Tales from the Solheim Cup and minor league baseball

It's true. I spent a lot of time watching golf on TV last weekend. The United States was playing Europe in the Solheim Cup. The match would feature some of the best women golfers in the world. Once I tuned in, the action was so mesmerizing that I couldn't change the channel.If you saw any of the competition, you would likely agree that there were so many great shots that one would be hard pressed to recall them all. From long fairway woods to stuck wedge shots to holed chip shots to some incredible clutch putts, the 2024 version of the event was fantastic.So why am I about to tell you about two of the less than stellar efforts by these awesome golfers? Because the shots brought a smile to my face and took me back many years. Actually it was not the shots themselves as much as the comments that were picked up by microphones on the course. Let me explain.One of the golfers had a fairway wood in her hand as she attempted to hit to the green from an awkward lie in the rough. Her shot squirted well right and drew this response from a member of the gallery: "now you're playing like me" the man stated. It was not a derogatory comment so much as he was expressing surprise that even a professional golfer could hit poor shots that were a regular part of his own game.The announcers heard the comment and handled it flawlessly. For me, well, I was taken back to several years ago when a buddy and I made the trip to Toledo for the Jamie Farr Classic. Our first stop was the practice putting area and we stood behind a rope prepared to watch some of the ladies warm up.We were there for just a couple of minutes when Natalie Gulbis came over to a spot right in front of us. She dropped three balls in the short rough and proceeded to chip to a hole some 50 feet away.On her first attempt she cozied the ball to a few inches away from the cup. Naturally I had to make a comment to my pal. "She chips the ball just like us Tope… only different." Ms. Gulbis looked toward us with a smile on her face.Her next shot was mishit and was well left and long, nowhere near the hole. Now I said "that WAS like our chips" and suggested that she hit more of her chips than ours. Again she smiled.Her third effort was right on target. As the ball trickled toward the cup I said "that's what I'm talking about." The ball did not stop until it dropped. We immediately suggested that it was a great shot. She started walking away, but turned around and said thank you.She then proceeded to pick up the three balls and headed for a part of the practice area as far away from those two strange guys as she could get. Coincidence? I think not.Later that day at the Solheim Cup another golfer hit an iron toward a green and half way there she said "kick right!" Now if I had a nickel for every time one of my golfing buddies or myself uttered that phrase… Unfortunately our comment was often followed by "the other right!"The ball seldom is affected by whatever one says after the ball has left the club face, but it doesn't stop us from begging nonetheless. Her ball did do as she asked, but for me the idea that professional golfers sometimes beg just like the rest of us was my takeaway.Probably the only thing I have in common with a pro golfer…The Americans took the Cup home, the first time they have had it since 2014. The golf was incredible and one other comment moved me as well. One of the announcers on Sunday remarked that there had been no controversies for the entire event. The players treated each other with respect and played great golf. Well done ladies!Another story that came to my attention this week was a deeply disturbing one out of Florida. In a game between the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels and the Lakeland Flying Tigers a playoff berth was at stake. The winner would go on, the loser would be done for the season.The catcher for the Mighty Mussels (you have to love minor league team names) was Derek Bender. The Tigers would win the game and afterwards the Lakeland coaches informed the Fort Meyers coaches what Bender had done during the contest. Apparently he was telling the opposing players what pitches were coming.Shocked? I certainly was. Bender was a sixth round draft pick by the Minnesota Twins out of Coastal Carolina in 2019. When the Twins found out about his antics they immediately cut ties with him. His professional playing career is over.So why did he do this? According to reports, he told teammates (Mighty Mussel players not the Tigers) that he didn't want the season to go on – he just wanted to go home.We probably will never know everything about this story. He may have been tired of playing in the heat of a Florida summer. I've been there for a few games in August and it can be brutal. Maybe he had a family situation that needed to be dealt with immediately. Perhaps he realized that his dreams of playing in the big leagues were never going to be realized. But geez, there had to be other ways to deal with whatever problem he had.But he got his wish. He's home now. Permanently!