Tiger and his back, Ballo and ... uh ... upper bodies
NOTES AND quotes while celebrating Tiger Woods’ 82nd victory on the PGA Tour…
The greatest player of this generation won the Zozo Championship in Japan last week — the first-ever official Tour event in that country and a tournament that drew a solid field of contenders.
Tiger now has tied Slammin’ Sammy Snead for most wins on the Tour, and that doesn’t even count all of his wins in Dubai, Australia and elsewhere at European and Asian Tour stops.
Tiger’s won somewhere close to a hundred bona fide events, and when you really stop to think about it, that’s a bunch — especially when you consider those few wasted years due to back and knee woes.
I’ve had a back fusion myself, and I hurt just imagining that Tiger had four of them.
Yikes!
IT’S NOT really terrible news that Gonzaga freshman Oumar Ballo will sit out a redshirt year as his transcripts from Mali catch up with the university’s academic program.
Even though the 6-10, 260-pound Ballo (nicknamed Baby Shaq) eventually could become a mighty force for the Zags, he’s only 17 — so a less frantic transition to college life in America won’t do him any harm.
Ballo can practice with the team and do everything but play in games, and there’s a long list of stars who have benefitted from a redshirt season with the Zags.
Besides, there is no shortage of big men on this year’s roster — including frosh Russian center Pavel Zakharov, who earned surprise minutes in that closed scrimmage against Michigan State.
Sophomore Filip Petrusev could develop into a true star this season, and the Zags will have Killian Tillie, freshmen Drew Timme and Anton Watson along with Zakharov to man the pivot.
And so far, the recruiting class for 2020 consists of guards and wings — Dominick Harris, Julian Strawther and hopefully Jalen Suggs — so Ballo will be a perfect addition to that group.
PARDON THE pun, but the Seahawks literally took a big hit during that strange 27-20 victory at Atlanta last Sunday.
Center Justin Britt, a regular since 2014, tore an ACL on Seattle’s first possession and will be out for 8-12 months after surgery — or well into next season.
Joey Hunt, the only other player with any experience at center, filled in against Atlanta and avoided any grievous problems — barring one holding call.
The sixth-round draft pick from 2016 is the man for now.
Obviously, the Seahawks will have to add someone else who’s played center, but at the moment they’ll be leaning on Hunt.
“He did fine (against Atlanta). As Joey does, he does things right,” Coach Pete Carroll said.
“He made good calls, good direction with what he was doing up front. There’s one thing he needs to improve on — pass protection — but all in all he did a nice job.”
No doubt Russell Wilson was happy to thank his new center.
EYES ON home plate, please!
You couldn’t have blamed Houston pitcher Gerrit Cole for gazing elsewhere for a moment during Game 5 of the World Series.
Cole surely must have been tempted when two young women, Lauren Summer and Julia Rose, flashed their, uh, upper bodies directly toward the Astros pitcher.
The ladies, who work for an X-rated digital magazine, were immediately banned from the ballpark, but they expected that all along.
They insisted the whole stunt was for a good cause.
Summer tweeted afterward: “To clarify, yes we knew we would get banned, yes the [banishment] letters are real, and yes, I would do it again.
“More importantly, subscribe to @Shagmag (their digital product), because the proceeds go directly to women with breast cancer to pay for their medical bills.”
That’s one way to do a good deed, I suppose.
A TOUGH call made Washington State’s task even more difficult in that gut-wrenching 37-35 loss at No. 7 Oregon last weekend.
Talented freshman linebacker Travion Brown was ejected for targeting in the second quarter, following his hit on Oregon’s Travis Dye.
There are times when the targeting rule can punish someone unfairly, and this play surely might qualify.
Dye was losing his balance, but as he fought for a couple of extra yards, he actually was running almost parallel to the turf and about a foot off it.
It would have been almost impossible for any tackler to make contact without his helmet getting involved, and that’s what happened to Brown.
Making matters worse was that the Cougars were short of inside linebackers, so Brown’s banishment had a direct impact on the game.
Wazzu has had plenty of luck in some close games this year, but…
It’s been mostly all bad luck.
Email: scameron@cdapress.com
Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns for The Press appear on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Steve also contributes the “Zags Tracker” package on Gonzaga basketball once monthly during the offseason. The weekly edition will begin next Tuesday.