In many golf writers' columns they bloviate about the "Pooh-Bahs of Washington Road", referring to the members, whom they regularly criticize and belittle, of the Augusta National Golf Club which is located on Washington Road -at least they got the location right.

Here's what they don't write about: Post-Masters tournament disbursements from the tournament's income which include generous checks to the PGA,, the Royal and Ancient, as well as to other golf oriented groups, First Tee, etc.

Locally, they have given $1,000,000 or more to the Community Foundation serving the Augusta area - this year it's a bit over the usual $1 million. A new touch is that each employee of the National will get $1,000 that the employee is encouaged to donate to a  well-deserving charity organization of their choice.

The Community Foundation supports the mission and needs of non-profits in the Central Savannah River area, which includes Augusta.

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Ryan Herrington has a first-class two-page spread in GolfWorld, May 9, 2008, on Tif, including a half-page photo (first page) and about one-quarter page photo on page two.

Her run-up to becoming successful is quite interesting as well as bits about her humility, sense of humor and self-deprecation.

Congratulations to a hard-working, very deservingly successful young lady.

The Wall Street Journal of Saturday, April 5, 2008 in the Weekend Journal section has an interesting article about up-and-coming college-bound girls who might be the challengers in a few years.

If you are interested in reading this article please respond and we'll work out an e-mail arrangement wherein I can send it to you.

One sometimes wonders how much organized tournament golf goes on. This, from Golf Investor.com, presents some numbers for last week:

Interesting Note: This past week 1,289 players played 3,331 rounds in 1,847 OVER par (240,159 strokes; 72.10 average per round) in 11 tournaments which distributed $11,426,148 in winnings (averages: $8,864 per player; $3,430 per round; $48 per stroke).

Source: Golf Investor.com

From Reuters today. They ask if there is interest in this blog.

http://www.reuters.com/article/blogBurst/sports?type=sportsNews&w1=B7ovpm21IaDoL40ZFnNfGe&w2 =B80FEget9rRxz3kXTMmfixri&src=blogBurst_sportsNews&bbPostId=BCdDQvUwo4otB6ZxD67luGX4CzF9nL8H MDBAWB7OKVlk3DBsA&bbParentWidgetId=B84QUnZGrXRRz7weDInFJOrs

He doesn't have much time before the skildillion innings catches up with him -

 March 2, 2007

BY THE NUMBERS
By ALLEN ST. JOHN    

DOW JONES REPRINTS
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When free agent pitcher Barry Zito signed with the San Francisco Giants during the off-season, his seven-year, $126 million contract (the biggest ever for a pitcher) raised eyebrows. Despite his 2002 Cy Young award and huge marquee appeal in the Bay Area, Mr. Zito was not universally perceived as an elite starter. Throwing in the low 90s, he lacked the overpowering stuff of many top pitchers, such as Johan Santana of the Minnesota Twins and Mr. Zito's former teammate Rich Harden.

Even New York Mets general manager Omar Minaya, one of those who pursued Mr. Zito, was unwilling to offer him a guaranteed contract of more than five years. What did the Giants see that made them open up their pocketbooks? Reliability. Over the last five seasons, Mr. Zito has made more starts -- 173 -- than any pitcher in the major leagues.

But does a history of handling a high workload predict future reliability -- or does it make Mr. Zito a risk? To assess this we looked at pitchers who, like the 28-year-old Mr. Zito, made a reputation as workhorses in their mid-20s. We compiled stats for every pitcher since 1980 with 150 or more starts from age 24 through 28 who posted a .525 or better winning percentage in the process. Then we measured their performances after age 28.

Reason to Be Pleased

The result? At first glance, the Giants and their fans have reason to be pleased. Taken as a whole, the pitchers declined relatively little. When they were in the 24-28 age range, they had a collective 3.40 ERA and .610 winning percentage. Over the rest of their careers, the ERA rose to 3.83 and the winning percentage slipped to .583, both still enviable figures. Just as importantly, they averaged 176 starts, 1,166 innings, and 77 wins after age 28.
[Before and After]

But there's a hitch. The list also reveals a large standard deviation. It includes some of the game's best, most durable pitchers. There are two 300-game winners -- Roger Clemens and Greg Maddux -- plus Tom Glavine, who's almost there. It also has three other strong Hall of Fame candidates in Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz and Mike Mussina.

But some names on the list give nightmares to pitching coaches and GMs. Fernando Valenzuela, the Los Angeles Dodgers phenom, had only two winning seasons after age 25. And Chan Ho Park, who after leaving the Dodgers signed a five-year $65 million deal with the Texas Rangers, won only 22 games for them over about 3½ seasons. And Mr. Zito's career numbers lie closer to some of the busts than to the legends.

Close Comparison

The best comparison for Mr. Zito is to the man he replaced as the game's richest pitcher, Mike Hampton. The Atlanta lefty is still collecting on his $121 million deal with the Colorado Rockies. And at age 28 (one year after signing that deal), his stats were close to Mr. Zito's -- a 99-66 record, vs. Mr. Zito's 102-63, 974 strikeouts to Mr. Zito's 1096, and a 3.71 ERA to Mr. Zito's 3.55. But Mr. Hampton's record since is 39-35, with a 4.60 ERA. And he missed the 2006 season after Tommy John elbow surgery.

What's in store for Mr. Zito? His numbers should be helped by moving to a pitcher's park in the National League. But the numbers also say that Mr. Zito is a bit below the game's best starters, with his best years likely behind him. So while the Giants' future is bright thanks to young pitchers like Matt Cain and Noah Lowry, Mr. Hampton and others have made one thing clear: Giving a pitcher an ace's contract doesn't make him one.

Write to Allen St. John at allen.stjohn@wsj.com1
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Some people try to find things in this game that don't exist but football is only two things---
Blocking and takling
                      __Vince Lombardi

Till I was 13 I thought my name was "Shut Up".
 ---JOE NAMATH

I like linebackers. I collect 'em. You can't have too many good ones---BILL PARCELLS

American football is an occasion at which dancing girls, bands, tactical huddles and television breaks are interrupted by short bursts of play---TIMES OF LONDON

If God had wanted man to play soccer He wouldn't have given us arms.---MIKE DITKA

The fewer rules a coach has, the fewer rules there are for players to break---JOHN MADDEN

Nobody in the game of football should be called a genius. A genius is somebody like Norman Einstein.
---sage remark by JOE THEISMAN
 

I have missed some days checking the Chronicals (my absence vs "here" record is amazing bad) and I missed the once-highly secret Christmas present for Grant....and, yes, I did chip in.

Only one answer needed.

"Though it's been said many times, many ways, Merry Christmas to you"