I’ve been playing competitive golf at local and state events for over 30 years and this was the worst event management I’ve ever seen. The top flight of players, who teed off early on Saturday, determined that they had “better things to do” than wait a couple hours for the weather to clear. The committee…and John Gostele…canceled the day’s play so the Championship flighters wouldn’t be “inconvenienced”. I came at my appointed tee time to find no one from the tournament committee there….and the weather clear….and the course playable. In fact, I played 18 holes in under 3 hours that day….with no rain or lightning.

On Sunday, there was visible lightening from hole 12 to 17 before a pouring rain finally brought the sirens out and play to a halt. I thought we should have stopped play when the lightening was flashing and told an official so. He said, “play on”. My mistake was playing further than hole 12. By hole 17 we were soaked, the course was soaked and bolts of lightning were still firing through the sky. I decided to withdraw and brought my clubs in. I mentioned to Mr. Gostele that I thought this was the most unprofessional and worst managed tournament that I’ve ever played in. He and his “crew” got angry and were the first to raise their voices. I raised mine in return. They said things I don’t think they would like to be made public and I returned volley. I wrote WD on the board because I wanted to make clear that I WITHDREW from the tournament and didn’t quit because of how I was playing. Then I left the clubhouse and went home.

The story of that day should have been the negligence of the tournament committee in not blowing the siren when lightening was seen. Stewart likes sensationalist journalism….tabloid journalism….and needs to keep a decent relation with the PPD for his job. We were once co-workers and he has stabbed me in the back more than once. I guess that was his little opportunity to take another stab.

Your silly little blog is another place that likes to take “stabs” at people without knowing the full story. I didn’t know this existed until a friend told me, today, about it after googling my name. I’m in India right now….far, far away from the small-minded hacks in Peoria….like yourself. Thank God! Not that India doesn’t have it’s own hacks. Bad, stilted journalism and tabloid blogs like this are all over the globe.

If you get to know John Gostele a little better, you might find that he has a dark side….like everyone. On that day, it came out. That wasn’t reported. Tabloid journalists, like Stewart, aren’t to be trusted and are rarely to be believed when it comes to the truth of a matter. There are some good people at the PJStar. Stewart isn’t one of them. He is the living picture of the unhealthy and unholy that inhabit the world of “entertainment journalism”. God help him…..and God help you.

Sad thing is before our kids are allowed to play a sport the coaches, directors, etc. go over what will and will not be tolerated and overall sportsmanship. Sounds like a few golfers need to take a few lessons in our youth.

I do not condone this “gentleman’s” behavior; but I do understand frustration with the game. In this instance, I suspect he was probably frustrated with his own performance and decided to project his bad day upon others. For shame!

I’ll stick to darts and billiards. The other Gentleman’s games. They just seem to go better with a cool pint of bitter or stout.