It happened so fast, I almost missed it tonight on the Big Break Ka'anapali. Three "ringers" (Courtney, Lori and Tina) stepped up the glass and...one, two three, it was all over!
I have watched every Big Break that's ever been aired and a number of PGA Challenges with notables like Vijay and Tiger trying to kill that glass, and I've never seen anything like what I saw tonight. It was so amazing I had to ask Tina Miller if it was really true.
Did your team really smash two panes with only 3 attempts or were some shots on the cutting room floor?
Courtney went first and just missed. And then Lori stepped up into the box and hit the closest pane and then I stepped up next and hit it right away. So in 3 tries, we got it.
Amazing!
It was cool to see the glass breaking on TV from the camera's angle. It's not really a golf skill, but it is one of the trademarks of the Big Break, and to be able to actually step up and hit the glass...it was awesome. And for us to do it so quick, it really pumped me up! <laugh>
And after we did it, we were watching the others struggle and we were saying, "Alright! Good to be in the box, done!"
Then the crew came over and said it might have been a record.
How did you feel about the team selections? Were you happy with the way it turned out?
I was kind of shocked that Dana didn't pick me. I was happy that she didn't, but I was still shocked. I was on the driving range in front of Dana and I was aiming at a flag stick below the flag practicing the glass shot. I hit the flag stick twice and so I knew I was going to be dead on. If I could hit a flag stick then a pane of glass was going to be easy to hit. Dana saw me hit it and said, "Maaann, you're on fire!".
And she didn't pick me???? I was really shocked because if I was in her shoes and saw someone hit the flag stick twice, I would have thought to myself, "She's on my team."
Given the way Dana has acted on the show so far, she doesn't seem to be highly competitive. I was wondering if being eliminated was a result of bad decisions and not really bad golf. Did she feel pressure to pick Susan?
You know what, she was actually very tense that day and Dana is not a tense by any means. She's always very laid back and very "go with the flow". But before we started the challenge she was asking the rules official and the producers about a thousand questions about the rules of this challenge. And I thought, "Dana, you just have to run into the box and hit the glass." Dana was a little intense on that show and every episode where she's been intense, she hasn't really performed to her standards.
And like you said, from the beginning it wasn't the Dana that usually makes really good decisions. Now, I don't think picking Susan was a wrong decision, because obviously you got to see in the elimination challenge that Susan has some really good game. I knew it from the practice round we played, but Christina was like "Holy Cow, I can't believe she's this good - this is such a shocker", and I'm thinking, "A shocker to you, but this girl has proven every day that she is a good golfer - it shouldn't be a shock anymore."
It's sad to see Dana leave because she is such a nice lady. And I personally like Kim a lot, but I would have rather seen Kim go because, in my opinion, out of the three, she's the strongest player. I was shocked that Kim didn't play the par 5.
Yes, weren't we all! So how did your team decide who played the par 3, 4 and 5 holes?
In our team, each of us had to choose which hole we wanted to play. I said I'd play the par 5 because I felt comfortable on that hole. Up until that point, I hadn't been the most accurate with my drives, but on that hole it didn't matter - you could still reach the green in two. But unfortunately, I did pull mine a little left like Susan, but it was a better miss than where Christina was.
When she hit her shot, I thought, "Oh my gosh, that might go out of bounds.", but she stayed in obviously. And then unfortunately I didn't make the par putt, but we had already sealed the deal because we had enough points, but I didn't gain any more points for the Dick's Sporting Goods Points challenge.
If you were one of those 3 captains, who would you have picked for your team?
I would probably would have picked Lori and Courtney. I knew Lori is a strong player with a lot of experience under her belt and Courtney is awesome too. Every part of her game seems to shine through in each show. I was really happy I was on that team and that is probably the team I would have picked.
There was quite a bit of talk about Christina being picked last and there was a little snippet of you, with Courtney, saying, "She's almost overly competitive."
You know, it's okay, if you make a good shot or a good putt, go ahead and get pumped up and fist pump. That's what golf is all about when you hit good shots. But I think, at this point on the show, we had come to the conclusion that she doesn't wish well on anyone. It's almost that she's so intense that it can make her team mates not perform as well.
Something tells me we'll hear more about this next week <wink>...
So you're the "thrill seeker" on this show according to Andrew. And it was funny that he said what you said last week about yourself, "Nothing comes easy for this gal."
Yeah...<laugh>...it's not easy getting immunity on the BB, but I guess it makes me a stronger person in the long run. It was a fun day for me though. It was totally a great experience for me in Ka'anapali, breaking that glass.
So although Dana was eliminated today, the drama was really about Kim "not playing into elimination" and her bitterness over that.
The way Kim performed in this episode, we all thought she was going home. She obviously busted the drive on the 3-hole challenge and then she was just chipping it to the green - it was ridiculous. Courtney averages about 220 or maybe 230 off the tee and she busted it 300 yards and she was still 30 yards behind Kim. So it was quite interesting to see her birdie it. It was almost a slap in the face to her teammates, like "Thanks for picking me!"
Kim was not the person we thought she was in the first show. This was the first time we actually saw some nerves in Kim. I had dubbed her, "Cool, Calm Kim" because she has that California laid back style.
She missed some major putts and unfortunately if you're going to miss those putts on this show you are going to be in playoffs in elimination challenges and it's not going to be easy to stay on for the next show. But obviously she did it against Dana. Dana didn't seize the opportunity when she had the door right open in front of her.
Watching Dana replay of the tee shot in the water was almost too painful to watch.
She was probably watching it tonight and thinking, "I could have hit a 7 iron short, chipped it up and putted it in, and been on the next show." But coulda...woulda...shoulda...that's the thing about Big Break.
But we got to see more golf this week and we got to see one of the viewers' top choices, Kim, falter and realize that this TV show isn't your normal round of golf - it is nerve racking. If somone like Kim, who is the calmest person I've ever met, felt nervous, then it's a different kind of pressure you'd ever imagine.
So before we close off tonight, Tina, one of our readers, Bill Roberts (AKA LPGA Fan) wanted to know if you will be entering any Tournaments on the CN Canadian Ladies Tour. You could earn a spot at the CN Canadian Open in August (in my old home town of Ottawa) that way. In fact, Russy Gulyanamitta of Thailand and Yani Tseng of Taipei are CN Tour alumnae and they're doing pretty well this year on the LPGA.
Yes, I was going to play in Vancouver next week. I was signed up, but unfortunately life as a mini-tour golfer isn't as glamorous as Tiger Woods in his private jet <laugh>, so I had to pull out because my funds are not where they should be.
I am hoping to raise enough money to play in a couple of Canadian tour events at the beginning and end of June on the east coast.
Thanks so much Tina! I'll chat with you again next week.
Golfgal
Tina Miller photo courtesy of Sunice
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