“The kids are all right - Columbia Daily Tribune” plus 1 more |
| The kids are all right - Columbia Daily Tribune Posted: MARANA, Ariz. (AP) — Geoff Ogilvy was not sure what to make of the 16 players left at the Match Play Championship. A two-time champion, he knows not to expect anything at the most unpredictable tournament of the year. Even so, it was a peculiar mix of guys who advanced yesterday into the third round at Dove Mountain. There was 47-year-old Miguel Angel Jimenez and 17-year-old Matteo Manassero. PGA champion Martin Kaymer was still around, just barely, after going 20 holes to be the highest seed remaining at No. 2. Lee Westwood was not, the third straight year the No. 1 seed failed to get out of the second round. "You get used to seeing guys winning," Ogilvy said, referring to two-time finalist Paul Casey and Stewart Cink, who had reached at least the quarterfinals the last three years. Both of them were beaten. "It just proves how uncomfortable this tournament is." This Accenture Match Play Championship suddenly has a flavor of youth and inexperience, which isn't necessarily the same thing. Ogilvy and Jimenez are the only players who have reached the quarterfinals. Four players in the round of 16 are making their Match Play debut — Rickie Fowler, Bubba Watson, Manassero and Jason Day. The strangest of all is the American contingent. For the first time in five years, eight Americans have reached the third round, although it's not the usual suspects. Tiger Woods, Steve Stricker and Jim Furyk were eliminated in the first round, and Phil Mickelson joined them yesterday. It was Mickelson's loss that highlighted the second day — not only how he lost, but who beat him. Fowler is a 22-year-old with game to go with his flair, dressed in matching pink shoes and shirts, attacking the course with joy. Despite a bogey on the third hole — the only one he lost — Fowler was 8-under par through 13 holes when the match ended, including a chip-in for birdie and two eagles over his last four holes. He won 6 and 5, the worst loss ever for Mickelson in this World Golf Championship. "He doesn't really have a weakness," Mickelson said. "He really is a complete player, and he put it together today. I just couldn't keep pace. I think he's going to do a lot for American golf." Fowler advanced to play Matt Kuchar, a Ryder Cup teammate who made it to the third round for the first time. The surprise was Manassero, the Italian teen sensation. All he has done in two days is dispatch of Stricker and Charl Schwartzel, the latter taking some dramatics. Manassero was 1 up when his tee shot on the par-3 16th went over the grandstands and into a cactus, so he conceded the hole. With nothing to lose and even less to fear, he smoked a 6-iron into 4 feet for birdie on the 17th hole and held off the South African to get into the third round against Luke Donald. "It's a big sense of achievement for me," Manassero said. Then there was 23-year-old Day of Australia, in his first Match Play, already playing like a veteran. He got under the skin of Casey by making him putt when others might have conceded them. Casey missed his share and made his earliest exit in Arizona. One youngster not invited to the party was 21-year-old Rory McIlroy, the No. 7 seed. He ran into Ben Crane, who played perhaps his quickest round ever — the match ended on the 11th hole, an 8-and-7 victory. U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell had no trouble with Ross Fisher in a 4-and-2 victory, which assured he will move ahead of Woods in the next world ranking. "I'm perhaps a better golfer than him in the last 12 months, but he's definitely the greatest player that's ever lived, I think," McDowell said. "Of course, if someone told me at some point in my career I would be No. 3 in the world, I'd be proud of that fact." Copyright 2011 Columbia Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.This article was published on page B4 of the Friday, February 25, 2011 edition of The Columbia Daily Tribune. Click here to Subscribe.  This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| New DCF chief has big shoes to fill - Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel Posted: I feel sorry for David Wilkins, the new head of the Florida Department of Children & Families. Bad enough he's embroiled in a horrific child abuse case that ended in the death of Nubia Barahona and the painful recovery of her 10 year-old twin brother, Victor, from severe chemical burns. Cases like that — regrettably, and I can't stress that word enough — will occur under any DCF secretary's watch, whether it's Rilya Wilson, the missing girl believed dead, or Gabriel Myers, the precocious boy thought to be driven to suicide due to his constant dosages of psychotropic drugs. What concerns me, though, is Wilkins has some very big shoes to fill. His predecessor, George Sheldon, proved to be more miracle worker than government bureaucrat. In his four-plus years at the agency, he improved program operations and pushed the culture toward accountability and openess to the point where the word "dysfunctional" doesn't appear in the same sentence as DCF. Sheldon led efforts to divert many troubled children from foster care and provided services for their families at home. He also set records for adoptions and overall efficiency in processing food stamp applications, which prompted accolades and additional funding from the federal government. Efficiency isn't normally associated with state government, but Sheldon made it look easy. His most significant accomplishment arguably was his work with DCF's Independent Living program, and more importantly the time he took to personally know many of the teens involved. It showed this week during a Florida's Children First fundraiser, where Sheldon received the group's "Child Advocate of the Year" honors. Surrounded by young men and women who had been in the "system," Sheldon recalled his early days with DCF and a promise to meet with a group of foster kids before having dinner with former DCF Secretary Bob Butterworth. The session, he said, lasted more than two hours. "We've seen so many times before that when something bad happens, the system lurches," he said referring back to the Barahona case. "I just hope that this agency, as a result of this death, doesn't start removing children in a haphazard way. These children have told me we have to make this system work." Those words amount to a tall order for Wilkins, who must now grapple with both a horrific foster care tragedy and huge budget cuts that most likely will undermine Sheldon's initiatives that helped make DCF a functioning state agency. He has my sympathy. Dlyons@tribune.com, or 954-356-4638. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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