through spring, and yet another freeze warning.  It's almost as if we're frozen in time--back to February when 32 degree temperatures were normal. Some are calling it the spring that never was, and that is causing some real problems for people.  Whether it's gardening, outdoor sports, or garage sales, normal spring activities are being disrupted. Still, Laurie Reber is going ahead with her garage sale.  She is just keeping everything inside the garage, turning on a heater and keeping the doors closed.

Before deciding to open the newest golf store on the northeast side of Wichita, Chris Hamman thought about just buying a big plot of land and opening a driving range. Instead he opened Golf ETC Wichita off Greenwich Road with the next best thing to dial in your swing. "We use the Foresight Launch Monitor, which is used a lot by the professional tour players and we use that to capture a lot of data about how you swing the golf club," Hamman said. Golf ETC is a regular golf shop in the truest sense: you can buy brand new clubs there, the latest golf shirts and even roll a few putts inside while you shop for the latest flatstick.