Planet Golf — 22 June 2015 by Candace Oehler
Garcia complimentary in his exit

UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wa. — Maybe because Sergio Garcia finished with a 2-under par 68 Sunday in the U.S. Open final round and really had just one bad round all week – 75 on Friday-  but his post-tournament comments  were positively glowing.

That’s compared to his previous critiques when he said, “to me, it’s like playing the NBA Finals on a court with holes and slopes and no backboards.”.

He was especially complimentary about USGA executive director Mike Davis’ course set up.

“Obviously it was very firm; kind of like it had been playing all week,” Garcia said. ” They mixed it up nicely, at some points there was a little bit more wind than we had earlier than the week.  It played good.  The set up was really nice, the way they the way they moved it around with tees and pins and stuff like that.”

“I thought that  Mike Davis did a good job there and that he’s been doing that for a number of years. The quality of the greens, though, it could have been much better, but the set up was good.

 

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Candace Oehler’s deep dive into sports media began several decades ago when she won a trip from Seattle to Mariners spring training in Arizona. Noting that non-English-speaking Latino ball players received little, if any, media coverage, she fluently/en español became a pioneer in Spanish sports media, and eventually became known affectionately throughout the Latino MLB community as “La Veterana.” Candace has written for team publications and MLB.com; hosted her own radio show on several Spanish-language stations; served as producer/reporter/engineer for the Mariners’ inaugural season of Spanish radio broadcasts; and has been a reporter for MLB Network Radio the past 10 years. She was invited to Venezuela by future Hall-of-Fame shortstop Omar Vizquel to cover rebuilding efforts and accomplishments of his charitable foundation following the devastating 1999 mudslides; worked in Puerto Rico for former Major Leaguers Joey Cora and Carlos Baerga managing fundraising events; and was the only female in the raucous locker room when the hometown favorite Licey Tigers won the 2004 Caribbean World Series in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Candace was introduced to the game of golf in 1992 by members of Seattle’s historic Fir State Golf Club, who had approached her to manage their (then) little fundraising tournament hosted by a shy, gangly 15-year old Tiger Woods. Candace co-managed the annual event for nearly 20 years, working with hosts that included Ken Griffey, Sr., Birdie Griffey, Mike Cameron, Nate McMillan, Warren Moon, and Dale Ellis. She became secretary of the club and the Fir State Junior Golf Foundation, and got totally, completely hooked on golf, learning to play on a set of Redbirds given to her by the club (apparently they considered her mother’s Patty Bergs a bit antiquated). She has since traded up to another set of Redbirds and a much more user-friendly golf environment in Arizona. And, once a prolonged stint on the DL is over, she can’t wait to get back on the course and continue lowering her current 21-handicap to ….?

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