Where the blue of the night...

Meets the golf course

Good morning, all! Hope you had a terrific weekend!

This coming Saturday and Sunday at Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, FL, the USA Walker Cup team will take on players from Great Britain and Ireland. The event, played every other year, dates back to 1920 and was started by George Herbert Walker, who was president of the United States Golf Association. He was also the grandfather of the late President George H.W. Bush and great-grandfather of former President George W. Bush.

If that isn’t enough of a connection to the famous, consider the captain of this year’s USA team, Nathanial Crosby. You may have heard of his father, who in the 1940s achieved something no one previously or since has accomplished. He had the number one show on radio, was number one at the movie box office and number one in records sold. Yes, his dad was Bing Crosby. For the younger generation, he’s the guy who sings “White Christmas,” still widely played to this day on the radio, during the Christmas season. Crosby’s version of the song written by Irving Berlin, has sold more than 50 million copies, considered the world’s best-selling single.

As for Bing, he was a two handicap golfer, good enough to be inducted into the USGA Hall of Fame. The pro-am tournament from Pebble Beach you see on television in February each year was started by Crosby, who actually owned a home on the course and where CBS sportscaster Jim Nantz currently lives.

Bing Crosby died in 1977. His son, Nathaniel, 59, is no slouch on the golf course, having played in the Masters Tournament three times. He won the U.S. Amateur championship in 1981 and played on the 1983 winning USA team. This is his second time as captain of the USA team.

So if you ever hear Bing Crosby’s old theme song: “Where The Blue Of The Night Meets The Gold Of The Day,” you might want to imagine the “The Gold Of The Day,” as the first tee, for as the old saying goes, a bad day on the golf course still beats a good day at work.

A first and a first

It was a weekend of firsts for professional golfers. Sam Burns, 24, won the Valspar Championship, his first PGA Tour victory. Mike Weir, 50, captured the Insperity Invitational, his first victory on the PGA Tour Champions circuit. Weir won the Masters in 2003. Something tells me, before his career is over, Burns may have a few green jackets on his resume too.

Monday Musings

The suddenly surging NY Yankees shutout the Detroit Tigers, 2-0 on Sunday. Did you note the time? The game was played in a tidy 2:14, the way baseball used to be played…The Tigers are now off to a dismal 8-21 start. They were supposed to be further into their rebuild at this point, leading one to wonder if Detroit GM Al Avila’s days in that position are numbered…Just what the disappointing 10-18 Colorado Rockies need. One of their few marketable players, Trevor Story, had to be pulled from Sunday’s game against Arizona, after being hit by a pitch on his right index finger…Say what? Oakland Athletics lefty Jesus Luzardo broke the pinky on his pitching hand, pounding his finger on a table, while playing a video game Saturday, before his start. He actually pitched three innings, after the incident against the Orioles, and lost. Luzardo yielded six runs on five hits…Don’t look now but Baltimore Orioles pitcher Matt Harvey is on a three-game winning streak. The Birds took a flyer on the ex-New York Mets pitching ace and it may be paying dividends…Call me optimistic, but I think the Giants, Jets and Patriots all fared well in last week’s NFL draft, a rarity for these three clubs. Giants GM Dave Gettleman did such a great job, he even set up the team well for the 2022 draft, because of the moves he made. We shall see.

That is it for today. I hope you have a terrific week and thank you for subscribing to my newsletter!

SPORTSCASTER DAN