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Sports Phil 3 Masters' green stays foreign European dominance of the prestigious Masters golf tournament continued at Augusta last week. Webster defines prestigious as honored, distinguished, famed, renowned, reputable and notable. He doesn’t say a thing about Euro pean dominance. When Jose Marie Olazabal (Ahl a-thob-ul) closed out the last chal lenger, Tom Lehman, on the 18th hole Sunday afternoon, he became the sixth European in the past seven years to win the Masters' champi onship and the coveted green jacket But while Olazabal was going about his job in a methodical, workmanslike manner, defending champion Bernhard Langer was having all sorts of problems. Langer's troubles came on the treacherously fast greens, and the German never broke par in a single round. The Americans had a few bright spots in the early going. In fact, Lehman led going into Sundays fi nal round. The same Tom Lehman who finished third last year. The same Tom Lehman that just three years ago was playing on the Hogan Tour (now Nike) and made stops in Macon. But it was Lehman's inexperi ence down the stretch that opened the door for Olazabal. When the Spaniard drilled a 30-foot eagle at number 15 to take a one shot lead, the American, with just three holes left, couldn't catch up again. Lehman's bogey at 18 was mean ingless, since Olazabal parred from off the green. The fast greens at Augusta are best suited for the style of play Eu ropeans are accustomed to. They play on such courses all over. Most courses on the PGA tour are designed with relatively soft greens which reward shooting at the flag. Augusta will punish a golfer for doing it That's why the European players are able to execute the bump and run more effectively at Augusta. They do it all the time. That's why Greg Norman has a hard time at Augusta. Norman, himself a European, hits the ball extremely high with a lot of bite. Consequently, his style is to fly the ball straight at the flag. But then, Greg Norman, as good as he is, has never won the Masters. The course just doesn't fit his style, and that of most American golfers. There was cause to be hopeful Thursday, Friday and Saturday as Lehman, Larry Mize, Tom Kite, and, for a while, Tom Watson, stayed in or near the lead. But it was the relentless style of Olazabal on Sunday that captured the green jacket. He joins the Ger man Langer in 1993, lan Woosnam of Wales in 1991, England’s Nick Faldo in both 1989 and 1990 and England’s Sandy Lyle in 1988 as recent wearers of the fabled jacket. Only Fred Couples in 1992 has been able to break the recent Euro pean domination. Couples missed this years tournament with a back problem. If you go back a dozen years, you find just four American win ners, Couples, Mize in 1987, Jack Nicklaus in that dramatic 1986 win, and Ben Crenshaw in 1984. Langer won in 1985 and Steve Ballesteros of Spain in 1983. Pre-tournament favorites like Norman, Faldo, .'lick Price, and sentimental favorites like Cren shaw, Watson and Ray Floyd all agreed on one thing. You have to use your head to play Augusta Na tional. Most of them didn't. Crowd favorite John Daly made the cut, but that's about all. The long bail hitter doesn’t have the touch around the greens to play Augusta yet. Speaking of long hitters, Daly and lan Woosnam were paired to gether all four days, and have now played ten rounds together at the Masters. Olazabal's nine-under total of 279 is actually a stroke under the average Masters winning score of 280, despite four days of wind and Please see Clark, page 8A Hornets play their way to playoffs Beat Bulldogs... By PHIL CLARK Special to the HTJ It was short and sweet out at the Hornets Nest Thursday afternoon. It was short because the Hornets disposed of George Walton on the 10-run, five inning rule, beating the Bulldogs 10-0 when Billy Kitchens doubled home two runs in the bot tom of the fifth. It was sweet because it was the Hornets' second straight victory, the first time the team has accom plished that feat this year. It was also a region game and improves the Hornets to 4-2 in re gion 2AAA, behind Tattnall's 5-1. Walton drops to 2-4 in the region, while Athens Christian, losers to Tattnall Thursday, are 3-3, same as Mount de Sales. Lon Talton pitched by far his best game of the year, facing just one batter over the minimum over five innings, giving up just two base hits, with six strikeouts and no walks, while the defense behind him was flawless. rat (M i M Lon Talton had gone most of the year without a win, before collecting wins against Mount de Sales and George Walton last week. Panthers get revenge over Fitzgerald to stay in PO hunt By VETO F. ROLEY Staff Writer The Perry Panthers scored three runs in the top of the first, and then held on to defeat the Fitzgerald Purple Hurricanes 6-5 in Fitzgerald. The win keeps Perry in the region race with three games to go. the Panthers must win one of the next two region games before „ .. H fZ -W- ** wR! Wm ■# *B# i tr# * Perry coach Bob Jones must find a way to get four games In five days out his three starters If the Panthers are to make the region playoffs this season. One of the baserunners, Matt Perkins, was gunned down trying to steal third base with two out in the second inning. Michael Gibbs was the Bulldogs only other baserunner with a fifth inning single, but he was left on base as Talton got des ignated hitter Chris Ralston to pop to shortstop Matt Shepley. Bulldog freshman starter Tony Biscaglia eased through the first two innings, giving up just a one out single to Jake Walls in the sec ond. Walls was picked off first, though, so Biscaglia faced just six batters in the first two innings. But in the third, his control sud denly left him and he walked the first three batters in the third as Thad Hawk, Sheldon Shelton and Lance Watson drew walks before Matt Shepley's grounder was mis handled at third. Hawk had alread scored the Hor nets first run when catcher Jason Barnes threw past third trying to get Please see Bulldogs, page 8A traveling to Jones County. The Panthers played Ware County, a team which beat Perry 14-5 last week in Waycross, Friday after the paper had went to press. On Saturday, the Panthers travel to Appling County, who they beat 7-1 on March 19, for a 3 p.m. game. Even should the Panthers beat the Gators and the Pirates, the game .-V' • ; ■ 4 &BIHHK % e , Thad Hawk, who beats out a single Saturday vs. Glenwood, homered to lead the Hornets against Mount de Sales, and collected three hits to lead them against George Walton. Monday against Jones County is still the most crucial game of the Panther’s season. Both teams should come into the season final with identical region records. However, Jones County holds the advantage over the Panthers due to a 6-1 win in Perry on March 24. The win Thursday afternoon, the Panthers avenge a tough early season loss to Fitzgerald, who beat Perry at home 7-1, almost a month ago. The loss was tough since Dallas Waldrip carried a 1-0 lead and a no-hitter into the sixth inning. The Purple Hurricanes were able to turn a couple of Perry fielding errors into two runs in the sixth to Soccer team collects second win of year By VETO F. ROLEY Staff Writer After going two years without a win, the Perry soccer program is trying to shed its image of an easy mark. Tuesday, the Perry spring foot ball team took an enormous step towards respectability, beating a solid Columbus High School team 1-0 for their second win on the year. Although the Panthers had won earlier against Vidalia, Vidalia was a first year team. "This was our Houston Times- Journal ... beat de Sales By PHIL CLARK Special to the HHJ It wasn’t easy, but the Westfield Hornets finally showed they can come back and win a game in the late innings. That's what they had to do Tues day afternoon at die Hornets Nest, getting an important Region 2AAA win over the Mount de Sales Cava liers, 8-7. Getting what Coach Bert Brown called a "contribution from every body, either on offense or defense", the Hornets improved to 3-2 in the region while Chester Pierce saw his Cavaliers fall to 3-3. "Region wins are the important thing," said Brown. "We’ll be matched with Region 3AAA in the playoffs. We use the same format as football, where nwmber one plays four and two plays three." Westfield disposed of Cavaliers starter Jason Balkcom in the first inning, scoring four runs on just one base hiL Matt Shepley and Billy Kitchens drew walks ahead of an infield sin gle by Troy Nuss which loaded the bases. After Lon Talton walked to force in the Hornets first run, Balk com was replaced by Kevin Demichiel, who opened in center field. But Demichiel had his own problems, throwing two wild pitches which scored Kitchens and Nuss. Talton scored the fourth run of the inning on an RBI grounder by Clay Smith. The four-run lead was short lived, though, as the Cavaliers came right back to score five in the sec ond inning, the only bad inning for freshman Brian Staines. John Carey and DeMichiel opened with singles. A Wesley Cobb walk loaded the bases for Cody Hale, who promptly delivered take the lead. The no-hitter was not broken until the seventh, when Fitzgerald took advantage of a tired Waldrip to score five runs. Perry head coach Bob Jones has said several times that the loss to Fitzgerald, and a later loss to Dodge County in Eastman, were two games he would like to have back. Perry started the game by taking advantage of the wildness of Blake Wilson, despite the availibilty of Keith Morris, who beat Perry early in the season. Travis Cantrell and Terry Yawn started the inning by drawing walks. A fast ball in the dirt moved the Perry runners to second and third. first year against anyone with an established program," said soccer coach Carl TTiomas. "It was probably the best game that we have played all year," said Thomas. "We are at the point in our pro gram where any win is an impor tant win," said Thomas. "We are trying to build the program from the down up. "In a lot of ways 2-5 (Perry's record on the year) doesn't sound like a great record," said Thomas. However, he said the record was Saturday, April 16,1994 Page 6A a two run double. Balkcom’s single scored Cobb, and both Hale and Balkcom scored on Keith Hatcher’s single. The inning could have been big ger for the Cavaliers, but Sheldon Shelton threw out Hatcher trying to steal, the first of two runners Shel ton would throw out on the after noon. Brown said, "Shelton's two caught stealings and Stains' two pickoffs in the middle innings were crucial plays." Still, the Cavaliers took a 5-4 lead. But, they held it just briefly as the Hornets used singles by Kitchens and Nuss and an RBI grounder by Jake Walls to tie the game at three after three. It stayed that way until the bot tom of the sixth as both Staines and DeMichiel settled down on the mound. Thad Hawk, who had three RBI doubles in the first meeting be tween these two teams, put the Hornets on top with a lead-off home run in the sixth as he took a DeMichiel fast ball over the right center field fence for a 6-5 lead. It was really looking good for the home team when Staines coaxed Lance Keen and Balkcom to lift pop flies to the right side of the infield for two quick outs opening the Mount de Sales seventh. But a two-out walk to Hatcher prompted Brown to make a pitching change, bringing in Lon Talton to face Herndon; but, the Cavaliers third baseman hit a sharp single to center, with Hatcher stopping at second. Brandon Lockhart then hit a grounder past third baseman Jake Walls, and when the ball eluded the left fielder, both Hatcher and Hern don scored for a 7-6 Cavaliers lead. Please see de Salsa, page 8A Jamie Walker flied out to centerfield for the first Perry out of the day. However, his fly ball gave Cantrell the room he needed to score. Waldrip then swatted a single by a diving Hurricane thirdbaseman, scoring Yawn. Although the fifth batter in the Panther order would look at a third strike for the second out, Waldrip, who was running on the pitch, was safe at second for a stolen base. Terry Allen drove in Waldrip when his grounder to third bounced off the bag and into left field, giving the Panthers the early 3-0 lead. The saying is that any pitcher can win when he is own. The good Please see Perry, page 8A somewhat surprising since the Pan thers were moved from the Macon league to the Columbus region, which has two of the top 10 soccer programs in the state. "If we were playing in the same league that we were playing in last year, we could be around .500." Thomas also noted that the two Panther wins have come on home turf. "At least we are starting to play better and defend our own turf." One of the problems that Perry Please see Win, page 8A