The Front Row with MARK NELKE August 30, 2012

Darren Titus said he hasn't bought a lottery ticket recently, but perhaps he might want to consider it.

The Hayden resident and former Lake City High golfer had quite the back-to-back golfing experiences last weekend.

Titus, 30, scored a double eagle on the par-5 ninth hole at the Avondale Golf Club in Hayden Lake last Saturday.

The following day, Titus aced the par-3 fifth hole at Avondale during the Scott Wemple Memorial Tournament.

"It was a pretty amazing little golf weekend I had there," Titus said Tuesday. "It was a pretty cool thing to do."

SATURDAY AFTERNOON, playing from the white tees, Titus hit his tee shot some 300 yards, slightly into the rough to the right of the fairway.

He had 235 to the hole, and waited for the group in front to putt out.

He took out a 5-iron - yes, a 5-iron from 235 ("for some reason, the ball seems to carry more there," he said). The shot landed just short of the green, hopped on and rolled into the cup.

Up ahead, one of his playing partners, who was some 70 yards from the green, held his hands up in the air and yelled, "It went in."

"I still wasn't really sure it went in the hole, until we went up there and it was in the hole," Titus said of his first albatross.

Titus, a real estate appraiser, said he normally would use a 4-iron from 235 yards, which is still quite a poke.

"My drives average a little over 300 yards," said Titus, who helped the Timberwolves qualify for state as a senior in 2000. "I can hit the ball a ways."

THE FOLLOWING day, playing in a scramble, Titus used a sand wedge to ace the 104-yard hole with an uphill tee shot and a cup you can not see from the tee.

When the foursome got up to the green, they couldn't see Titus' tee shot, and he assumed it must have landed on the green and spun off until one of the women in the group yelled, “It’s in the hole.”

It was Titus’ second career ace, and his team went on to tie for low gross in the mixed division.

Funny story about the tee shot, though.

The hole was the team’s second-to-last hole of the day, and the other guy in his foresome needed to count one more drive in the scramble. His tee shot settled some 15-20 feet from the front left hole location — plenty good enough to use as a drive in most situations.

Just not this one.

“He said ‘Thanks a lot, Darren — now we’ll have to use my drive on the last hole,’” Titus said.

And if you’ve ever played in a scramble, and you step up to the tee knowing your drive has to count, you know how much pressure can mount on that swing.

Good news, though — the man hit his tee shot on the sixth hole safely down the fairway.

ALSO ...

The score from last Friday was a bit of an eye-opener — 2A Grangeville 38, 4A Moscow 10.

Yes, Grangeville is the defending state 2A champs, and Moscow is breaking in a new coach. But still ...

“That’s a good ballclub. We didn’t underestimate them at all,” Moscow coach Phil Helbling told the Lewiston Tribune. “They’re state champs, and they return a lot of guys, and they’re good at what they do.”

Cody Keeler completed 6 of 12 passes for 225 yards and a touchdown for Grangeville, which led 24-0 before Moscow scored in the third quarter.

This Friday, Grangeville travels to Kellogg, which lost 54-7 to St. Maries last week. Grangeville plays host to Timberlake on Sept. 7.

St. Maries, which dropped from 3A to 2A this year, visits Grangeville on Oct. 5 in the Lumberjacks’ Central Idaho League debut.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter at CdAPressSports.